Special Edition Loesch Verpackungstechnik GmbH Panorama Magazine of Piepenbrock Group

Packaging Technology > Packaging your ideas...

Chocolat Frey and LoeschPack make a big impact with little Neapolitans! “Swiss-made” is a sign of quality around the world. The flag of the alpine republic is associated with values such as tradition, reliability, pragmatism and common images such as the Matterhorn, precise timekeeping devices and – of course – “made in ”. Chocolat Frey AG, based in Buchs, , is a large manufacturer of this sweet temptation. The independent subsidiary of the cooperative society has recently expanded production of Neapolitans, the little that are in strong demand internationally. Together with project partner Loesch Ver- packungstechnik GmbH in Altendorf, Frey implemented a space-saving and efficient packaging solution for the “petit chocolat suisse”.

It is rare for visitors to an industrial Aargau will immediately notice the Manfred Leuenberger, Technology production facility to have their sen- chocolatey aroma wafting in the air. Team Leader, Confectionery at Cho- ses tickled in the car park outside People of all ages appear magically colat Frey, with a warm smile and a the plant premises. At Chocolat Frey drawn to the chocolatier’s visitor cen- firm hand-shake. He invites us on AG in Switzerland, however, it’s qui- tre, which opened in 2014. We are a tour of the plant with a chance to te normal. The visitor to Buchs in welcomed at the stylish reception by see the new Neapolitans production

2 Special Edition line. The near 2,400 articles on the pre-sent-day production schedule are predominantly made for Migros cooperatives, to which Chocolat Frey belongs since 1950, and sold in their branches. Frey also supplies to ca- tering businesses, bulk cus-tomers and downstream industries. “In 2014, over 43,000 tons of chocolate, con- fectionery, semifinished products and chewing gum rolled off the produc- tion line in Buchs,” says Leuenberger as he dons his protective clothing to enter the production building. “This allowed Chocolat Frey to generate The delicious chocolate treats are being further on transported to be packed.

an impressive annual revenue of 404 make the necessary investment. million Swiss francs. Of this sum, ex- ports accounted for 138 million.” On Thorough production planning the domestic market, the company is at Chocolat Frey the leading chocolate producer with Another few minutes on foot through a 35.4 market share, according to the the bright and friendly factory buil- “Chocosuisse” information service. ding and we are standing in front of Chewing gum makes up around 10 the new molding unit. When running percent of total revenue. Products in full operation, the molding unit made by Chocolat Frey are sold in manages up to two tons of choco- over 50 countries on five continents: late mass an hour. In the past, Frey “The foreign market is now our main could process 600 to 700 kilograms driver of growth.”, says Leuenberger. every hour on the existing systems. Continuously growing demand me- A virtual quadrupling of output in this ans Chocolat Frey has had to ramp area of production seemed excessi- up production. “Years before we took ve to the chocolatiers, which is why the decision to invest, our two Neapo- the production management provisi- litans production lines were already onally decided on a chocolate mass running at maximum capacity,” says processing capability of one ton per Leuenberger. The age of the existing hour. “That equals the production of equipment meant that a simple ex- around 3,000 Neapolitans a minute pansion was out of the question. The that need to be picked, packaged company decided for a new molding and made ready for delivery,” says

Pouches with up to 1500 grams are particu- unit with a powerful packaging sys- Leuenberger. Daily operations are 16 larly intended for the North American Market. tem and took in 2013 the decision to hours long in two shifts.

Special Edition 3 to ensure an efficient solution for our production operations,” Leuenberger says in praise of the outcome.

Innovative feeder system with counter moulds One particular solution involves feeding the dosed and cooled Nea-politans to the packaging machines. “Feeder sys- tems usually operate with conveyors alone. In this specific case of produ- cing a single product, however, we took the decision with the customer to use a solution with counter mould transport. This method of feeding is less prone to faults with small products such as Neapolitans and cheaper to maintain; it also takes up less space overall,” ex- plains Tobias Heinze, Product Manager at LoeschPack, enthusing at the sight of the system running flat out. The Neapolitans leave the molding unit By use of belt conveyors the Napolitains are transported to the vertical flow wrapping machines. in counter moulds and are transported to the packaging system on a dual-rope High performance packaging ckaging machines and the quality of chain link con-veyor. A fully automated system from LoeschPack the modular system: “Other manufac- system checks each counter mould for Due to space constraints in the fac- turers were also in a position to offer completeness and metal contaminati- tory, Frey required a compact yet po- the overall system performance we on, ejecting any items that fail. werful system. Loesch Verpackungs- required. For the projected packaging Special 2-axis transfer robots with va- technik GmbH from met the system, however, LoeschPack nee- cuum chucks pick rows of Nea-politans packaging brief with four twin-lane ded consid-erably fewer packaging from the counter moulds and place LRM/2-G-S fold wrapping machines machines and thus less space than them accurately on the feeder of the plus buffer and conveying systems. its market competitors. It simply of- packaging machines. As the multifunc- The long-established company in fered better value for money.” Du- tional touch display shows, each of the Altendorf can look back on almost ring the im-plementation phase, the four LRM/2-G-S fold wrapping machi- 100 years of producing innovative pa- engineers from Chocolat Frey revie- nes package up to 1,050 Neapolitans ckaging machinery, systems and so- wed the technical details together in coated OPP film in this application. lutions for chewing gum, confectione- with the project team from Loesch “These facts measured in production ry, dry baked goods and chocolate. Verpackungstechnik. “LoeschPack prove the performance capability of Key arguments in favour of the decis- provided many valuable ideas in the our packaging machinery in conti- ion, as the production manager says, course of this development process. nuous duty,” says Heinze with pride. included the high speed of the pa- The engineers’ great expertise helped The total capacity of the four machines

4 Special Edition combined with the overall line design makes efficient packaging of the tasty chocolate Neapolitans a simple affair at all times.

Buffer stations for efficiency If a film tears, a product breaks or technical problems occur during production, causing the packaging machine to temporarily stop, the counter moulds are stacked at a buf- fer station. “Once the fault has been cleared, the product buffer gradually Overview of handling opposing moulds, converter robots and the packaging line. empties during normal op-eration of the molding unit. This means we can machine and the easy accessibility standing packaging quality in our guarantee our customer maximum of all areas for fault clearance make production facility fully vindicates our system efficiency,” says Heinze. If the the daily work of the operators a ple- joint development process.” From the molding unit has to be stopped, a se- asant experience. That, in turn, ma- packaging system, the wrapped Ne- cond buffer station for empty counter kes Heinze happy: “The confirmation apolitans are transported on a con- moulds comes into play. The buffers, of user-friendliness, top performance, veyor system for further packaging. reliable running of the packaging gentle product transport and out- “There, we pack the goods in various

Chocolate napolitain packaging line for Chocolat Frey built by LoeschPack.

Special Edition 5 ves with the design of the machinery and, together with LoeschPack’s en- gineers, shared their deep expertise in the production of Neapolitans,” recalls Leuenberger. As just one ex- ample, they provided key input for the specification of the packaging film used at Chocolat Frey, which is pro- duced sustainably and to the highest standards. The two technical teams were also very closely involved in the setup phase and start of production at the plant in Buchs. The system, with a total investment of several million euros, was commissi- oned in late August 2014: “We star- ted off at around 50 per-cent output, and were already at full production by

Converter robots remove the Napolitains from the opposing moulds and feed them to the Loe- the end of September,” says Heinze schPack packaging machines. as we remove our protective clothes. “And if there is ever a problem, we bag sizes, then in cartons and finally spent several days at LoeschPack have online access to the system and onto pallets. This solution saves us in Altendorf, familiarised themsel- can provide rapid assistance. When the need for temporary storage and optimises the logistics chain,” says Leuenberger, allowing us to try the milk chocolate Neapolitans.

A fruitful partnership Just ten months separated the de- cision to work with LoeschPack and the commissioning of the system. “Project planning, mechanical en- gineering, delivery, installation and start-up all in such a short time is an outstanding achievement,” says Leuenberger with great satisfaction. The smooth-running process was in no small part due to the excel- lent relationship between the Cho- colat Frey and LoeschPack project More than 1000 products per minute are packed on each fold wrapping machines type teams. “Staff in my technical team LRM/2-G-S.

6 Special Edition About Loesch Verpackungs- technik LoeschPack is a technology and qua- lity leader in packaging machines and complete systems for packaging cho- colate, chewing gum, confectionery, dry baked goods, as well as food and non-food products. In this tremendously dy- namic industry, LoeschPack stands for innovative, flexible and economic system design since 1919, as well as for a worldwide accessible, all around service.

Overview of handling opposing moulds and the packaging machines. FACTS

Product range required, we can also offer swift help hour. These are concrete plans Leu- > Feeding Systems with diagnostics, maintenance, data enberger tells us about as we return > Robotic Pick and Place Systems analysis or optimisation from Alten- to the visitor centre. “The constant > Fold Wrapping Machines dorf. That saves our customer valua- cost pressure in the food sector, the > Horizontal Flow Wrapping Systems ble time,” says Heinze, explaining the market entry of German discounters > Roll and Stick Wrapping Machines internationally tried-and-tested tele- in Switzerland, high labour costs and > Trayloading Systems service system. the strong Swiss franc all demand > Carton Erecting and Filling Machines products of outstanding quality and > Complete Packaging Lines Efficient Neapolitan production in efficient production structures,” sums Switzerland up Leuenberger. “Here, we have set Adress With the high performance system new standards with our project part- Loesch Verpackungstechnik GmbH for producing Neapolitans, Chocolat ners and look to the future with great Industriestrasse 1 Frey has the edge in an increasingly optimism.” We see it that way too as 96146 Altendorf/Germany competitive global environment. The we leave Chocolat Frey’s production Fon: +49 9545 449-0 management is already thinking about facility with plentiful samples of the art Fax: +49 9545 449-500 doubling production capacity to pro- of and the fine waft of E-Mail: [email protected] cess two tons of chocolate mass an cocoa in the air. Web: www.loeschpack.com

Special Edition 7 LoeschPack fold wrapping machine LRM-S

Small ones make it big time! System Solution from LoeschPack and Hastamat

Do you demand complete solutions which integrate various stages of the packing pro- cess? LoeschPack and Hastamat have a line combination which packages Napolitains in individual wrapping followed by stand-up bags with four-edge sealing. Thus your production becomes more efficient. The LRM-S single-lane fold wrapping machine from LoeschPack package in a full wrap made of OPP foil and seals with adhesive points. The individual articles are transported on an inclined conveyor belt to the CP-16-S32 combination weigher from Hastamat. There, the articles can be dosed precisely accor- ding to weight and then packaged in the vertical form- fill- seal machine RM-270 into Hastamat combination weigher CP-16-S32 four-edge sealed bags.

> High speed in your production > Highest format and packing style flexibility > Product gentle handling

This is what we mean by:

> Packaging your ideas…

Hastamat vertical form- fill- and seal machine