Packing: A Key Factor in the Success of Confectionery Products
Sánchez Cano is Spain’s leading manufacturer of gummi confectionery, marshmallows, liquorice, hard candies and bubble gum, and is rapidly expanding in overseas markets. Still 100% owned by the founding family, it has a reputation for innovation, regularly adding to its existing 4,000 product variants.
Facts and Figures
Accurate
16-head double outlet model can handle smaller packs of 28 pieces at 120 packs per minute.
Flexible
Weigher has spacious three litre hoppers to accommodate bulky products.
Efficient
14-head weighers have anti-stick contact parts, including metal mesh in the hopper gates.
Challenge
Sánchez Cano needed a weighing solution for chewing gum, a relatively fragile product, which can be difficult to handle.
“Chewing gum begins to lose moisture as soon as it’s made, which means that harsh treatment could easily cause pieces of the outer coating to break off” comments Antonio Gambin Balsalobre, Director of Engineering at Sánchez Cano.
Solution
Sánchez Cano’s latest Ishida multihead weighers include a 16-head double outlet model selected to fill resealable doypacks with chewing gum pieces. It fills 180g packs for the EU as well as 142g for the US market. It can also handle smaller packs for the home market, 28 pieces per pack, at 120 packs per minute (60ppm each side).
Fast, accurate packing machinery is essential for efficient production at such small pack sizes.
“We selected an Ishida weigher with bancollan linings to reduce impact damage and the force of collisions” continues Antonio.
A primary reason for working with Ishida is the fact that they have a full range of fast and reliably accurate machines for confectionery packing, at a time when we are increasingly dedicating individual machines to specific products.
The company now has 12 Ishida multihead weighers at its main Spanish manufacturing site at Molina de Segura in Murcia, responsible for weighing many different varieties of confectionery.
Chewy jellies come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. For weighing and packing purposes, however, they fall into two main categories. On separation from their moulds, the jellies can be oiled, to give that wonderful shine that so appeals to children, or sugar-sanded for a more traditional look.
“The sugared jellies are relatively easy to handle”, says Antonio. “We’ve tended to favour 16-head double discharge multihead weighers because you basically get two fast weighers into the space of one. They’re very flexible, and you can for example run one side while cleaning the other.”
The oiled jellies are much more inclined to stick, especially in the case of products such as ‘fried eggs’ or ‘rings’, where there are relatively large flat surfaces. “Here we favour dedicating a whole weigher to each product, where the number of heads helps to make up for a relatively slow-moving product.”
Equally important is the level of support. Between Ishida and CIMA (Ishida’s Spanish distributor) they have six engineers available locally, which makes for a very responsive service.
Weighing Sugar Coated and Jelly Confectionery
Weighing sugar and jelly confectionery using an Ishida multihead weigher.
Glazed liquorice is comparable to oiled jelly in stickiness. At Sánchez Cano, mixtures of liquorice candies are also weighed on 14-head weighers with special contact parts. Among the weighers used for the oiled jellies are single-discharge 14-head weighers with anti-stick contact parts, including metal mesh in the hopper gates.
Marshmallows, dusted with sugar or cornflour, are handled on a 16-head double discharge weigher mounted over twin bagmakers, filling 500g and 1.25kg bags. The weigher has spacious three litre hoppers to accommodate this bulky product. “A primary reason for working with Ishida is the fact that they have a full range of fast and reliably accurate machines for confectionery packing, at a time when we are increasingly dedicating individual machines to specific products”, concludes Antonio.
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