Accurate efficiency

26 MACHINERY UPDATE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
Feature: Snacks
New bag styles
offer premium
margin gains
Machinery Update talks to Chris Bolton, sales and operations
director at Italian manufacturer PFM about the increasing
pressure on new product development to lift brand sales in the
snacks market and what new and non-traditional bag styles offer
As the snacks market matures
and the search for new
products and packs continues,
particularly in the premium
sector, Italian manufacturer
PFM has seen interest quicken in two ways.
Sales and operations director Chris
Bolton senses a well-above average
growth in pouches and other stand up
packs as well as growing demand for
modified atmosphere.
“Stand up pouches are among the
fastest growing pack types at the moment
and in the snack market one can see
a particular niche for reclosable and/
or sharing bags of relatively high value
products such as nuts. High on shelf
visibility and added value is always a
key demand in more mature markets,
so all styles of stand up bag will be an
improvement on the traditional pillow pack.
“As far as MAP is concerned we sense
growing demand,” he says. “The market
for nuts as snacks has been increasing for
some time and now, with new extruded
snack products coming along that rely
on perhaps as much as 90 per cent meat,
MAP is becoming increasingly important.
Up to quite recently, the problem has
been speed.”
But one pressing issue is how to
maintain a tight hold on the capital cost of
new packaging styles as Bolton explains.
“One of our customers has launched
a new product in what appears to be a
conventional stand up pouch. But it’s
not. The pack is gusseted to resemble
a pouch yet is actually made on a PFM
Vetta vertical form, fill and seal machine,
which costs far less than a pouch line.”
Should sales justify higher volumes,
then the product could be moved up to
a pouch machine with speeds up to 160
or so a minute but with no perceptible
change in pack style.
MAP IS NOW IMPORTANT
The same arguments apply equally to
other stand up bag styles, particularly
the four-side seal format. PFM’s Vetta,
which is actually a multi format bagging
machine, can be equipped to make this
style of pack which, when larger volumes
are required, can be transferred to a high
speed machine, such as the new PFM Solaris.
“MAP is becoming increasingly
important in so many areas, but up until
recently the problem has again been
speed,” notes Bolton. “That is why PFM
developed the Supernova bagger capable
SUMMARY
BAGS OF BRANDS
As the snacks market matures, the search
is on for new products and packs which
include…
■■More stand up pouches/bags
■■More modified atmosphere options
■■More innovation including pockets for
cutlery or condiments
■■More product groups coming into snacking
like proteins, cheese and fruits
of up to 250 MAP bags a minute, the
fastest in the world we reckon. It means
a really useful uplift in production speed
from maybe as low as 70 bags a minute
on previously available machinery,” he
asserts.
For machinery makers an important
trend, but not always demanding new
styles of machinery, is all day snacking
with consumers opting for items
traditionally associated with set meal
times, but presented in smaller, snack