Accumulating coffee packs

A German coffee packer, and exclusive supplier to a discount supermarket chain with 9,000 stores in 18 countries, was helped by one good solution that solved multiple challenges.

The key challenge was the accumulation process prior to an inspection of the vacuum. After vacuum packing, a certain time delay is always needed before the vacuuming process can be inspected to see if it was successful. The second challenge was the requirement for an elevation of almost 3 meters combined with limited floor space. And all this coupled with a production rate of 8,000 units per hour.

These 3 challenges have been resolved by using a SpiralVeyor® of the SVs narrow belt series. In fact, a 5 winding spiral conveyor with a width of 140mm and a total conveyor length of 16 meters. One challenge for AmbaFlex was product stability. The155mm tall vacuum packs stand on a footprint of only 45mm by 90mm and the folded pack bottom makes it extremely unstable. As a result, the AmbaFlex super-flat friction option was selected to form the most effective solution.

For AmbaFlex, the challenge was how to combine their 20 years’ experience with their huge portfolio of proven special options. One of the special features selected was the no-marking stainless steel guides. With primary packages, it is important that they don’t show any markings. AmbaFlex is well known for these endless guides of polished stainless steel. Key here are the driven double transfer rollers that are fitted at the already very compact end rollers to ensure the stable head-to-head transfer.

The gains for coffee packers are both elevation and accumulation within just over 1 square meter (compared with a length of over 18 meters needed for traditional solutions) and a continuous all-in-one solution with a near to 100% availability.

One more proof of AmbaFlex’s leading position in Spiral Conveyor solutions.