LoeschPack set for major packaging showcase at Interpack 2023

Oct 20, 2023

pic: Loeschpack

Posted: 11 March 2023

Related core topics: Business news, Cocoa & chocolate, Food safety, Ingredients, New products, Packaging, Processing, Regulatory, Sustainability

Related topics: confectionery, equipment, event, innovation, packaging, systems, technology, Trade Fair

Related people: Olaf Piepenbrock

A raft of new innovations has been promised from German-based LoeschPack packaging specialist for this year's key Interpack event in Dusseldorf this May, reports Neill Barston.

Notably, the business explained to Confectionery Production that it will be placing a strong emphasis on delivering complete systems that have a high degree of focus on sustainable operation.

The company will be at Hall 14, Booth C22 for the major global event taking place between May 4-10, alongside sister company Hastamat, the Franconian packaging machine manufacturer showcasing its own extensive portfolio.

With its bar line and its combined line, LoeschPack is presenting several integrated packaging solutions to the trade audience at once: from primary packaging to the sales tray. The spotlight will be on new pack styles that use sustainable and recyclable materials.

"We want to help our customers pack their products faster, more sustainably, and more efficiently," says Olaf Piepenbrock, Managing Partner of LoeschPack, Hastamat, and parent company Piepenbrock.

"We achieve this with our new, high-performance packaging lines, their ease of handling, and our packaging process, which is perfectly tailored to the product. This is our way of continuing to live up to our corporate promise of ‘Packaging your ideas…’ to a global audience."

The packaging machine manufacturer has completely rethought the principle of horizontal flow wrap packaging – and developed a modular packaging line: from the buffer via the feeder, the bar packed in the flow pack arrives ready for the sales tray. And all the production steps are carried out from a single source. For this completely new development, LoeschPack focused on a hygienic design, simple operation, and a small footprint. All machines are equipped with the new "easyMI" HMI (Human- Machine Interface) with an 18.5-inch touchscreen.

As the company noted, clear, simple visualisations and shortcuts ensure that users are fully supported at all times. Machine operators and maintenance personnel can now operate the machines more easily and access a wide range of control and performance components. They are also assisted by a new mobile service app that makes it much easier to contact our service specialists through a secure connection should the need ever arise. It's an attractive overall package – and equipped with everything needed for flexible and efficient production.

Whether for a multilevel or gondola buffer system, the LOOP buffer system is specially designed to meet the requirements of large-scale production for bars and other confectionery products. With integrated storage systems, LoeschPack is succeeding in increasing efficiency and regulating production flow. The system is directly linked to the latest- generation LOMATIC, a feeding and distribution system designed for all speed ranges. In addition to chocolate, the machine also processes cookies, wafers, and granola bars. Row by row, the LOMATIC feeds the downstream packaging machines – at a speed of up to 160 rows per minute. From Napolitains to 300-gram bars. The design is optimised for running accuracy, a long service life, easy cleaning, and simple and fast size changeovers.

Flow wrapping developmentsThe fully revised CMT packs the incoming bars from the FHW-S horizontal flow wrapping machine in cardboard. The highly flexible top loading cartoning system from the LoeschPack C-series is space-saving and suitable for secondary packaging of a wide variety of pre-packed products for the confectionery, food, and non-food sectors. The particularly powerful application straightens up the flat carton blanks and both fills and seals them. Considering the speed performance, the required space and footprint of the toploader are very small.

The CMT can handle an infeed of up to 1,000 products per minute at its maximum speed – with a maximum output of up to 200 cartons. The incoming products from the flow wrapping machine are turned 90 degrees with a simple turning device, decelerated, and fed to the racetrack. And it is not just size changeovers that are easy: the machine is also easily accessible to operators for cleaning and maintenance work. The cable routing within the base frame ensures an uncluttered design. No matter whether the customer needs a high-speed inline variant, a traditional 90- degree infeed, or dual-lane infeed, the CMT is available in versions that reflect these requirements. This rounds off LoeschPack's product range in the field of cartoning.

LTM-DuoWith the LTM-DUO combined line, LoeschPack is presenting the trade audience its integrated, flexible, and fully comprehensive system solution for packaging chocolate bars. The successful LTM-DUO model combines perfect packaging and machines with a high degree of automation, low personnel requirements, and a small footprint. The flexible LTM-DUO fold wrapping machine packs more than 200 chocolate bars per minute in a tightly sealed primary wrap. The outer wrap of the chocolate bar can be a paper label from a stack or reel, or it can be a cardboard label.

The machine is joined by the CMW cartoning module. The machine fills 30 display cartons per minute – for perfect product presentation on the supermarket shelf. An integrated buffer between the primary packaging and cartoning stages prevents product rejects in the event of downtime. Only one hot glue device and a controller with the new HMI are required for the entire line.

This has a positive effect on procurement costs and parts procurement. In addition, the complete system can be operated by a single person who can keep an eye on operating conditions at all times. The system's compact design takes up significantly less space than comparable layouts. This makes the combined line significantly more cost-effective than a configuration with two stand-alone machines. The CMW cartoning module can be flexibly combined – and is also available as a stand-alone version. This means, for example, that it can be operated in a layout with two upstream fold wrapping or flow wrapping machines. In the future, an upgrade kit will also be available, allowing an older LTM-DUO to be easily combined with the new system.