14 • Plant & Machinery • C&CI March 2012 Key role for Mahlkönig
at Cup of Excellence Mahlkönig has announced that it is the exclusive provider of cof- fee grinders for the Cup of Excellence. All of the coffee in the 2012 Cup of Excellence will be ground using the company’s equipment.
Mahlkönig is providing all of the countries participating in the competition with precision grinders, which were originally designed for use in laboratories, tastings and roasteries. The 2012 Cup of Excellence got under way at the end of January in Brazil, followed by competitions in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Burundi, Ruanda and Colombia later this year.
Probat opens Asia office Roasting machine/roasting plant specialist Probat recently opened a new office in the Asian region in order to strengthen its regional presence. Probat-Asia – a joint venture between Probat-Werke and NMN Global – commenced operations in January 2012. The newly-founded company is in Cebu City on the island of Cebu, The Philippines.
From the new location Probat will carry out service jobs, commissioning of new equipment and manage new projects in the Southeast Asia region. NMN Global has specialised in production of instant coffee for many years.
Markus Kaffee turns to Bosch
With demand for coffee pods and capsules growing rapidly, Markus Kaffee in Germany, a key supplier to supermarket chain Aldi Nord, recently decided to install packaging machinery from Bosch Packaging Technology. As the company notes, consumption in Germany showed significant growth in 2010, with sales increasing by 5 per cent to Euros 3.9 billion, with additional growth expected in 2011. Much of this growth in the German market has been led by companies that have been able to respond to changes in consumer life styles, in particular the growing trend towards consuming coffee packaging in pods and capsules. Based in Weyhe in Germany, Markus Kaffee has been producing coffee and tea for almost 40 years. With around 2,500 stores in Germany, Aldi Nord is a key client. The company recognised the growing importance of the single serve market, and in 2002 it included coffee pods in its offering for the first time. At that time, however, the pods were produced, filled and packaged externally. It wasn’t until 2010 that the company decided to take control over the production, filling and packaging of the Aldi-branded coffee pods and bring the entire process in-house. To complete its pod line, Markus Kaffee needed a pod-packaging machine to fill and seal the pad, and a package maker to pack the pods into a bag. The equipment needed to be able to produce the symmetrical pod shape used in its coffee pod product line, fill with a high degree of accuracy to avoid waste, and be able to load the end product into its stand-up easy-to-open package. Flexibility was essential in the new line because Markus Kaffee needed a solu- tion capable of handling a number of different bag styles, some with one and some with two stacks of pods, and accommodating various stack heights of up to 30 pods per stack. Cost was another important consideration. The foot- print of the equipment also needed to be as small as possible so that Markus Kaffee could maximize production space and allow for future additional lines. The company compared solutions from a number of providers and decided to order a comprehensive solution for filling and packaging from Bosch. The
Examples of some of the coffee packages produced for Markus Kaffee
Markus Kaffee acquired three lines, including three PME 4101 BG package makers with an integrated KWI 5000 check-weigher
company purchased three lines, including three pod packaging systems from the pod supplier and three PME 4101 BG package makers with an integrated KWI 5000 check-weigher from Bosch.
One of the key challenges was to ensure that the handover of the coffee pods from the pod packaging systems to the package mak- ers was quick, smooth and reliable. Bosch’s engineers optimized the result by customizing the package makers with a low machine height for seamless product flow. The PME 4101 BG also fulfilled the company’s requirements in terms of flexibility, speed and reliability. The machine was initially set up for the production of stand-up bags, with a middle vertical seam and head-punching with rounded flaps for easy peel-open. Made with aluminium film, the bags offer an attractive and robust point-of-sale presentation.
The final output is a bag with two stacks of 10 coffee pods delivered from the package maker at a speed of 45 packs per minute, or 900 pods packed per minute. While the PME package maker is able to deliver up to 55 packs per minute, the speed of was reduced to accommodate the handover from the pod packaging system and ensure reliability. With a modular design, the package maker is easily adaptable to handle package designs of varying shapes and sizes, allowing significant flexibility in reacting to new market trends. Moreover, the compact and linear line layout translated into a small equipment footprint to optimize usage of the production site.
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