Sidel launches highly flexible Industry 4.0 case-packing platform for reduced repacking

03 Jun 2021 --- Sidel is introducing a highly flexible Industry 4.0 case-packing platform for shaped containers in wrap-around blanks, trays and shelf-ready packaging. 

The packaging equipment and services provider says changing consumer preferences, environmental sustainability requirements, the growing need for added-value packs customization and new selling or shipping units are forcing manufacturers to adapt their production models and supply chains.

Food, Home and Personal Care (FHPC) producers want to move toward a leaner and eco-friendlier secondary packaging philosophy by reevaluating their current use of repacking solutions, which generate significant cost, quality and sustainability side effects.

Smaller and larger case counts can minimize these effects by managing, storing and shipping products in suitable quantities with more ease and flexibility for future customized retailing needs.

To meet the need for extreme case counts while still dealing with the standard high-production formats, Sidel is launching Cermex EvoPack, a highly flexible case-packing platform for shaped containers.

Changing consumer behavior
According to Sidel, consumers are becoming more demanding in their individual shopping needs, wanting to shop conveniently, at any time or anywhere.

Not only does the continuing e-commerce boom reflect this, but it can also be seen in the renaissance of smaller urban stores, with major retailers returning to the city centers to grant easy access to everyday necessities.

Cermex EvoPack delivers a ratio of up to 60 cases per minute in a compact footprint of less than 30 square meters.“Certain FHPC sub-categories or players sometimes have customization needs for up to 40 percent of their production volumes. Until now, the most common way for producers to approach these requests was to use manual repacking services,” says Didier Saussereau, packing product manager at Sidel.

“With its flexible and extreme case count capabilities, the platform can help producers restore industrial margin thanks to significant cost savings as regards the use of material, equipment and energy.”

“Additionally, it will certainly greatly contribute to meeting their carbon footprint reduction and sustainability goals.”

Limiting repacking activities
These repacking activities generate costs via the extra packaging material used and the additional manual labor tasks, which now exceed the acceptable limits as regards manufacturers’ competitiveness and margins, indicates Sidel.

The associated environmental waste is making repacking even less sustainable. Finally, the additional handling during repacking may potentially generate scratches or scuffing on the products.

“To reduce and simplify repacking, we are seeing an increasing need for small case counts to help producers reduce the number of products per shipping unit down to the in-demand batches of two, three, or four products,” continues Saussereau.

“These offer the opportunity to manage, store and ship products more easily and flexibly for downstream tasks at distribution centers or within e-commerce order preparations.”Sidel’s highly flexible case-packing platform offers an “unprecedented” secondary packaging size range to manage reduced case counts.

In parallel, demand for complex product set-ups will remain and still require manual repacking manipulations. With upstream technical capabilities to supply larger case counts, producers could ship the same number of products with less secondary packaging used and wasted.

“Now being able to produce both small and large case counts will help them better anticipate trends and accommodate new channels, as long as the traditional high production volumes of the standard formats are still handled on the same production line and packing solution,” adds Saussereau.

High speed, compact equipment
Cermex EvoPack offers an “unprecedented” secondary packaging size range to manage reduced case counts, containing only two, three or four products, and very large transit cases with more than 24 containers intended to go into repacking, while at the same time also being able to handle standard high-volume case formats.

“With its flexible and extreme case count capabilities, the platform can help producers restore industrial margin thanks to significant cost savings as regards the use of material, equipment and energy. Additionally, it will certainly greatly contribute to meeting their carbon footprint reduction and sustainability goals,” explains Saussereau.

Delivering a ratio of up to 60 cases per minute in a compact footprint of less than 30 square meters, Cermex EvoPack offers fast and repeatable format changeovers ranging from just five minutes for a case format change up to 15 minutes when changing both bottle and case formats.

“Our goal was also to make the equipment easy to operate and maintain, so we designed Cermex EvoPack by embedding the latest Industry 4.0 technologies to guide operators and maintenance teams in their daily operations,” concludes Saussereau.

Last month, Sidel introduced an oval bottle base alternative for flat PET containers called StarLite HPC. The “clever structure” is designed asymmetrically to better enable material distribution, which improves its stability.

Edited by Joshua Poole