The public’s love for snacks hasn’t changed, but how snacks are packed and distributed from the manufacturing line is constantly evolving to meet consumer demand and preferences. Secondary packaging is the outer layer of product packaging that helps maintain sanitation and quality for our favorite snacks while supporting branding and shelf appeal.
The secondary packaging process for snacks comes with challenges that producers and co-packers must consider to support their strategic objectives. In this guide, we break down five of their biggest secondary packaging challenges and explain how automation can solve them. Topics include:
Throughout our discussion on snack food challenges, we’ll explore various ways BPA can help you optimize your secondary packaging operations for sustainable growth in the very competitive space on the shelf.
Manufacturers and co-packers are required to pack greater quantities and variations of products.
If you rely primarily on manual packing for secondary packaging, it demands significant training and resources and is difficult to manage due to historically low retention among packing staff.
Increasingly, more producers and co-packers are turning to automation to manage many SKUs with their various packaging requirements. Still, there are considerations to ensure you have machines capable of handling various case sizes and pack styles.
The critical thing to remember is that you can make the transition to automation slowly as your business grows and your team becomes more comfortable. As a true partner, BluePrint Automation can consult you on any production challenge or guide you on the steps you can take as you transition toward automation.
Our Collator 200 is a low-cost semi-automatic machine that can stand bags up to present them in a vertical format for human packers to pack in a case. This will immediately increase production and flexibility on your line as it eliminates pack-off tables and cuts out a step for the packers.
As you get more comfortable with automation, you can add speed and precision to your secondary packaging process. For example, a Spider 200 is an excellent intermediary step toward full automation. It is equipped with our high-speed collation systems and has on-the-fly picking and placing capabilities to handle various SKUs.
We are constantly challenging our equipment's minimum and maximum ranges to handle more products and packaging types when you’re ready to make the jump to automation. An example of this would be the Spider 200i, an all-in-one system capable of erecting, loading, and closing your case. To take it a step further, you can also think about integrating our automated case blank distribution and loading system to get corrugate off the floor and reduce potential safety hazards.
Floor space is a massive challenge for manual and automated secondary packaging operations.
Remember, not every solution will work or even fit your floor space. You should consult an equipment manufacturer or integrator when adjusting your layout to accommodate new equipment. One benefit of working with BluePrint Automation is that our sales team comprises engineers who work with customers daily to create a layout that best utilizes their floor space.
For example, the Gantry 200 is designed with snack food plants in mind for its versatility and small footprint. It can even fit under mezzanines found in many snack processing plants while delicately handling bags of chips and other fragile products commonly produced in the snack food industry.
Consider your specific needs and pain points concerning floor space as you work toward finding the best solution for your lines.
Consumer preferences are shifting towards convenience and variety, creating some logistical challenges for manufacturers.
Our sales engineers can help you determine the best solution among the ones listed below to meet your needs and space constraints. We will consider the product volume, types, pack pattern, and other factors that can impact your variety pack assembly.
This solution is ideal for jumble packs that don’t require precise product orientation and is often the simplest, most effective approach for variety packs. Products are fed into feeders and conveyed into separate lanes by flavor, then dropped through chutes into a case traveling on its own conveyor, stopping at each station to receive the correct mix.
A traditional case packer loads products into precise, predetermined patterns rather than jumbled arrangements. Using an organized infeed system and conveyors, it guides specific flavors into fixed positions within the case. While more advanced than simple drop packing, it lacks the flexibility of robotics and is best suited for straightforward variety packs with a few flavors and consistent orientation requirements.
One of our core competencies is integrating vision systems and robotics for variety packs. Our Spider V series features our vision technology that can be programmed to pick and pack selected snack bags in any pattern into a master bag or carton for various types of multipacks. This variety pack solution creating a multipack in cartons, showcases our flexibility and ability to meet evolving packaging preferences.
For more information on these solutions, check out our guide to snack variety packs and automation.
Changeover time is a constant issue in the snack food industry, as you must adapt to shifting production requirements and accommodate diverse product lines.
You can implement some practical strategies right now to reduce changeover times. One way is to review your production schedule to see if there are opportunities to group similar production runs together and reduce repetitive tasks. Another is to standardize your SOPs and ensure all operators are trained on these procedures to add consistency to your processes.
You will likely see the most impact and improvement through equipment upgrades and automation. Over the past decade, BPA has pushed to minimize change parts and points on our equipment to reduce changeover times and complexity. This has benefited snack manufacturers in a number of ways:
Display-ready pallets (DRPs) are prepacked for quick transfer from the distribution center to the sales floor, simplifying restocking while showcasing branded displays that drive impulse purchases. But this convenience also adds complexity for snack manufacturers.
Reducing manual labor is essential as more stores request DRPs to enhance operations and marketing. Optimizing your processes and scheduling to accommodate DRPs will help, but finding an alternative way to construct a DRP-style display will likely yield the best results.
BPA has found a way to automate this process. By using stacked three-sided display boxes, producers can replicate the traditional DRP while automating the assembly process. We use our Gantry 300, which can run vertically and horizontally, to facilitate these display case runs.
If you are considering ways to run DRPs in your facility, this may be a viable option to keep in mind. Even if now is not the right time for an automated solution, we can consult you on other methods and packaging options to support the demand for DRPs.
The snack food industry is ever-changing, with new products and packaging to meet consumer preferences, industry trends, and technology advancements. Automation has improved many challenges impacting the snack food industry, but many options exist.
We can tailor a solution to your unique needs if you’re looking for ways to add automation to your secondary packaging process. Let’s work together and explore the endless possibilities to increase speed, improve flexibility, and stand out in your industry. Contact us today to get started.