FDBusiness.com

Tna has launched the tna ropac^® 5, a ground-breaking, ultra-high-speed case packer for flexible bags that is capable of industry-leading speeds of up to 300 bags per minute. Part of tna’s performance 5.0 packaging system, the new tna ropac 5 is the first and only side-load case packer in the world that uses tna’s unique, patented semi-rotary bag stacking technology to quickly and efficiently pack small to medium, pillow-style snack bags into secondary containers.

With its innovative, highly compact design, the new tna ropac 5 takes a monumental leap in terms of performance by more than doubling the industry’s average case packing speeds, offering snack food manufacturers unprecedented levels of throughput, exceptional equipment reliability and one of the smallest machine footprints.

With the tna ropac 5, tna is breaking new grounds in regards to engineering excellence and innovation. Contrary to the majority of case packers that employ vacuum pick and drop technology, the tna ropac is based on tna’s own revolutionary, semi-rotary bag stacking motion.

Using continuously revolving horizontal platforms that can accommodate multiple rows of bags, tna’s proprietary system is able to quickly and efficiently form, lower and side-load vertical stacks of bags into a secondary container such as a box.

As a result of this highly innovative, ultra-high-speed stacking technology, the tna ropac 5 is capable of packaging up to 300bpm, making it the world’s fastest case packer for flexible bags. The semi-rotary bag stacking system also avoids bags being gripped and dropped by vacuum heads, ensuring that each bag is handled with the utmost care, minimising the risk of product breakage and missed bags.

In addition, the tna ropac 5 features semi-automatic, tool-less changeovers that take less than 10 minutes to complete, offering manufacturers complete flexibility over bag and case size. Together with the overall simplicity in design of the case packer featuring a low number of moving parts compared to competitor models, tna’s innovative technology ensures that there is less wear and tear of the equipment’s components for superior equipment reliability, ultimate ease of maintenance and complete investment security. The tna ropac 5 also requires minimal power and air due to the low amount of pneumatic actuators and the semi-rotary action that avoids reciprocating motion. As a result, operating costs are reduced significantly and manufacturers are able to achieve a much more sustainable production.

“The snacks market is booming and food manufacturers need equipment that is able to deliver the speeds and efficiencies they need to respond to the ever-increasing demand for packaged snacks,” comments Michael Green, group general manager at tna.”With speeds of up to 300 bags per minute, our new case packer has the potential to double food manufacturers throughput overnight, completely redefining industry standards.

“When combined with our complete portfolio of high-performance turnkey solutions, this means that snack manufacturers can source all their production line equipment from a single supplier, from pre-processing equipment at the start of the line all the way to case packing solutions for the end of the line. What’s more, with our upcoming tna robag® 5, we’ll soon be able to offer snack manufacturers the industry’s fastest bagging and case packaging speeds all in one integrated ultra-high speed system and as part of tna’s performance 5.0 concept.”

Designed to use the minimum amount of factory footprint, the tna ropac 5 is one of the most compact side-loading case packers in the industry and can be seamlessly integrated with any upstream and downstream equipment, including check weighers, case erectors and top sealers. With a width of only 1220mm, the tna ropac 5 was specifically built to fit in line of the VFFS system, enabling manufacturers to place a case packer after every single bagger. It even allows for the installation of two case packers in twin configuration for the most efficient use of factory floor space. In addition, the tna ropac 5 only measures 2,120mm in height, opening up the possibility to add a case erector on a mezzanine floor level above the case packer, further maximising the use of the space available.