Australian-based packaging business tna has launched an innovative ultra high-speed case packer for flexible bags used across the snacks industry.

Known as the ropac 5, it has claimed class leading speeds of over 300 bags per minute operating speed, and is set to prove one of its major launches for 2017.

The equipment is part of tna’s performance 5.0 packaging system, and is reportedly the first and only side-load case packer in the world that uses the company’s unique, patented semi-rotary bag stacking technology to quickly and efficiently pack small to medium, pillow-style snack bags into secondary containers.

According to the company, the new equipment effectively doubles the industry’s average case packing speeds, offering snack food manufacturers high levels of throughput, equipment reliability and one of the smallest machine footprints.

The new equipment is based on the company’s 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.

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,” said 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 robag5, 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.”