Case study
VeLaRte
doing more in the same
space: Ishida’s part in
a clever snack factory
re-organisation
Bread-based snacks manufacturer Velarte restructured a section of its factory to greatly improve return on floor
space, and a compact Ishida snack-packing system played a key role.
Productos Velarte began life in 1969 as a small
family bakery. Today, it is an important supplier
of bread-based products in Spain, and the first in
its sector to become ISO, IFS and BRC certified.
Velarte breadsticks can be found on tables in
China, Japan and the USA, as well as Italy
and France.
Snacks based on bread have been gaining
ground because they are perceived as relatively
healthy, being baked rather than fried. Velarte’s
Minut range consists of crisp squares of bread,
with flavourings that include ham, cheese and
tomato/oregano.
“We were making some very complex plans to
maximize the use of the limited space available
in our factory involving weighing, flavouring and
the maintenance of correct conditions for
packaging in the Valencian climate, which can
be quite extreme in temperature and humidity.
Suppliers would need to co-operate closely, and
above all be reliable. We felt that this equipment
and the support offered by Ishida and its
Spanish distributor CIMA would ensure there
were no unforeseen problems.”
CIMA, based in Barcelona, fields a strong team
of engineers and has built an excellent working
relationship with Velarte.
Packing in danger of becoming a
bottleneck
The company had the capacity to manufacture
this type of product at 400kg per hour. When it
was decided to shift the emphasis to small pillow
bags (30g) because of the popularity of smaller
portions, it was clear that the three existing
weigher/bagmaker combinations just would not
be able to keep up.
The solution was to acquire an ITPS (Ishida Total
Packing System) consisting of an 18-head
weigher mounted over twin Atlas bagmakers to
replace all three of the older combinations. The
fastest of the older weighers was retained and put
to work over a UVA bagmaker, filling Doypacks.
Bought ‘off the exhibition stand’
“We saw this ITPS combination at Interpack
2011 and were impressed with its speed and
accuracy.” says Santiago De La Guardia Ricart,
Plant Director.
www.ishidaeurope.com
2
Case Study: Velarte
Limited space
Impressive speed and accuracy
The plans mentioned involved taking the 5m x
3m space where the three old weigher/bagmaker
combinations had stood and converting it to
include not just the new weigher and
bagmakers, but also the remaining older weigher
and the doypack-filling machine. In addition to
this, Santiago was determined to fit into the
same space a flavouring facility, the mainstream
feed to the two weighers and a separate feed
for chocolate-containing bread snacks, which
were also to be packed by the new ITPS into
30g bags.
Salvador Matoses is also pleased with the Atlas
bagmakers, which are delivering good quality
seals, both top-and-bottom and back. He likes
the range of adjustments that can be made
using the touchscreen, and the speed with which
changeovers can be made and the system
brought up again to full speed.
Both the flavouring facility and the weighing were
to be surrounded by temperature- and humiditycontrolled cabins.
Fill weights are coming within the range 30.2
to 30.5, so that giveaway is around 0.75% of
declared pack weight. With a typical piece
weight of 2-3g, and 10-15 pieces per bag, this
represents a very high accuracy indeed, and
a big improvement.
To accomplish this, Salvador Matoses, Head of
Engineering & Maintenance at the Velarte plant,
orchestrated careful design work and planning
followed by the activities of seven different
suppliers. Everything went harmoniously and
took place within a three-week window.
“In the third week, we were already producing
packed product”, says Santiago.
Unique kidney-shaped weigher
The Ishida CCW-R-218WB-D is a unique
weigher, specially designed to work with the
two Atlas bagmakers. It resembles two 9-head
weighers joined together in a kidney shape.
The resulting geometry makes for maximum
efficiency in getting compact doses of product
into the bags at high speed.
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The system is readily meeting its target speed
of 260 bags per minute for most products. Even
the chocolate-containing products run at an
impressive speed, thanks to the temperature
and humidity control around the weigher.
“Importantly for us,” says Salvador, “as well
as being very fast, this system is much more
accurate than the weigher-bagger combinations
it has replaced.”
How to perform a product
changeover without stopping
One very welcome feature is that the ITPS can
carry on working during a product changeover.
One side is stopped while the contact parts are
taken off and cleaned by hand, while the other
carries on delivering 130 bags per minute. Then
the stopped side can almost immediately begin
to work with the new product while the other side
is stopped and cleaned.
Cleaning is carried out by lifting contact parts off
by hand, washing, air-drying and replacing on
the weigher, the process being easily done in
under half an hour, with the chocolate-containing
products taking longest. The machine body is
cleaned using an air hose and finished with a
dust cloth.
Velarte generally works three 8-hour shifts.
Moving from the old system to the new has
halved the labour needed for weighing and
bagging, allowing some staff to be redeployed
to different parts of the factory.
A highly successful project
Santiago De La Guardia Ricart is pleased both
with the overall project, which has given the
company more options at a time when its factory
space is limited, and with the performance of
the ITPS.
“Our company’s marketing section is fast on its
feet, taking much less time to respond to market
changes than would a typical multinational.
The least we could do was to provide a rapid
manufacturing response to an urgent marketing
need, in spite of the space constraints.”
“We believed we could only pack these
products efficiently on the Ishida ITPS, and its
modest space requirements enabled it to fit
neatly into our plans.”
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