Theegarten-Pactec prepares for ProSweets with enhanced chocolate packaging line

Major confectionery packaging equipment developments are set to be showcased by Germany’s Theegarten-Pactec at the ProSweets trade fair in Germany next month, writes Neill Barston.

The Dresden-based business will unveil its enhanced CHS, modular high performance machine designed for chocolate products, featuring its newly integrated “envelope fold” design, which will be demonstrated in prototype form.

As the business explained, the event, which runs between 30 January and 2 February alongside ISM in Cologne is set to prove memorable for the sector, especially given that it has not been held for two years due to the pandemic. While conditions are challenging in Germany regarding Covid-19, organisers remain confident of staging the event successful, with additional hygiene measures put in place for visitors.

Theegarten’s latest offering, the CHS, is said to be capable of handling a number of wrapping styles, packaging products in a careful and efficient manner.  Last year, the company optimised the machine for the packaging style known as double-twist wrapping, achieving an output of up to 1,800 products per minute in the process. The machine entered industrial trials as early as March 2021 and has reportedly gained strong industry feedback.

The company’s ProSweets demonstration will see small chocolate pralines packed effectively at a rate of 800 products per minute, with the business setting itself ambitious targets for the industrial trials that are slate after the trade fair. With the CHS, for example, it hopes to achieve an output of 1,200 products per minute via a single-track infeed and as many as 1,600 products per minute with two tracks.

Furthermore, the CHS is particularly flexible when it comes to the types of wrapping style it can handle. It can be switched to work with nine different packaging types: double twist, protected twist, top twist, side twist, foil wrap, bottom fold, side fold, Vienna fruit fold and now envelope fold as well. The machine allows the wrapping style and format to be switched quickly in just four hours. Most of these changes require only one person. Price-conscious customers are also likely to be pleased that the requisite wrapping style are easy to retrofit, regardless of how their CHS was originally configured when they bought it.

Theegarten-Pactec also adapted the range of formats that the CHS can cope with, accounting for varying seasonal lines. Whereas it could previously pack products 16 to 45 mm long, the new system offers a range of lengths between 16 and 60 mm. The Dresden-based company has also made adjustments to the width – previously 12 to 25 mm, now 12 to 35 mm – thus opening up even more application possibilities for its customers.

Circular products with a diameter of 12 to 35 mm and dome-shaped products with a diameter of 16 to 33 mm and a height of 16 to 28 mm are no obstacle for this high-performance machine either. Visitors to the trade fair will be able to see the manifold benefits of the CHS for themselves live and up close. – Theegarten-Pactec will be appearing at ProSweets at stand G020 H029 in Hall 10.1