Pune-based packaging machine manufacturer Nichrome India demonstrated three of its products and launched a filling machine at the Pack Mach Asia 2022 exhibition held from 7-9 December at the Bombay Exhibition Centre.
The company showcased the Maxima servo auger filler that can package items such as spice powder, premix powder, health drink powder, coffee powder, and powder beverages in pouches. The Maxima series comes in two variants – the Maxima 200 and Maxima 400.
The Maxima 200 packs up to 200 pouches per min while the Maxima 400 packs up to 400 pouches a min. A single or perforated chain of pouches can be produced. The Maxima 400 has the flexibility to pack different products with different quantities on each head.
Nichrome also demonstrated its Flexiwrap/ST 700 end-of-line packaging system. Mrunal Joshi, executive director, Nichrome said this solution can help increase speed and improve the output of the packaging line. Human error and accidents are avoided as the Flexiwrap machine efficiently collates, folds, and overwraps single or chain pouches with speed, she said.
At Pack Mach, Nichrome launched the Spouty, which fills preformed bags. The filling is done through a spout. The machine has a speed of 15 pouches per minute and with smaller grammages, the speed can be increased further. With the Spouty, customers have the option to go for the second filler, which will increase the speed to 30-40 pouches a minute.
“With the Spouty, we are targeting very small players in the food industry. The machine can be used to fill juices, ketchup, mayonnaise, chutney, paste, oil, and ghee, among others. This is a very economical solution for smaller businesses. But even bigger companies can use this for their brands that are produced in limited quantities,” says Joshi.
Increasing automation in Indian packaging
Joshi said the Indian packaging industry is growing at an impressive pace and is increasingly moving towards greater automation.
“The pandemic has opened a lot of opportunities for automation in the field of packaging, not only in primary packaging but in end-of-the-line packaging as well. The customers are now aware that they need to automate the complete production line. The disruption in labor supply during the pandemic made the industry realize that automating their processes is very important,” she said.
Joshi said customers are now aware about the analytical information of the production. Earlier they were dependent on manual information but now they have realized that a robust technology set-up is important, she said.
“The industry in increasingly realizing the importance of Industry 4.0,” Joshi concluded.
