The company’s common thread of innovation has never stopped, leading it to propose cutting-edge solutions that, now as yesterday, distinguish it as an expert partner to fulfill the needs of the Confectionery market.
A solid and fast-growing market
Confectionery is a thriving market that expresses an average growth rate of 3.8% in the period between 2020 and 2025, the year in which it is expected to reach almost 2.000 billion dollars in value compared to 1.700 in 2019 (source: Market Study Report). The sector was able to respond effectively to the challenges of the pandemic which did not particularly impact sales, but contributed to slightly change purchasing trends, with a recovery of multi-pack packages compared to single formats, dictated by the greater economic convenience of the former. The pandemic has also led to a boom in online shopping.
Confectionery today is a market caring for issues that revolve around sustainability. The younger part of consumers is very sensitive to this issue and pushes companies to rethink their products in this direction. Sustainability is understood not only as a low impact of the supply chain on the ecosystem, but also from an ethical point of view: more and more consumers are showing interest in issues such as the origin and production conditions of raw materials.
ACMA’s response to sustainability
The world trend is towards the reduction of plastic or multilayer-based materials, which today are widely used in the packaging sector. Currently, plastic-based packaging represents 80% of all bar products sold globally, while those packaged in paper, which are more recyclable and sustainable, account for only 16%. ACMA is making extensive efforts to give an effective answer to this question, carrying out numerous tests, in partnership with some of the most important brands in the sector, to verify the behavior of sustainable materials for both flowpack and wrapping, used in the sector.
These tests are carried out in a dedicated research laboratory and see the use of the most innovative materials from the point of view of sustainability, including those based on paper. The challenge is to overcome the structural limits of these materials which can be damaged during wrapping, for example during the closing phase of the “double staple” format. The final purpose is to keep the quality of the wrapping, a real trademark of ACMA, high, giving the customer the opportunity to use solutions with a reduced environmental impact and ensuring the high performance of the installed machinery.
Offer an experience: the case of Ecoshell
In the Confectionery market, on the one hand the packages must have characteristics in terms of practicality (they must be easy to open and – in the case, for example, of products such as chewing gum – reclose, they must guarantee a high shelf life, adequate qualities robustness and offer an easy product dosing system) and on the other hand, they must help the company to convey messages and, in general, the brand image, taking into consideration that the style in the Confectionery sector is typically imaginative and colorful .
The answer given by ACMA to these needs, in addition to the Flip Top and Zip Top packages, is called “Ecoshell”: a paper-based package, characterized by an innovative design that allows, through an aesthetically refined and patented solution, to enjoy an optimal dosage of the product and great ease of use.
The new technology developed by ACMA for the production of the package makes it possible to efficiently obtain shapes that are not commonly feasible, guaranteeing originality in appearance and great flexibility, thus allowing the customer ample possibilities in terms of customization. Ecoshell is in fact scalable in size and proportions, it adapts to different commercial purposes, depending on the type of product to be packaged.
Technologies Exposed at ProSweets:
Multi-style for quality wrapping: CW 600 F
CW 600 F will be one of the machines on display in Cologne: it is a unit with alternating movements for the multi-style packaging of products such as chocolates and flat-base candies, designed to meet the specific needs of those markets that require solutions up to 600 strokes per minute, characterized by high flexibility, wrapping quality and ease of use. The machine can produce shapes such as double twist, boero, twist on side, bunch, wallet and wallet with strap, allowing to carry out an independent unwinding of the reels and ensuring perfect packaging even in the case of products with internal and external wrapping of different sizes.
ACMA is also working on the implementation of other wrapping styles, including the “envelope” and the “protected double twist”, a more protected version of the homonymous format. The compact layout also allows it to integrate perfectly within diversified production environments, while the cantilevered construction and the use of brushless motors simplify management, maintenance and cleaning activities. The offer is completed by the possibility of working with all the main wrapping materials.
An even more developed human-machine interface: Optimate
ACMA will present at Prosweets the Optimate operator panel (Web HMI) in the “premium” version, installed on its CW 800 (one of the machines exhibited at the fair, together with CW 600 F). In this new version, Optimate differs from the “basic version” for different factors, among which advanced methods in terms of preventive maintenance of the machine and format change are highlighted. The latter takes place in a guided manner, in order to be as fast as possible and reduce the downtime of the line. The basic characteristics remain unchanged, making Optimate intuitive and user friendly in all operations, from the daily operation of the machine to maintenance operations. Finally, Optimate allows a real-time intervention (Advanced Remote Assistance) by the ACMA team of experts to perform diagnostics and quick troubleshooting.
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