Future Foods, an Egyptian snack manufacturer, continuously brings new and innovative products to the market. With plans to launch a new pretzels range, the company was looking for a solutions provider to help deliver a high-quality product range while ensuring a healthy snacking experience. tna had the right solutions in their programme.

Pretzels are considered to be the fastest growing segment in the savoury snacks category. To maximize the opportunities this flourishing sector offers, Future Foods needed equipment to optimize seasoning application, capitalize on packaging efficiency and minimize waste to ensure a successful launch of its new range.

Future Foods needed to feel confident that its new product range would meet consumer expectations to ensure it would gain market acceptance and generate loyalty. In addition, application accuracy was a key consideration for the snack manufacturer. Applying an incorrect level of seasoning can have a significant impact on both input costs in terms of raw materials and wastage costs from rejected products that are either over or under seasoned.

The company opted for tna’s on machine seasoning (OMS) system, the tna Intelli flav OMS 5. Featuring a responsive variable mass seasoning system with dynamic vibratory weigher, the tna Intelli flav OMS 5 precisely controls seasoning application within the drum. This enables an accurate, proportional amount of seasoning to be evenly applied to the product for consistent coverage and flavour dispersion.

Further performance benefits are achieved through the enhanced position of the curtain feeder on the tna Intelliflav OMS 5 infeed. Mounted to the edge of the drum, the scarf better directs the powder into the spraying and flavouring area, providing an even amount of seasoning on each pretzel. Additionally, the scalloped infeed conveyor design allows more product to enter the seasoning drum, while also helping to control product direction for greater seasoning accuracy and reduced waste. This helped Future Foods achieve cost savings and ultimately increase profitability.

“As we produce a delicate product that is new to the market, we had to make sure we deliver a consistently seasoned, great tasting product to appeal to the consumer,” comments George Soussou, Vice-Chairman and Operations Director at Future Foods. “tna helped us efficiently spray our seasoning powders with no waste. This is why our snacks taste better than those of the competition. With the new seasoning system, our powder consumption never exceeds five percent and the breakage level from seasoning to packaging is less than 0.5 percent.”

When it came to choosing a distribution system for the new range, reduced product breakage and ease of cleaning were critical factors. From the onset, Future Foods knew reducing the risk of potential product damage or loss of flavour was key for success. tna’s vibratory and horizontal motion conveyors ensure a smooth product transfer through the line, which is why Future Foods chose the tna Roflo HM 3.

“When it comes to minimizing product damage, our tna Roflo HM 3 is the ideal solution as there is no vertical lifting or bouncing of the products and no flavour build up in the pan,” comments Mohamed Hamed, Sales Manager at tna. “In addition, our patented ‘true’ gateless design helps protect the pretzels from damage. Unlike traditional conveyors that use mechanical gates, our servo controlled ‘virtual gates’ simply open up a gap between the pans where the product is discharged, significantly reducing the risk of any potential damage to the product and practically eliminating any loss of flavour.”

tna’s Roflo conveyors also offer significant maintenance benefits due to their overall mechanical simplicity, resulting in greater equipment reliability and therefore lower total cost of ownership over the lifespan of the system. The tna Roflo HM is the only con- veyor in the world that uses a single linear servo motor. One of the main benefits of this design is that there is almost zero maintenance as there are no big drives, shafts, belts or pulleys.

Future Foods is offering its new range of pretzels in 16 g, 35 g and 100 g pillow style bags. As a result, the company was not only looking for a system that would deliver consistently high speeds, but would also be capable of quick changeovers to maximize throughput and reduce downtime between different bag sizes to less than 3 min.

The solution was the installation of two tna Robag FX 3ci vertical form, fill and seal (VFFS) packaging systems. Renowned for its high speeds, the tna Robag FX 3ci was able to offer both production flexibility and improved performance in a compact, easy to clean system. With their rotary double jaws, the new baggers were quickly able to deliver speeds of up to 165 bags per minute, while quick release formers ensure that Future Foods can change between bag sizes in less than 3 min.

“The new packaging systems are very reliable, achieving 100 percent productivity at very high speeds,” says Mr Soussou. “What’s more, with less than one percent film waste, we’re able to achieve significant cost savings. Adding to that, the user friendliness of the machine and the ease of changeover between bag sizes keeps downtime to a minimum, further increasing our production efficiencies.”