Michelle’s Bakery Outlet and Grill is a local favorite near Rutherford College, NC. Alongside their grill, Michelle’s Bakery distributes a large variety of homemade cakes, pies, cookies, and other desserts. Michelle’s Bakery recently trialed a new Rose Forgrove Merlin Blu flow wrapper from Hayssen Flexible Systems. The company needed a flow wrapper that could handle the packaging of various smaller bakery items as well as whole pies and larger bakery products for retail display.
Tammy Cannon, Co-owner of Michelle’s Bakery, oversees the packaging of their bakery product lines, and was happy to accept the Merlin Blu on a trial basis. Positioned for substantial growth, the company had a need for automated packaging equipment. Michelle’s Bakery has since purchased that same Merlin Blu, which steadily wraps cookies day after day. One of the features that appealed to Cannon was the hygienic features, with tool-less removal of guarding, which makes for fast and easy cleaning of the flow wrapper.
Another benefit of the Merlin that led to a final sale is its capability to handle a wide range of products with its easy-to-use adjustable forming box and wide jaws. Taking advantage of these features and the user-friendly operator interface, Michelle’s Bakery can easily switch from wrapping small cookies to full-size pies. The B&R Industrial Automation control system with color icon controls make it easy for Cannon’s team to set packaging parameters and make quick changeovers.
Ryan Glenn, Horizontal Sales Leader for Hayssen Flexible Systems, coordinated the project with Michelle’s Bakery. He comments, “I initially bought one of Michelle’s Bakery’s pound cake slices while traveling. I was impressed with their high-quality bakery products. Their close proximity to our global headquarters in Duncan, South Carolina, where the Merlin Blu is manufactured, made them an ideal candidate for a beta installation. The Merlin Blu is an ideal flow wrapper to help them achieve packaging that effectively displays Michelle’s Bakery tasty treats while maintaining the freshness of their products. I look forward to partnering with Michelle’s Bakery as their operations continue to grow.”
Currently, Michelle’s Bakery is using the Merlin Blu to wrap their famous chocolate oatmeal cookies in single-serve packs at 50 packs/min, as well as whole coconut pies at a rate of 25/min.
