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Ginger Nuts go for an upgrade

Higher throughput with reduced labor costs is among the paybacks gained by United Biscuits since the firm automated its Ginger Nuts biscuit line in Carlisle, England.See video

Slugs of Ginger Nuts in clear, cold-seal film move from rotary wheel transfer.
Slugs of Ginger Nuts in clear, cold-seal film move from rotary wheel transfer.

A£5 million (US$9관꯯) investment in new equipment for the production and packaging of Ginger Nut biscuits has turned a largely manual operation into a highly automated one at United Biscuits’ Carlisle, England, plant.

While a portion of the investment went toward a new mixer and a controls upgrade on the oven, the bulk of the new equipment is packaging related. Productivity gains have been impressive since the line went into action last June. Five “technical operators” now package nearly 40% more product than the 25 operators that used to handle packaging before automation entered the picture. Dedicated to McVitie’s-brand Ginger Nuts—a “biscuit” in the U.K. but a “cookie” in the United States—the line runs around the clock five days a week.

An added benefit gained since the new line went in is improved shelf presence on primary packs thanks to a switch from roll wrapping to flow wrapping.

“A gusseting finger on the wrapper pushes the end seal in,” says unit manager Peter Scott. “On a conventional flow wrapper, the end-sealed portions are wider than the pack itself. This flow-wrapped version is a much neater pack.”

Supplied by Alcan Packaging, the new material used for primary packs is a two-layer adhesive lamination of 20-micron clear release polypropylene and 28-micron voided white PP. Graphics are reverse gravure printed in six colors on the clear PP substrate.

In selecting packaging machinery for the reborn Ginger Nuts line, UB went with an integrated-system approach. From the cooling conveyor at the head of the line to the robotic case packer that brings packaging to a close, the bulk of the line consists of equipment from Sigpack Systems (now part of Bosch Packaging Technology Co.). “We went with what is generally recognized as the best of its kind in the category,” says Glenn Allison, principal engineer at the Carlisle plant.

Individual pieces of equipment are each governed by a Rockwell ControLogix controller, which handles both logic and motion. Also distinguishing the line is that it is designed around Sigpack Systems’ Systegra concept, where all machines are tightly integrated over a communications network, in this case Profibus. As Scott puts it, “The whole line is intelligent. Each component communicates back and forth with the others along the communications network.”

Flexibility and rapid changeover were also important objectives in designing the line, partly because UB serves the needs of private-label customers as well as making its own-brand biscuits. “Rapid changeover is what lets you maximize opportunities,” says Allison. “A film change may take two or three minutes. Combine it with a change in slug size and case configuration, and it’s more like 45 minutes.” The slugs are produced in four sizes: 200-, 250-, 300-, and 400-g.

It begins on the ground floor

Packaging begins when the biscuits are conveyed from the ground floor mixing and baking operation up to the first-floor packaging line on a broad cooling conveyor. Dividing lanes channel the biscuits onto two separate belt conveyors, each leading to one of the two packaging legs on the line.

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