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Vf/f/s percolates at S&D Coffee

To meet the growing sales demands of its foodservice and institutional customers, this Concord, NC, roaster fills ground coffee into a paper filter bag then overwraps between one and five bags in plastic film on the same machine. Strong sales help S&D reap a six-month payback on the unusual machine.

The paper filter unwind and bagging unit are shown close-up (left), while the overwrapping station appears above. Finished ov
The paper filter unwind and bagging unit are shown close-up (left), while the overwrapping station appears above. Finished ov

Business is good at S&D Coffee. So good, in fact, that this summer the Concord, NC, company installed a third vertical form/fill/seal machine for its flourishing bag-in-bag and multipacks of ground coffee packs for foodservice and institutional accounts.

The term "bag-in-bag" refers to a single pack-coffee filled into a paper filter bag that is then film-wrapped. In contrast, multipacks contain between two and five filter bags that are wrapped into one plastic bag. Pretty standard stuff, except that primary bagging in filter paper and overwrapping in film are both completed in-line on the same machine, a Key-Pak vf/f/s unit from Research & Development (Lebanon, NJ).

The new unit joins two other bag-in-bag Key-Paks at S&D. One was added earlier this year, the first, in '93. Used for 12 to 15 SKUs, the three machines fill individual bags containing between 1/2 oz and 2 oz of ground coffee for hotels, fast-food chains, restaurants, offices, airlines, and health care facilities.

"We produce coffee on 17 lines here in Concord," says Jerry Collier, the company's director of manufacturing. "But the Key-Paks are the only ones that produce our bag-in-bag singles and multipacks. Since we started making these packs, we've seen double-digit growth for them each year," he says. "In fact, sales are up 60 percent this year compared to last. This growth prompted us to buy the new machinery."

Collier estimates that the three Key-Paks will produce in excess of 40 million total bags next year, nearly 20% of the company's overall volume. S&D sells coffee under its own brand names and makes packs for private-label offerings and for well-known names like McDonald's. Much of S&D's bag-in-bag business is attributable to a partnership with Mr. Coffee Concepts for hotels/motels. In this instance, S&D supplies lodging establishments with coffee to be brewed in Mr. Coffee coffee makers.

First, bag filling . . .

Coffee beans are processed by S&D, with ground product dumped into the hopper of an auger filler supplied in this instance by Spee-Dee (Sturtevant, WI). S&D selected this particular auger because of its success on the firm's two other Key-Pak machines. Economic factors and the newer auger's stepper motor controls also played a role in the decision.

The first Key-Pak component beneath the auger filler is a Model V200S bagger. For each fill cycle, the auger revolves a certain number of times to dispense a precise amount of coffee down the chute of the roll-fed V200S. Paper filter bag material is supplied by Dexter (Windsor Locks, CT). The nonwoven paper consists of a cellulose/synthetic fiber mixture that permits heat sealing, with a basis weight of 25 g/m2.

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