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Doubling coffee capsule production

High-quality single-serve coffee capsules made by Australia’s fast-growing private label manufacturer, iCapsulate, are now filled, cartoned, and case-packed at up to 800/min.

Four robotic end effectors on the cartoner efficiently place finished capsules into waiting cartons.
Four robotic end effectors on the cartoner efficiently place finished capsules into waiting cartons.

Based in Sydney, Australia, iCapsulate is a vertically integrated contract manufacturer specializing in coffee. The firm sources green coffee, roasts it, and produces capsules, pods, and roasted coffee beans. With a capacity of 1.3 million capsules—soon to increase to 2 million capsules—per day and roasting capacity of 10 tons per day, iCapsulate is constantly innovating and bringing new products to market.

Among the newest of its packaging lines is a capsule-filling line capable of 800 capsules/min. It features what Italian machinery builder Cama calls its Break-through Generation of machines. Essentially what this involves is a new approach to secondary packaging into paperboard cartons and corrugated cases. It includes lean design, cabinet-free technology, ergonomics, and user-friendly controls. To see a video of the complete line, go to pwgo.to/3450.

“When we selected Cama, the timeline for the machinery was short, while the project itself was to be the largest of its type in Australia,” says Kane Bodiam, Managing Director at iCapsulate. “The machinery was built on a schedule that I didn’t believe was possible.”

At the head of it is an intermittent-motion OPEM system on which everything is done eight-across. It begins with denesting of capsules into a pocketed platform that carries them through filling and sealing. The firm currently purchases its capsules—thermoformed from a PP/EVOH/PP coextrusion—but plans are currently underway for installation of an in-house thermoforming operation.

Right after filling is a station where an aluminum foil lid is cut from rollstock and heat sealed to each cup. Supplied by Constantia, the 30-micron foil combined with the EVOH barrier in the capsule gives the capsules as much as a two-year shelf life. “We’re getting oxygen residual in these capsules in the 0.2% range, which is by far the lowest in Australia,” says Bodiam.

INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Food Products at PACK EXPO Southeast
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INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Food Products at PACK EXPO Southeast