Food processor Barry Callebaut LLC, Zurich, has won the fifth annual PMT Packaging
Line of the Year Award for the automated and sustainable packaging line installed at its Eddystone, PA, facility.

Barry Callebaut engaged Beumer Corp., Branchburg, NJ, to develop an end-of-line packaging system that would increase automation, improve the packaging as well as product presentation, and use less packaging material.

The award-winning results took Barry Callebaut from a labor-intensive packaging system to a fully automated end-of-line packaging solution that cut materials use by more than 20 percent, and increased output capacity by 230 percent. The Packaging Line of the Year award, presented since 2005, recognizes packaging line innovation and engineering excellence.

With strategic partner Behn+Bates, (Conyers, GA) a division of Haver Filling Systems, Inc., Beumer equipped the line with an automatic bagging system, a stretch hood pallet-packaging system and a robotic palletizing system. The line also includes checkweighing technology from Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed (Booth C-657).

“The goal of PMT’s Packaging Line of the Year award is to highlight new and innovative ways consumer goods companies work with equipment suppliers to take a product from concept to consumer,” says Maria Ferrante, editorial director.

“Barry Callebaut’s project is a clear example of a global company sourcing an innovative solution and gaining extraordinary business results. The innovative design, environmental consideration and pioneering technology behind the Beumer line have raised the bar for the entire packaging industry.”

Monday’s conference/award presentation
Barry Callebaut is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of cocoa and chocolate products, supplying everything from cocoa beans right up to finished products sold on store shelves. With 7,000 employees worldwide, the company operates 40 production facilities in 26 countries in Europe, Africa, North and Latin America, Asia and the Pacific Rim. Its some 1,700 recipes yielded more than U.S. $4.35 billion in sales for fiscal year 2007/2008.

Company representatives accepted the award at a special Conference at PACK EXPO session held today (Monday 10/5) from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. 

The Conferences run in conjunction with PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2009. There’s no fee to attend the session, which will include details about the winning line, but registration is required. PMT Magazine’s packaging Line of the Year award is open to lines that have been installed or renovated within the previous 12 months.

PMT editors and editorial advisory board members evaluate entries on criteria that includes the packaging line’s contribution to the company’s business plan, the level of innovation in packaging line design, the use of floor space/layout of the line design and integration of machinery to optimize productivity.

Past winners of the Packaging Line of the Year award include Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (2008), Swisher Intl. (2007), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (2006) and Kraft Foods (2005).