FIPA Magazine: Torsten Eifler, Director Business Unit Packaging at FIPA in an expert interview

Product cycles are short and new products are launched in rapid succession. Sustainability is also becoming an important trend. For example, environmentally-friendly flow pack packaging is becoming increasingly more popular with consumers – particularly in the food industry. For suppliers of handling products such as FIPA, this requires a high level of flexibility and new solutions.

Torsten Eifler, Director Business Unit Packaging at FIPA, an internationally active company specializing in the development and distribution of quality products and innovative system solutions for handling processes, including in the packaging industry, talks about the trend towards pouch packaging and the new Variopack® pouch suction cup.

Torsten Eifler: Everyone is talking about concepts such as digitization and environmentally-friendly packaging. Although customized packaging and personalized products are becoming increasingly popular, very high volumes continue to be the rule in the packaging sector and especially in the food industry.

Regarding the mass market, the greater the output, the more cost-efficient production becomes. High throughput requires maximum process reliability in order to ensure a stable pick & place and realize fast cycle times. Extremely dynamic applications place special demands on the handling of the goods.

Torsten Eifler: The automated handling of packages for mass products requires reliable and durable components for short cycle times and thus high accelerations. FIPA arguably has the worldwide largest range of suction cups, which can be combined with countless vacuum components to ensure that all types of packaging can be gripped safely. Our mixture of vacuum suction cup geometry, flexibility and process reliability has proven itself in the packaging industry. The silicone of our suction pads for the food and packaging industry complies with the EU1935/2004 and FDA guidelines. The new Variopack® suction cup is thus free of any harmful additives. 

Torsten Eifler: Pouch packaging's market share is showing dynamic growth. The packaging, also referred to as flow pack, is often used for food, care products, cosmetics and medicine. Flow packs significantly help save material – especially as refill pouches.

Handling flow pack packaging is tricky, however, because the pouches are not dimensionally stable, especially when liquid moves around in the pouch. The pouches have to be lifted at one point, resulting in pronounced folds. Regular flat vacuum suction cups often suction leakage and thus tend to lose their grip on flow packs. This has clearly negative consequences: The pouch drops and the conveyor belt stops.

Ever more customers are demanding a more reliable suction cup. In accordance with our motto "Challenge accepted", we developed a suitable solution and thus filled a gap in our product range. The serial name of the new flat vacuum suction cup is SL-FP; the registered name is Variopack®.

Torsten Eifler: The suction cup is designed for high-speed packaging processes with flow packs. The product's buyers come from industries such as food, beverages, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. EU or FDA compliance is often required for food-related applications. This requires durable materials that do not leave any additives on the food. Our new vacuum suction cup meets all the requirements in this regard. The vacuum cup is thus also suitable for handling fresh fruit, vegetables, sweets and baked goods. In the pharmaceutical sector, the suction cup is suitable for handling items such as infusion bags. In cosmetics, it could be used for liquid soap and shampoo refill packaging.

Torsten Eifler: We are attentive to what our customers say and very open to market demands. In keeping with our motto "Challenge accepted", we always do our best to meet the challenges and needs of the packaging industry in order to satisfy our customers.

Torsten Eifler: Among other things, we test how much acceleration the end product tolerates, taking the tests to the limit to gradually zero in on the ideal adjustment. This help us find out how fast the cycles can be. We then pass this information on to the end customer with a recommendation. Several practical tests are also currently being performed on the premises of various customers.

Many thanks for the interview!