With business on the rise,

downtime resulting frominadequate wrapping equip-

ment can hinder productivity. The fol-lowing is a look into how one manu-facturer found its way to PACK EXPOhoping to discover more automatedtechnologies and keep a thriving busi-ness growing.

Challenge: After years of consistent growth, we needed flow-wrap-ping equipment that could improve production speed, reduce downtimeand decrease costs.

Solution: Invest in an automated horizontal wrapper and thermaltransfer coder to minimize downtime resulting from excessivechangeovers required by existing equipment.

“In 1992, childhood friends David Kravetz and Eileen Spin-talny founded Fairytale Brownies in their hometown ofPhoenix, Arizona. Inspired by their passion for chocolate, thetwo partners began baking brownies in a friend’s cateringkitchen using David’s 50-year-old family recipe. Over the nextfew years, growing demand enabled operations to move into alocal manufacturing facility.

Once a two-party operation, we now employ nearly 200staffers during the holiday season. Fairytale’s business nowalso includes catalogue and web-based operations that shipproducts worldwide. In recent years, our company opened aretail store adjacent to the Phoenix manufacturing facility.

Our line of products includes thirteen different flavors ofbrownies and three types of truffles. Flavors include caramel,chocolate chip, walnut and Fairytale’s original chocolatebrownie. All brownies are certified Kosher and baked using allnatural ingredients including Callebaut Belgian chocolate. Thebrownies are available in three different sizes: 3 in. x 3 in., 3 in.x 1.5 in. and 1.5 in. x 1.5 in.

As sales steadily increased, so did the need to boost thespeed of our operations. Initially, to package all of our brownieproducts, we were utilizing an older wrapping machine, whichrequired a lengthy changeover process when we wanted to rundifferent sized packages and flavors. The constant switchingresulted in considerable downtime and ultimately hinderedour productivity and bottom line. We knew that to remainprofitable, an equipment upgrade was in order.

To find the right equipment, I attended PACK EXPO withfour colleagues, each representing a different business func-tion. With more than 1,200 exhibitors covering the entirepackaging supply chain, the show offered an opportunity to

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PACK EXPO Offers‘Fairytale’ Ending For BakerHeading to PACK EXPO with a packaging question or need? Here, one packaging customershares how he came to a previous PACK EXPO with a packaging need and found his solutionright on the show floor.

Fairytale Brownies came to PACK EXPO with a specific goal andleft knowing it wanted a Bosch Stratus horizontal wrapper.

PACK EXPO Interface

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comparatively shop for new, more automated wrapping equip-ment as well as other machinery.

At PACK EXPO, we were able to make contact with severalexhibitors offering a variety of solutions. While on the showfloor, I met with representatives of Bosch Packaging Technol-ogy, Brooklyn Park, Minn., who we had worked with in thepast. We ultimately purchased the Stratus™ horizontal wrapperfor use with our entire product line—from brownies and truf-fles to everything in between.

The wrapper is equipped with an inline two-belt servofeeder for automated product handling and is capable of han-dling up to 150 products per minute. The accessible infeedmodule features hinged deck plates to provide convenient, easycleaning. The Stratus also features a photo eye that controlswrapper speed based on product backlog, reducing the risk ofmachine jams and product and packaging waste.

During the show, we alsomet with Markem-Imaje,Keene, N.H., and purchasedan 18 Series thermal transfercoder. The 18 Series is a sim-ple, complete digital codingsolution providing high ther-mal transfer print quality,reliability and product trace-ability. Equipped with errorfree code changes, the equip-ment allows us to changeinformation instantaneously,making switching betweenproducts quick, easy andaccurate.

No changes to our existingequipment or material wereneeded for the installation of the newsystems. However, the transition froma manual wrapping operation to anautomated process did require trainingfor our staff. Representatives fromboth Bosch and Markem-Imaje pro-vided thorough on-site training anddocumentation for our employees forfuture reference.

Having a system in place that is 95percent automated has eliminated 20percent of our downtime since itsinstallation. We’re also operating atfaster speeds, allowing us to crank up

production and keep up with new orders. This increased pro-ductivity will be especially valuable during the winter holidays,which serve as our peak business season.

Attending PACK EXPO allows us to view technology for ourentire operation and offers a fast and efficient way of gatheringthe information we need. We’ll be returning to PACK EXPOthis fall looking for new automated solutions that can furtherenhance our productivity and efficiency.

The show’s layout is easy to navigate despite so manyexhibitors. We were able to leverage packexpo.com to find thesuppliers we were looking for and plan which ones to visit eachday.

Santiago ArmstrongBaking Team LeaderFairytale Brownies

(Left) Once Fairytale agreed on itshorizontal wrapper choice, theywere able to seamlessly add aMarkem-Imaje 18 series thermaltransfer coder for product trace-ability.

(Below) Delicate brownies aremanually fed into the wrapper.

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