Ireland-based high speed packaging machinery specialists Tekpak Automation has provided snack food manufacturer Largo Foods( part of the Intersnack Group), with a robotic pick and place solution for loading bagged snack products into shelf ready cartons/ multipacks.

The investment has reportedly reduced labor costs as far as manual case packing is concerned and increased throughput by providing a continuous packing process, according to packagingeurope.com.

Largo Foods operations director John Donnelly said the investment led the company to automate an off-line (WIP) production process, which is said to have improved productivity, by increasing packing efficiency by 30% and reducing the production lead-time from 5 days to one.

"Tekpak quickly understood our project brief and came up with a solution that minimised the expenditure needed but maximised the potential investment return from the automation," Donnelly said.

Tekpak working with Largo Foods designed and built a customized solution, to give more flexibility. The line incorporates integrated carton erectors to manage cartons of three different sizes.