14/01/2014
Ishida GmbH

Ritter Sport, Nagel-Group and Ishida: A strong team

A colourful and stylish variety box for the ultimate snacking experience: Confectionery manufacturer Ritter Sport landed itself a real sales hit with its inspired assortment of chocolate cubes. Ensuring just the right mix, precise weighing and filling of the chocolate into the cube-shaped boxes is the field of expertise of food logistics provider Nagel-Group. The co-packer makes use of ultra-modern weighing and packaging technology from Ishida.


A colourful and stylish variety box for the ultimate snacking experience: Confectionery manufacturer Ritter Sport landed itself a real sales hit with its inspired assortment of chocolate cubes. Ensuring just the right mix, precise weighing and filling of the chocolate into the cube-shaped boxes is the field of expertise of food logistics provider Nagel-Group. The co-packer makes use of ultra-modern weighing and packaging technology from Ishida.

The Nagel Group branch based in Reichenbach/Fils near Stuttgart is one of the biggest Nagel sites in Germany. This is where chocolate manufacturer Ritter Sport sends its complete stock of primary packaged goods for storage and further processing. Processes include collating the individual bars into retail-sized packs using 18 packaging lines, and preparing them for dispatch. Around 1,200 pallets loaded with 300 tons of chocolate leave the logistics centre every day.

In January 2012, Ritter Sport launched a new product: The choco cube. This required the Nagel Group to devise and produce an efficient new packaging solution. The small chocolate cubes with their different flavours and fillings are primary packaged into flow packs. Measuring just 55 x 35 x 15 mm, each cube weighs around eight grams. These cube-shaped treats are then assorted and packaged into cube-shaped cardboard boxes. Extreme care has to be taken in the handling process to avoid damaging the chocolate, and to ensure that the ends of the flow packs are not creased. The choco cube product is manufactured in several formats and with different components. The small box with a content weight of 176 grams comprises 22 individual chocolates in three or four varieties. There is also a larger box produced with a content weight of 240 grams made up of 30 chocolates in six varieties. Nagel also handles additional formats which are used by Ritter Sport for special purposes such as temporary promotions.

Space-saving product infeed
The Nagel-Group decided to invest in a new packing line, starting off with an automatic product infeed system from Ishida. The weighing and packaging technology expert installed a solution which requires minimal space despite the many product components involved, and which has been adapted to the ceiling height of just six metres. Each variety of choco cubes is placed in a mobile buffer container using a lift-and-tip hopper. The container then transfers the products through a flap in the base to one of six buffer conveyors. A colour detecting sensor checks whether the delivered product actually matches with the requested variety in order to prevent an unwanted assortment mix. The buffer conveyors have raised side walls and are capable of accommodating up to 17,000 chocolate cubes. Special fixtures prevent any pressure damage to the sensitive chocolate confectionery. The system carries out a continuous check of the fill levels of each buffer conveyor and provides an early indication when a top up is required.

Multihead weigher guarantees the right mix
The choco cubes are transported by six ascending conveyors and corresponding infeed belts to a 24-head high-performance CCW-R multihead weigher from Ishida. To handle mixed products, the dispersion table is divided into up to six sections. Six weight sensors ensure an even flow of products to the 24 narrow radial feeder troughs and the 24 pool hoppers. The weigher operates according to the combination weighing principle: The hoppers feed the corresponding weigh hoppers, while an additional level of booster hoppers is used to increase the number of hoppers available for a combination calculation. The built in computer takes just fractions of a second to calculate for each product segment the combination which comes closest to the prescribed weight portion. An ingenious vibration control system ensures an even product flow to the pool hoppers to optimise weighing speed and -accuracy. The choco cube varieties are collated in the corresponding discharge chutes for each mix portion to create the final product mix for each pack.

“Shaken” into the box
Discharging each mix into the boxes is carried out by a double discharge chute system which fills two folding cartons in parallel. The open-flap empty boxes are conveyed under the weigher outlet on a dual-track conveyor and are briefly raised to receive the product in order to avoid product spillage and to ensure an optimum product transfer. At the same time, the boxes are gently shaken to ensure the cubes are securely placed within each box. The result is an attractive “brim-filled” box without any product projecting beyond the rim of the packaging which could inhibit subsequent lidding.

Impressive performance
The Nagel-Group uses the packaging line in two and three-shift operation. The performance levels are impressive. For the product mixes containing three or four components, the plant achieves a speed of 60 boxes per minute. Despite the fluctuations in piece weights, overfilling is reduced to a minimum and product losses of these high-cost choco cubes are kept to within close tolerances. Three operators who received on-site training from Ishida are sufficient to run the complete line. The system is controlled using a touchscreen. Product changeovers are carried out between five and six times a week and are performed by simply accessing the relevant pre-settings on the multihead weigher´s remote control unit (RCU).

The investment made by the Nagel-Group in this innovative new packaging technology has certainly paid off. Operations Manager Axel Del Mestre: “The Ishida plant not only complies with our target specification, but is absolutely reliable too.” There are plans to further increase capacity in the future. Additional space has been reserved alongside the multihead weigher for a second weigher working in parallel with the first one to increase the capacity of the plant. There is every chance that this planned expansion will go ahead, as Ritter Sport has practically doubled its sales of the popular choco cubes.