Germans consumed a total of 472,350 tons of coffee in 2023[1], and the international market is also booming. Part of the popular beans is roasted by the German company NewCoffee, mainly for a large international discounter. The coffee roaster relies on flexible filling and packaging machines with high outputs. At the same time, NewCoffee was planning to increase the use of more sustainable packaging materials long before the new EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and was looking for machines that could process both conventional and recyclable materials. The company opted for Syntegon and the world's first two PMX coffee packaging machines. NewCoffee also made use of Syntegon's know-how and expertise in the choice of recyclable packaging material.
NewCoffee GmbH & Co. OHG produces the store brand coffee of a large German discount supermarket. The company's history dates back to the early 1960s. From its current production site in Ketsch, Germany, NewCoffee supplies the German and international branches of the discounter, as well as external customers. With an annual production volume of around 35,000 tons, NewCoffee is one of the largest coffee producers in Germany and offers the entire range of roasted coffee, including ground coffee, whole beans, pod and capsule products. This calls for equipment with high outputs for the entire production process. Flexible machines that enable different formats are just as important, especially regarding the packaging of the coffee. They make sure that NewCoffee can react to rapidly changing trends quickly and easily.
At the same time, NewCoffee must prepare for the requirements of the new EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). It was first presented at the end of 2022, will come into effect in 2030, and will affect all manufacturers in the food and consumer goods industry. Among other changes, the new law will regulate the recyclability of packaging. As of 2030, for example, packaging with less than 70 percent content of recyclable material may no longer be placed on the market. However, NewCoffee had ambitious sustainability goals long before the new EU PPWR and decided in 2021 that all their packaging machines should process both conventional films and composites as well as recyclable mono-materials such as mono-polyethylene or mono-polypropylene films.
High performance combined with high flexibility
The combination of performance and flexibility for both formats and materials convinced NewCoffee at the Fachpack trade show in September 2021, where Syntegon digitally presented its new PMX platform for packaging whole beans or ground coffee for the first time. Syntegon was well known to NewCoffee, as the roastery had already been using the company’s packaging equipment for years. The company appreciated both the quality of the machines and the cooperative partnership with Syntegon and were therefore very interested in the new PMX. The machine automatically applies degassing valves, forms block bottom bags, fills them with coffee, and seals them. The PMX fills up to 65 bags per minute in the single tube version and as many as 100 in the double tube version.
The PMX also met NewCoffee’s high standards in terms of flexibility and offers decisive advantages: 3D format changes on the closing unit are carried out automatically at the push of a button. This makes it suitable for numerous small, medium, and large packaging formats. Various bag and closure styles can be combined. The PMX produces block bottom bags with pack weights between 200 and 1,200 grams, both with gable tops and folded-down tops. Bags with tin-ties, labels, or adhesive strips can be resealed after opening. “Thanks to the wide range of possible packaging styles and the quick format changes, the PMX enables coffee manufacturers to easily meet rapidly changing market requirements without having to stop their lines for long periods – a crucial advantage,” explains Uwe Pfander, Senior Sales at Syntegon. The PMX also ensures maximum efficiency thanks to special product and aroma protection: during the packaging process, the beans fall into the bags from a low height, reducing breakage and therefore the reject rate. In addition, the beans are gas-flushed before and during the packaging process to minimize residual oxygen in the packaging.
Joint tests for the most sustainable solution
One of the most important criteria for NewCoffee was that the PMX is designed to process mono-materials without any loss of productivity. All stations are engineered to process recyclable packaging materials and valves. This convinced NewCoffee that Syntegon was the right partner for the transformation of their packaging solutions and clinched the decision to become the first buyer worldwide to install two PMX machines: a double tube version for ground coffee, and a single tube version for whole beans.
In addition, both companies decided to carry out joint packaging material tests in the packaging laboratory and on the new packaging equipment. The goal was to find the recyclable packaging material that best suits NewCoffee's needs and requirements. NewCoffee was not going to miss out on the unique opportunity to be directly involved in the development of a new, alternative packaging material and to help shape it according to their requirements.
Packaging laboratory and factory tests support production
Syntegon offers packaging material tests for customers who want to retrofit existing machines for more sustainable packaging materials or install new machines. The Syntegon experts first examine the materials in question in the in-house laboratory and then subject them to a series of practical tests on the machine on site. In this way, food manufacturers can be sure that sustainable packaging materials can be processed without any problems and at the planned output rate, without the need for time-consuming subsequent improvements. Thanks to the preliminary testing in the packaging laboratoy, the tests on the machine take significantly less time and avoid long downtimes. “We were able to integrate the laboratory tests directly into the installation phase for New Coffee, which enabled us to further accelerate the development process,” Pfander reports.
Syntegon and NewCoffee brought further partners on board for the tests: several packaging material suppliers provided several mono-material films. Around 20 films made it to the shortlist and were tested in the packaging laboratory, where their mechanical characteristics and sealing properties were analyzed. Syntegon then tested the five films that performed best in the preliminary tests for their processability on the machine. Based on the findings, the supplier of the favored film made final adjustments to the material and Syntegon to the machine design. Finally, NewCoffee tested the film directly on the PMX in their own production facilities – with great success. Both the PMX in the double tube and the single tube version processed the mono-material at full speed. “This practical proof was very important to us,” Uwe Pfander emphasizes. “Other packaging machine manufacturers claim that their machines can process mono-materials without any compromises. We were able to prove it.”
More sustainable packaging on a future-proof machine
“Since this project involved a lot of joint pioneering work, it required a considerable amount of coordination and we had to overcome some technical challenges, also due to the global Covid pandemic. We didn't always succeed immediately – sometimes we had to rack our brains or get creative,” explains Uwe Pfander. “But it was precisely this close and cooperative partnership, backed by the geographical proximity of our two production sites, that ultimately led to good solutions for all sides.” NewCoffee was particularly impressed by the availability of Pfander's project team, both virtually and on site in case of urgent assignments.
For Syntegon, the direct insights into the practical use of the PMX at NewCoffee was a valuable resource: in future, this will help Syntegon to optimally meet the requirements of coffee roasters that rely on sustainable packaging materials. The collaboration between NewCoffee and Syntegon is far from over, even after both PMX machines have been commissioned. NewCoffee is already planning to adapt other existing packaging machines to meet the requirements of the new European PPWR. As Uwe Pfander confirms, this will be no problem for Syntegon: “We are proud of the pioneering work we have done together with NewCoffee. We were able to show that the processing of recyclable and more sustainable mono-materials is a viable and future-proof concept.”
[1] cf. Deutscher Kaffee Verband, https://www.kaffeeverband.de/de