Recommended configuration✓ Food-grade product-contact parts
Flow wrap machine for wrapped biscuit packs; vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine with a multihead weigher for cookies sold by weight
Biscuits fed on a pusher conveyor, by an automatic feeder or straight from a cream sandwich machine; cookies weighed on a 10-head weigher fed by a Z-type elevator
Plain, cream sandwich and coated biscuits, crackers and cookies
Flow-wrapped pillow packs in one or two layers, packs with gussets beside the seals, and pillow bags of cookies
Wrapped packs 35 to 160 mm wide, 60 to 450 mm long and up to 80 mm high; cookie bags of 1 kg to 5 kg
Automatic feeder, date coder and nitrogen flushing
Product behaviour
Biscuits are brittle, they are often sold several to a pack, and they go soft once they take up moisture. Those traits decide how a biscuit packaging machine is set up more than the recipe does.
Biscuits break at the edges. A biscuit that is knocked on the infeed chips or snaps, and the broken pieces end up in the pack. The infeed carries each biscuit or group of biscuits to the film without dropping it or pushing it hard, and the pushers or belt are chosen for the biscuit.
Crumbs land in the seal. Crumbs and sugar that fall where the film is sealed weaken the seal and let air into the pack. Each seal on the flow wrapper has its own temperature control, set for your film, and the infeed is kept clear so crumbs stay out of the seal area.
Biscuits go soft in open air. A biscuit that takes up moisture loses its crunch, so the pack is sealed all the way round in film. Gas flushing is an option where your biscuits need a longer shelf life.
Recommendation
Biscuits are packed on a flow wrap machine, the most common way to pack them. The machine forms printed film into a tube around each biscuit or group of biscuits, seals it along its length and seals and cuts both ends. It senses each biscuit on the infeed, so it packs only when a biscuit arrives and feeds no film when none does. For cream biscuits, a sandwich machine deposits the cream, closes each biscuit and feeds it straight into the flow wrapper as one line.
Cookies sold loose by weight are bagged instead: a Z-type elevator lifts them to a 10-head multihead weigher above a vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine, which forms, fills and seals pillow bags of 1 kg to 5 kg. We have also supplied a flow wrap machine with an automatic feeder for biscuits; see a flow wrapper running in our flow wrap machine video.
Single packs
A flow wrapper sized to the biscuit. The bottom-roll flow wrapper we supplied for biscuits and crackers takes BOPP or PET/LDPE film 120 to 340 mm wide and wraps packs 50 to 160 mm wide and up to 40 mm high, with pushers on the infeed conveyor. Double cutters cut packs from 65 to 300 mm long, and a single cutter from 120 to 300 mm. Taller packs run on a flow wrapper that forms gussets beside the end seals, which takes products up to 80 mm high.
Print, seal and coding. Colour-mark film tracking sets the cut position, so each biscuit pack is cut with the print in the same place, and each seal has its own temperature control to suit the film. The biscuit packaging machine stops with the knife clear of the film, so film does not stick to the cutter, and a date coder can print the batch number and best-before date on each pack.
Stacks and multipacks
Cream biscuits and stacks. On the cream biscuit line we supplied, the sandwich machine fills round or rectangular biscuits 3 to 6 mm thick from a 30 L cream tank, and the flow wrapper packs them laid flat in one layer or stacked two high, one to three biscuits across. Biscuits sold in a roll, standing on edge, are packed on an overwrapping machine rather than a flow wrapper; tell us your biscuit and the roll you sell, and we will specify it.
Cartons and multipacks. Wrapped biscuit packs can go on to a cartoning machine that loads them into retail cartons, or to an L-bar sealer and shrink wrap machine that shrink wraps biscuit cartons and multipacks.
Pack sizes
A wrapped biscuit pack is sized by its length, width and height rather than its weight, because the flow wrapper is set to the shape of the pack. Cookies sold loose are bagged by weight. The ranges below come from biscuit lines we have supplied; your pack is confirmed on a trial.
| Pack | Format | Pack size | Setup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single biscuits or a few laid flat | Flow-wrapped pillow pack | 50 to 160 mm wide, 65 to 300 mm long, up to 40 mm high | Bottom-roll flow wrapper with low cutters and a pusher conveyor |
| Cream sandwich biscuits, one or two layers | Flow-wrapped pillow pack | 35 to 160 mm wide, 60 to 300 mm long, 5 to 50 mm high | Cream biscuit sandwich machine feeding a flow wrapper |
| Taller biscuit packs | Flow-wrapped pack with gussets beside the end seals | 50 to 120 mm wide, 120 to 450 mm long, up to 80 mm high | Three-servo flow wrapper with gusset forming |
| Cookies sold by weight | Pillow bag | 1 kg to 5 kg | Z-type elevator, 10-head weigher and vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine |
| Biscuits in retail cartons or multipacks | Carton or shrink-wrapped multipack | Confirmed at quotation | Flow wrapper feeding a cartoning machine or an L-bar sealer |
Output
On the cream biscuit line we supplied, the sandwich machine is rated at 600 biscuits a minute and the flow wrapper at 30 to 180 packs a minute, depending on the pack size. The bottom-roll biscuit flow wrapper is rated at 10 to 25 metres of film a minute, the gusset flow wrapper at 40 to 70 packs a minute, and the cookie weigher at 20 to 50 bags a minute to within 1 g to 2 g. These are ratings of each build, not results measured on a customer’s line.
We confirm the output for your biscuits and pack size by running a trial before we quote, rather than promising a figure we have not measured.
Experience
For a Johannesburg biscuit maker, we supplied cream biscuit sandwich machines, each feeding its own flow wrapper. Each line takes round or rectangular biscuits 3 to 6 mm thick, deposits the cream, closes the biscuit and wraps it in one or two layers, with nitrogen flushing and date coding as options. Read the case study.
We supplied a three-servo bottom-roll flow wrapper with low cutters and a pusher conveyor for biscuits and crackers, wrapping packs 50 to 160 mm wide and up to 40 mm high at 10 to 25 metres of film a minute.
For a Johannesburg cookie producer, we supplied an automatic cookie line rated at 80 to 100 kg an hour: an 80 L mixer, bowl lifter, wire-cut cookie machine, 12 m tunnel oven and 10 m cooling conveyor. A Z-type elevator, 10-head weigher and VFFS machine, delivered ahead of the line, pack the cookies into pillow bags of 1 kg to 5 kg. The line is still running. Read the case study.
Quotation
A biscuit packaging machine is quoted to configuration, so we need these details about your biscuits and plant.
The biscuits: plain, cream-filled or coated, and how firm they are
The length, width and height of each pack, and how the biscuits sit in it: single, stacked or on edge
Your printed film and its width
Whether the biscuits are placed by hand or fed from your production line
The output you plan for, now and as you grow
Floor space, power and compressed air at your plant
Send a sample of your biscuits with the enquiry and we will trial them before we quote. For layout planning, the bottom-roll biscuit flow wrapper we supplied is about 4.6 m long and 0.8 m wide and runs on a 220 V single-phase supply; on the cream biscuit line, the sandwich machine is about 2.2 m long and its flow wrapper about 4 m, on a 380 V supply. For what shapes the figure on a machine quotation, read the packaging machine cost guide.
Related pages
Biscuits are wrapped on the flow wrap machine, so this page sits under the flow wrap packaging machine. Cookies sold by weight are bagged on a VFFS machine with a multihead weigher, and chocolate and cereal bars run on the same flow wrappers as biscuits.
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PackMan purchased an Automatic 6-Lane, 4-Side Seal Vinegar Packaging Machine, and it has been performing reliably since installation. The machine delivers consistent packaging quality, operates efficiently, and has met our production expectations.
SA Packaging Machinery delivered a solution that has met our expectations. The equipment has been reliable in daily production, and we’re pleased with its performance. We found the team knowledgeable, professional, and willing to assist whenever required.
We’ve been very happy with the equipment supplied by SA Packaging Machinery. It’s straightforward to use, performs consistently, and has helped us improve our production process. The team was easy to work with and made the entire experience smooth.
Send us a sample of your biscuits and their printed film, and we will run them at our Riversands showroom before you order.
Questions
Yes, where both packs fall within the pack size range of the biscuit packaging machine. A stored recipe changes the settings between packs and the infeed is set for each pack, so we confirm both on a trial with your biscuits.
Yes, where they fall within the pack size range. On the cream biscuit line we supplied, the sandwich machine fills and closes each biscuit and feeds it straight into the flow wrapper, so cream biscuits are wrapped as soon as they are made.
Biscuits are wrapped in printed rollstock film such as BOPP, PE, PET or a laminate. We do not sell film, but we recommend film suppliers and confirm your film on the biscuit packaging machine during the trial.
Yes. Biscuits can reach the biscuit packaging machine on a pusher conveyor, from an automatic feeder, or straight from a cream sandwich machine, and the feeding is configured for your line and confirmed at quotation.
