Recommended configuration✓ Food-grade product-contact parts
VFFS with a multihead weigher for pillow bags; fill-seal machine for pre-made zipper bags
10-head or 14-head multihead weigher; 20-head for packs of 10 g to 200 g
Chips, popcorn, puffed snacks, nuts and trail mix
Pillow and gusseted bags; pouches and pre-made bags on a fill-seal machine
From a few grams to 1 kg; confirmed at trial
Gas (nitrogen) flushing, date printer, labeller, check weigher
Product behaviour
Snacks are light, fragile and often salted, and they go stale once air and moisture reach them. Those things set up a snack packaging machine more than the snack itself does.
Chips and puffed snacks break. Every drop from the weigher into the bag can crack a chip. Broken pieces lose value and collect in the seal area, where they stop the bag sealing properly, so a snack line portions gently and keeps the drop into the bag short.
Snacks are light and bulky. A small weight of chips or popcorn fills a large bag, so the bag size follows the snack’s volume as much as its weight. The bag is formed long and wide enough to take each portion without product landing in the seal.
Salt, oil and air shorten shelf life. Salt and seasoning reach the contact parts, so salted snacks need SUS316 stainless steel, which resists corrosion from salt. Chips and popcorn go stale when air reaches them, which is why snack bags are sealed in barrier film and can be flushed with nitrogen as they are filled.
Recommendation
A snack packaging line for pillow bags is built on a vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine fed by a multihead weigher. A Z-type bucket elevator lifts the snacks to the weigher, the weigher drops each weighed portion into a bag the VFFS forms from roll film, and the VFFS seals it. The VFFS changes bag size by swapping the forming tube, so one line can run more than one snack and bag size.
Snacks sold in zipper bags and doypacks run on a fill-seal machine for pre-made bags fed by the same kind of weigher. The machine opens each bag and its zipper, fills it, flushes it with gas where needed and seals it. Our mixed-snack and roasted corn lines are built this way.
Bars and individually wrapped snacks are not bagged loose. They run on a flow wrap machine, which seals each piece in its own fitted pack.
Filling system
Multihead weigher. Snacks are irregular pieces that cannot be measured accurately by volume, so they are weighed. A multihead weigher weighs small portions in several hoppers and combines the ones closest to the target weight, which keeps giveaway down on every bag. The 10-head and 14-head weighers are the usual choice on a VFFS snack line; more heads give more combinations and a faster line. A volumetric cup filler suits uniform, free-flowing granules, not chips.
20-head weigher for small packs. For single-serve snack packs, our 20-head weigher handles puffed snacks, nuts, seeds and dried fruit in portions of 10 g to 200 g. Its twin discharge can feed two packing machines at once.
Pack formats
These are the formats snacks are packed in, with the machine setup for each. A light snack fills a large bag, so each snack bag size is confirmed on a trial with your product rather than set from its weight alone.
| Pack | Format | Machine setup |
|---|---|---|
| Single-serve packs, 10 g to 200 g | Pillow bag from roll film | VFFS with a 20-head weigher, whose twin discharge can feed two VFFS machines |
| Share bags and larger bags | Pillow or gusseted bag from roll film, nitrogen-flushed where needed | VFFS with a 10-head or 14-head multihead weigher; weigher-fed VFFS lines we have supplied run 15 g to 2 kg bags |
| Stand-up and zipper pouches | Pouch formed from roll film, or pre-made | Horizontal form-fill-seal (HFFS) machine, or a fill-seal machine for pre-made bags fed by a 14-head weigher; our mixed-snack line fills 500 g to 1 kg zipper bags and our roasted corn line 100 g to 1 kg doypacks |
| Pre-made bags and pouches | Stand-up, zipper, 3-side or 4-side seal bag, pre-made | Fill-seal machine for pre-made bags fed by a weigher; or a four-head weigher with a semi-automatic band sealer, 20 g to 1 kg |
| Bars and individually wrapped snacks | Flow-wrapped pack, set by length, width and height | Flow wrap machine; our chocolate slab line wraps packs up to 160 mm wide, 300 mm long and 40 mm high |
Small pillow bags of chips, puffed snacks and nuts, portioned by the 20-head weigher and formed on a VFFS. The twin discharge lets one weigher feed two VFFS machines for higher volumes.
Snacks in pre-made bags and zipper doypacks run on a fill-seal machine that opens, fills and seals each bag, with the snack weighed on a four-head or multihead weigher. Our roasted corn line fills 100 g, 500 g and 1 kg doypacks from a 14-head weigher, and our four-head weigher fill-seal machine for a chocolate producer packs 30 g to 500 g bags.
Snacks in stand-up and zipper pouches are covered on the pouch packaging machines page, and bars on the flow wrap machine page.
Output
Output on a snack line is set by the bag size, the weigher’s head count and the snack. Our mixed-snack line is rated at 30 to 50 bags a minute on 500 g to 1 kg zipper bags, the roasted corn line at 20 to 40 bags a minute on 100 g to 1 kg doypacks, and our 20-head weigher at up to 65 portions a minute from each of its two discharge chutes. Larger bags run more slowly. These are ratings of each build, not results measured on a customer’s line.
We confirm the output for your snack and bag size by running a trial before we quote, rather than promising a figure we have not measured on your product.
Experience
For a Cape Town snack packer that packs several snack types, we supplied an automatic full-servo linear fill-seal machine for pre-made bags. An incline conveyor feeds a 14-head multihead weigher on a stainless-steel platform, and the machine opens, fills, gas-flushes and seals zipper bags and 3-side or 4-side seal bags of 500 g to 1 kg, up to 320 mm wide and 650 mm long. It is rated at 30 to 50 bags a minute.
We supplied a VFFS line with a 14-head multihead weigher, Z-type elevator, check weigher and thermal date printer to a confectionery producer that packs wrapped sweets into small pillow bags of about 10 g to 20 g. The line takes 520 mm film, forms bags 50 to 350 mm long and 80 to 250 mm wide, and is run by two operators.
For a producer of roasted corn seed we supplied a horizontal fill-seal (HFS) machine for pre-made zipper doypacks. A Z-type elevator and 14-head multihead weigher fill 100 g, 500 g and 1 kg doypacks, a gas-flushing device flushes each pack before it is sealed, and a top labeller and thermal printer label and date-code the packs. The line is rated at 20 to 40 bags a minute.
For a chocolate producer we supplied a four-head weigher fill-seal machine that weighs chocolate into pre-made bags of 30 g to 500 g, 100 to 180 mm wide and 100 to 300 mm long, rated at 10 to 18 bags a minute. We have also supplied bagging lines for snacks, sweets and chocolate blocks and cubes, in bags from a few grams. For sweets in pre-made bags, read the four-head weigher fill-seal case study, which packs 30 g to 500 g bags. We run a product trial for every machine we sell, so send us your snack before you order.
For bars, we supplied a Gauteng chocolate maker with a three-servo flow wrap machine that wraps 60 g chocolate slabs one by one in printed film, across several flavours, rated at 40 to 140 packs a minute depending on the pack and film.
We have also supplied bagging lines for snacks, sweets and chocolate blocks and cubes, in bags from a few grams, and a flow wrap machine for frozen snacks (read the frozen snack food packaging case study). For sweets in pre-made bags, read the four-head weigher fill-seal case study. We run a product trial for every machine we sell, so send us your snack before you order.
Weigher and bagging lines from our range: multihead weighers on VFFS machines, weigher-fed fill-seal machines and a flow wrapper for bars.
A multihead weigher portioning product into pillow bags formed on a VFFS, the setup for chips and puffed snacks.
How the elevator, weigher and VFFS work together to weigh, form, fill and seal each bag.
A multihead weigher dosing product into bags formed on a vertical form-fill-seal machine.
A linear form-fill-seal machine fed by a multihead weigher.
A four-head weigher filling pre-made bags, the setup for smaller snack and sweet packs.
A flow wrapper sealing each piece in its own pack, the setup for bars and individually wrapped snacks.
Quotation
A snack packaging line is quoted to configuration, so we need six things about your product and plant.
The snack: chips, popcorn, puffed snacks, nuts or a mix, and whether it is salted or oily
The bag sizes and target weights, from single-serve packs to share bags
Target output, in bags a minute
Whether your bags need a nitrogen flush, a date code or a check weigher
Your film or pre-made bags and pouches, and any printing on the pack
Floor space, power and compressed air at your plant
Send a sample of your snack with the enquiry and we will trial it before we quote. For what shapes the figure on a machine quotation, read the packaging machine cost guide. Before you ask for a quote, see how to choose a VFFS machine.
Related pages
Snacks are weighed like granules, so this page sits under the grain and granule packing machines. Rice packs on the same weigher-fed VFFS (see the rice packaging machine), and nuts are covered on the granule page too.
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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 snack and the bag you sell it in, and we will run it at our Riversands showroom before you order.
Questions
Yes. A snack packaging machine for chips portions them on a multihead weigher with a short, gentle drop into the bag, so the chips reach the bag whole. Breakage still depends on how fragile your chips are, which is why we trial your product before we quote.
Not always, but nitrogen helps chips and popcorn stay crisp for longer. Gas flushing is an option on our VFFS and fill-seal machines: nitrogen replaces the air in each snack bag as it is filled and sealed, which slows the snack going stale. Our roasted corn doypack line flushes every pack before sealing. Whether you need it depends on the shelf life you want and your film.
Yes. A VFFS snack line changes bag size by swapping the forming tube, and the multihead weigher stores a program for each snack and target weight. Changing from chips to popcorn means loading a new program and, where the bag width changes, fitting a new forming tube.
Yes. Snacks and nuts in stand-up and zipper pouches are filled by weight on a horizontal form-fill-seal (HFFS) machine, which forms the pouch from roll film, or on a fill-seal machine for pouches that arrive already made. Both are covered on our pouch packaging machines page.
Yes. A four-head weigher with a semi-automatic band sealer fills pre-made snack bags of 20 g to 1 kg, with an operator placing each bag, and is rated at 10 to 15 packs a minute. It suits snack producers starting out or packing several products on one machine. The next step up is an automatic four-head weigher fill-seal machine, which opens, fills and seals pre-made bags of 30 g to 500 g at a rated 10 to 18 bags a minute.
We supply bag sealing as part of a snack packaging line rather than as a stand-alone sealer. The VFFS seals each snack bag as it forms it, and a band sealer or fill-seal machine closes pre-made bags filled on a weigher.
