This year, system manufacturer Loesch Verpackungstechnik is celebrating its centenary. For the confectionery packaging specialist, trade fair FachPack in Nuremberg/Germany was an ideal occasion to showcase this anniversary and to display both historical as well as modern packaging systems, amongst them a retrofit machine from 1935.
The company LoeschPack, based in Altendorf/Germany, is one of the technology and innovation leaders in packaging machines and complete systems for packaging – among other things – chocolate, chewing gum, confectionery as well as dry baked goods. In these dynamic industries, the company has been a byword for highest quality standards, flexible and economical system solutions, and all-around global service with innovative service products since 1919. Its product range includes complete packaging lines, feeding and buffering systems, horizontal flow wrapping machines, fold wrapping and coiling machines, hermetic sealing and tray loading systems as well as cartoning and erecting machines.
“Part of the training at Loesch is retrofitting a historical packaging machine,” Dr Thomas Cord, CEO of Loesch Verpackungstechnik, said recently at this year’s packaging trade fair FachPack in Nuremberg. “This gives our trainees a chance to understand the complex mechanics of such a machine. At the same time, they both learn something about our company’s tradition and develop their own innovative ideas with an eye to the future.”
At FachPack trade show, Loesch presented such a restored machine – one of the world’s first high-performance fold wrapping machines for traditional bar products with two packaging materials from 1935 – directly alongside their current models. Already in 1935, the Loesch machines could easily manage 60 bars a minute and up to 50 different packaging types. Modern bar wrapping machines offer an output of up to 215 bars a minute.
“The basic principles of packaging chocolate are the same today as they were a few decades ago,” the head of the company explained. “A range of improvements, however, now ensure that modern machines pack the products much faster, more efficiently, and with less manpower. Nevertheless, even our latest models still use a main shaft, which is now electronic, to control almost all motion sequences in the machine, thereby ensuring consistently reliable quality”.
FachPack trade fair was at the beginning of the celebrations for the company’s 100th anniversary. Following various events and festivities, the anniversary year will culminate in
May 2020 at packaging trade fair interpack in Düsseldorf/Germany, where the company will be proclaiming “the start of a new era”. The focus then will be on the future of the company and the expansion of its position as an innovator and market leader.
“Before you can change the future, you need to know your history first,” emphasized Olaf Piepenbrock, Managing Partner of the eponymous Loesch parent company. “To remain successful, we are set to continue investing in the development of our three key areas: chocolate, chewing gum and confectionery, and cereals”.
