Senzani Brevetti has unveiled 0MNIA, representing a new generation of automatic coffee capsules packaging machines, with a focus on customisation in a compact footprint.
The single-serve coffee market is constantly evolving and pivoting. Coffee brands and copackers need to produce capsules and pods for a variety of brewing equipment to reach the entire market and fresh packaging formats are required for marketing, distribution, and diversification. With more than 65 years of experience in packaging equipment and as a forebearer in coffee capsule cartoning, Italian company Senzani Brevetti has launched 0MNIA, an all-in-one cartoner to meet demands for customisation.
“We call this machine ‘0MNIA’ because it’s very flexible, capable of packing many types of capsules into different styles of boxes in interesting configurations,” says Adele Rava, Marketing and Sales Area Manager for Senzani Brevetti.
“Today, the market may prefer a certain type of box and capsule configuration, but tomorrow it could be something new, so our customers need a cartoner that is flexible and can support their needs.”
0MNIA is capable of single or multi-layer configurations with or without honeycomb sheets and interlayer pads in two-by-two configuration. It can arrange capsules in flip-top closure cartons, standing, alternated, or nested configurations, in tubes or sticks, and three-by-three or four-by-four boxes.
It can pack many different types of capsules, including popular formats like Nespresso and Nespresso Vertuo, Caffitaly, Keurig, and Lavazza blue and A Modo Mio. Rava says 0MNIA’s flexibility has been well received since the machine’s launch in 2020.
“The capsule market is growing quickly, so large roasters and capsule producers need to continually expand and increase their number of production lines – and each time they do, space becomes a bigger problem,” she says. “This machine is a very compact one, which the market appreciates a lot.”
Despite a small footprint of 1.6 by 3.9 metres, 0MNIA is capable of high throughput. With an infeed speed up to 800 capsules per minute, the machine can prepare up to 80 cartons per minute, depending on the desires of its user.
“Senzani specialises in tailormade solutions, designing each unit according to the individual needs of our customers. 0MNIA is a modular machine, making it perfect for this style of customisation,” Rava says.
Development of a machine with the flexibility and capabilities of 0MNIA did not happen overnight. Rava says Senzani’s engineers spent more than five years working on and fine-tuning the technology before introducing it to the market, and it was well worth the wait.
“I’m very proud of the excited response we’ve seen from the coffee industry, from the owners of large roasting companies right down to the production managers. They are the people actually using the machine, with it sometimes running 24/7, so their approval is very important to us,” she says.
“Some have called it ‘charming’ and said that it took their breath away to see a machine work so smoothly and cleanly.”
0MNIA is designed with high-capacity production in mind, however, Rava adds the flexibility of the machine means it can be tailored to the needs of any customer. While larger companies can deploy several 0MNIAs to a certain production line, mid-sized roasters or copackers could utilise the machine’s versatility to package many different product formats, thanks to a quick and intuitive colour-coded carton format change. Senzani has built 0MNIA with gentle handling of different product materials, cartons, and dividing pads, which Rava says is increasingly important as the coffee market trends towards softer but more ecological materials.
“The market is heading in the direction of aluminium as the preferred material for its capsules because it works well to preserve the quality of the coffee while being more sustainable than many other options,” Rava says.
“This is only one trend we’ve seen in the industry. The speeds and capacity our customers require continues to grow, which tells us the coffee capsule market still has a wide margin for growth. For example, there are new countries in South America, Asia, and the Middle East that are starting to enjoy the fact you can make your own good coffee at home with a small and simple machine.”
0MNIA is only the latest of many innovations from Senzani Brevetti, and being Industry 4.0 enabled, is compatible with another recent development: Senzani Machine Analysis Remote Technology (SMART).
SMART collects, elaborates, aggregates, filters, and organises data in real time, which is presented in a customised dashboard that can be accessed directly from a PC, tablet, or smartphone.
“SMART allows the production manager to monitor the status and condition of the machine at all times, providing a greater level of control and ensuring production remains smooth,” Rava says.
“Our technology is reliable and proven, but we don’t sleep well unless we’re sure our customers are too. We have a dedicated aftersales business unit and hotline available to customers worldwide and Industry 4.0 connectivity is making this service and support easier than ever.”
Founded as a pasta packaging equipment manufacturer by Iro Senzani in 1953, Senzani Brevetti is a family-run business currently in its third generation.
From food to tobacco and personal care packaging, Senzani has more than 2000 cartoning machines installed across 40 countries. Despite the company’s size and reach, Rava says it maintains its family-owned values and a special relationship with the coffee industry.
“Our machines have a wide range of applications, but coffee has been increasingly important to us. We began with one of the global market leaders in coffee capsules 20 years ago, handling the primary packaging for all of their products,” Rava explains. “This has helped us to grow a specialised and dedicated experience in the coffee business. At the same time, the industry has seen the quality of our technology and machines, which has earned us a good reputation in coffee.”
With the release and positive reception of 0MNIA, Senzani expects its partnerships with the coffee industry to continue to grow.
“Every day, coffee businesses face new requests and demands from the market, as well as the need to differentiate from their competition,” Rava says. “Each time they think of something new or different to send to market, they need a machine that is flexible enough to make it happen. 0MNIA is going to make them stronger and put them in a position to follow those trends.”
For more information, visit www.senzani.com
This article was first published in the September/October edition of Global Coffee Report. Read more HERE.