Goglio: the complete package

With the market for high quality coffee growing all over the world, the demand for strong, reliable packaging that can maintain the freshness and quality traits of that coffee as it is shipped around the world has never been higher. As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of flexible packaging, equipment and plastic components, Italian company Goglio understands better than most that with this growth in demand also comes an increase in the standard expected by the market. That is why Goglio, founded in 1850 and with headquarters in Varese, just outside Milan, has made it its mission to anticipate market needs through innovative solutions capable of satisfying ever-evolving customer demands. “At the heart of our offering is the Fres-co System, a trademark defining the company business model,” Goglio’s Marketing Manager, Elena Demo, tells GCR Magazine. “High barrier flexible laminates, plastic components, such as degassing valves and spouts, equipment and service together constitute the complete Goglio packaging system.” Goglio today is a global company with 10 production plants, seven commercial offices in Europe, the Americas and Asia, 1600 employees and an annual turnover of more than US$380 million. While it creates products and solutions for a wide variety of industries including food, pet food, detergents and cosmetics, as well as industrial, chemical and pharmaceutical products, coffee is at the heart of the company’s offer, with the coffee market representing 60 per cent of Goglio’s annual turnover. “Goglio products are today a benchmark for quality in the coffee packaging industry worldwide, synonymous with high quality, best performances and innovation in packaging materials, degassing valves and in packaging equipment,” Demo says. “Goglio contributes to the pleasure of drinking a good cup of coffee through its packaging system, which maintains and enhances the value of the natural aromas of the beans.”   Goglio offers a complete system for coffee packing, from laminates  in reels or pre-made bags, through to equipment and one-way degassing valves. In fact, the original valves for coffee packaging were first conceived and patented by Goglio in the 1970s. “Our packaging solutions range from the most simple and traditional to the more refined and innovative, thus including specific solutions designed for packaging single-dose or multi-dose pods and capsules,” Demo tells GCR. “We can give our customers a full service and technical assistance both through R&D laboratories, machinery technicians, laminates specialists and a food and care team to do shelf life and product preservation studies.” Goglio is now poised to launch its new range of machinery to respond to the massive growth of coffee capsules over the past decade. “Every roaster worldwide has decided or is deciding to invest in producing capsules, either by themselves or through sourcing them from companies offering contract packaging services in order to take advantage of the unbelievable 30 per cent yearly growth of the capsule market,” Demo says. Launched at the Host Milan trade show in October, this new line has been designed specifically to cater to the existing needs of today’s market. “Developed in compliance with high quality levels that are a feature of all Goglio products, these new machines hold the technology and the knowhow in packaging processes that made Goglio the unquestioned global leader in the roasted and ground coffee sector,” Demo says. Designed to easily and flexibly manage capsules of different shapes, in order to optimise the use of the material in reel, the new lines have a modular design which allow them to reach different production speeds in accordance with the individual needs of each customer. All of the machines have motorised groups that move with extreme precision towards the material, allowing them to work with a chessboard layout on the conveyor belt. Using Goglio’s chessboard layout means reducing the quantity of flexible material needed for capsule lids as well as minimising production waste. Twin augers, connected to a pan feeder, guarantee excellent product homogeneity, which is the most important requirement for high quality capsules. Groups assembled on tracks – which allow for total extraction to simplify maintenance, cleaning and reduction of reel changes – help to simplify the operator’s task and maximise production efficiency. Extractors located in the filling and pressing area remove powder from the sealing area while a brush, placed under the conveyor belt, collects any possible wastage in a tank and then extracts it. A nitrogen tunnel leads the capsules from the filling station to the lid sealing area. Other features are a stainless steel frame and load cells with direct feedback to augers for weight control located on an independent structure to ensure the highest precision.  The machines also feature cameras to verify the central position and the correct sealing of the top lid. This new capsule system will be available in three versions: medium barrier, high barrier and biodegradable. “In order to give customers all they need to have a successful product on the market, we have a wide range of secondary customised packaging solutions, made of traditional or innovative laminates such as plastic, alu-free laminates with optimal oxygen and moisture barrier, comparable to the one granted by laminates with aluminum foil or metallisation or laminates coming from renewable sources with compostable properties,” Demo says. Demo tells GCR that the move towards capsules is in keeping with an overarching trend towards viewing coffee as a lifestyle product, thus driving the demand for higher quality. “Starting from this new point of view, it’s clear that also the role of the packaging has changed, looking to new materials, printing effects, different sizes, shapes, reclosing systems and everything could help to improve the appeal of the product and help it to stand out on shelves,” she says. In tandem with that, however, is the growing desire among consumers for a more sustainable product, which is shared by the industry more broadly. This is a driving force for Goglio, Demo says. “In the future we will have more and more interest in resources optimisation, both from the economic and environmental point of view,” she says. “And this will lead to new challenges for the packaging industry in order to find solutions to grant at the same time cost saving, respect for the environment and the best product preservation.” Demo says that it is the pursuit of these goals that has informed the development of the new line of capsule equipment. “Goglio has always been a landmark in packaging for the coffee market in the roasted and ground coffee segment and first with the Goglio capsule and now with the new capsule line range, we are ready to strengthen once more our leadership in the coffee market.” GCR