The Hershey Co. has honored packaging machinery supplier Rovema North America with the 2019 Supplier Excellence Award.

Bestowed at Hershey’s annual Supplier Summit in mid-May, the award recognized Rovema’s efforts in support of the candy company’s initiative to introduce Doy-type standup pouches for a variety of its confectionery products.

The project involved multiple models of Rovema’s BVC Flex Machine, a continuous motion vertical form, fill and seal (VFFS) unit that, in addition to the Doy-style bags Hershey desired, can produce pillow, gusseted and quad bags with or without zippers. 

Rovema’s BVC Flex Machine series – including the BVC260 and BVC400, the units Hershey uses – was developed with the goal to make a Doy-style bag on a VFFS unit as appealing as those produced by their HFFS counterparts while offering companies the inherent advantages of VFFS machines, such as reduced operating cost, heightened flexibility and decreased equipment footprint. The BVC Flex machine attributes include: 

• Product Stripping, in which the seal jaws gently push product further into the bag for a better fill ratio, by ensuring no product is in the seal area
• Sense and Seal Detection, which prevents products from getting stuck in the seal jaws, thereby increasing uptime by preventing damage to the cutting knife and seal jaw.
• Premium Seal, offering two-stage pressure during the sealing cycle to improve sealing of challenging, multilayer structures. It achieves this by preheating the sealant layer prior to final sealing of the package. 

In addition to Rovema’s equipment and expertise, Hershey’s project team also valued Rovema’s ability to deliver multiple machines in a short time period and its commitment to provide onsite support to multiple locations simultaneously. In fact, Rovema relocated a service technician to the Hershey, Pennsylvania area to provide the tightest-possible response time for any concerns or training requirements.

“Our collaboration with Hershey showcases Rovema’s commitment not only to innovative machine design but also exemplary customer service,” said John Panaseny, president of Rovema North America. “It’s an honor to be recognized by Hershey, and we’re delighted to have played an important role in their successful product launch.”