With the snacks market in Italy accelerating and cost-conscious consumers increasingly turning to budget-friendly private-label goods, Preziosi Food, a leading Italian manufacturer of potato chips and snacks, needed a complete solutions partner with the capability to deliver significant production capacity increases in a very short 12-month timeframe. TNA solutions stepped up to deliver and oversaw the implementation of a fully integrated potato chip line, a state-of-the-art pellet frying system, and a complete distribution, seasoning and packaging system that took Preziosi’s production capacity from 17 to 30 million kilos of product per year.

“Preziosi had a very short amount of time to plan and execute the project,” said Eric Geling, chief sales officer at TNA solutions. “Any delays would have impacted the company’s private label contracts. However, working with a complete solutions partner greatly minimized the risk during the installation phase. Our objective was to ensure that each machine delivers on its promise, from the highest output level to the lowest downtime.”

TNA is the only global single-source solutions provider that can deliver equipment for the entire potato snack production line, which aligns well with Preziosi’s main goal of increasing production capacity. TNA’s high-performance potato chip line includes washing, cutting, frying, distribution, seasoning, and high-speed packaging, enabling Preziosi to operate at speeds of up to 1,500kg/hour. The further installation of a state-of-the-art pellet frying system in place of Preziosi’s existing fryer doubled line capacity to 600kg/hour.

“Despite a number of challenges, including the need to keep production going while navigating a complex installation process, with help from TNA, we managed to overcome these hurdles while also achieving steady growth of over 20%,” said Lorenzo Caporaletti, president and chief executive officer of Preziosi Food. “Our requirements were not only cutting-edge technology; we also wanted to manage the installation and improve the plant within a strict 12-month period without stopping or slowing production. It required a lot of creative thinking from both sides.”

With Preziosi producing over 300 SKUs of snacks across potato chips, pellets and extruded items, one of the main aims of the project was to not compromise on the company’s commitment to delivering high-quality, safe and controlled products. As such, TNA’s holistic approach and deep process knowledge enabled its expert engineers to identify areas that could be leveraged to deliver maximum value, ultimately increasing snack production capacity by an impressive 76%.

The high-performance TNA continuous frying system, for example, included patented opti-flow technology, which ensured consistency in each batch and reduced rejects. Lowering the outfeed temperature of the oil inside the fryer to 150°C via a double heat exchanger also reduced acrylamide formation, greater colour intensity, and a crunchier product overall.

“Our application engineer, Arnaud Jansse, oversees our Food Technology Centre,” added Geling. “Leveraging his 30 years of experience, he and his team were able to work with Preziosi to fine-tune the frying process, ensuring each product delivered was as perfect as it could be. Following this, the implementation of our tna roflo vibratory and horizontal conveyor systems took care of those products, reducing breakages and, therefore, shards in the final package while increasing distribution speeds.”

The deployment of multiple TNA on-machine seasoning systems (OMS) delivered seamless changeovers and easy operation across multiple products simultaneously. This, coupled with five new market-leading tna robag packaging systems, further ensured Preziosi could continue to outstrip demand and deliver only the highest quality products to its customers and consumers alike.