Granule packaging routes
Granule and Solid Packaging Machines
These lines weigh a granule or a piece, present a pouch, and seal it. The host is either a premade-pouch rotary machine or a vertical form-fill-seal machine that forms the bag from film. If the “solid” is actually a powder, or a single biscuit on a belt, this is the wrong page.
Two pouch hosts on this page: premade pouches on a rotary machine · pouches formed from roll film on a VFFS machine (standard or high-speed snack bagger)
- The machines
- How they work
- Line scope
- Watch them run
- Compare
- What you can pack
- Output scale
- Project inputs
- Before you order
- Material route
- FAQs
- Read next
Confirm first: this page is weigh-dose granules and pieces in pouches. Powder (auger / electronic scale) belongs on the powder page. Flow wrap of a single piece belongs on the flow-wrap machine page. Pyramid, filter and drip bag machines are not granule machines. Larger snack bags that need a wider VFFS host continue on the high-speed pouch page.
- Best fit
- Brands and co-packers packing free-flowing granules, grains, snacks or pieces that are weighed into a pouch.
- Not this page
- Powders that screw-dose or need an electronic scale — the powder packaging page. Sauces and pastes — the liquid & paste page. A biscuit or bar on a belt — the flow-wrap machine page. Tea bags — the tea & coffee bag page.
- Start with
- Product and piece size, target weight, pouch format, film, bags per shift.
The machines
Which machine makes which pack?
The pouch decides the host. Premade pouches go to a rotary machine. Roll film that must be formed, filled and sealed on the line goes to a vertical form-fill-seal machine — standard or the larger high-speed snack bagger, sized from the bag. The filler is a weigher selected from the real product.
Rotary Premade Bag Packing Machine
Picks up a pouch that is already made, opens it, presents it at the fill point and seals it. The host does not form the bag from film.
What the machine has to do
Hold and open the premade pouch, accept the dose from the weigher, then seal and discharge. The filler is a multihead or linear weigher selected from particle size, product flow and target weight — not an auger by default. Snacks add fragility, oil and drop height to that check.
Published screening figures
- Dosing route
- Multihead or linear weigher, selected from the real product
- Pouch
- Premade pouch, picked up on the rotary host
- Reference speed
- 10–60 bags/min on the 200 and 250 frames; 10–50 bags/min on the 320 and 350 frames
- Reference power
- 380 V / 50 Hz (phase and total line load confirmed per project)
Not for: forming pouches from roll film — that is a form-fill-seal route, a different machine type.
Model Vertical Form Fill Seal Machine
Vertical Form Fill Seal Machine
Forms the pouch from roll film, fills it and seals it in one pass. The bag does not arrive premade.
What the machine has to do
Form the bag from the web, accept the weighed dose at the fill tube, then seal. The weigher is still selected from the product — particle size, flow and target weight — not from which host you picked.
Published screening figures
- Bag size and speed
- Confirmed on the model page against your bag drawing
- Fill range
- Confirmed on the model page against your product sample
Not for: a pouch you already buy ready-made, especially a zipper doypack that belongs on the rotary host.
High-Speed Pouch Packing Machine
A larger rollstock VFFS host for snack, nut, granule and pet-food bags. Sized from the finished bag, not from a brochure speed.
What the machine has to do
Form, fill and seal a larger roll-film bag. Zipper and doypack are not this host’s default output. Small sachet tooling is a different VFFS family — do not treat this page as a compact sachet machine.
Published screening figures
- Bag size and speed
- Confirmed on the model page against your bag drawing
- Fill range
- Confirmed on the model page against your product sample
Not for: default zipper doypack output, small sachet tooling treated as if it were this host, or infusion bags.
Screening figures. Rotary numbers above are published on the rotary model page as reference values. They are not quoted output for your granules. Weigher rate and giveaway are confirmed against a production-representative sample. VFFS and high-speed speeds are not repeated here. No tea-bag machines belong on this page.
How it works
How the machine actually works
Four stages. The host changes between premade and roll-film routes; the product still has to be fed, weighed, filled and sealed.
Stage 01
Feed the granules
Keep a steady supply to the weigher without breaking pieces or letting them bridge. An elevator or infeed is specified with the weigher, not assumed in every host quote.
Stage 02
Weigh the dose
A multihead or linear weigher is selected from particle size, product flow and target weight. Snacks add fragility, oil and drop height. This is not an auger job.
Stage 03
Present the pouch and fill
On the rotary route the host picks up and opens a premade pouch at the fill point. On the VFFS route the bag is formed from film around the fill tube instead.
Stage 04
Seal and send downstream
The pouch is sealed and discharged. Keep fines and seasoning off the seal area. Gas flush, coding and inspection are project-configured, not assumed in every quote.
Roll film or premade pouches? Roll film arrives wound on a core and the machine forms the bag on the line. A premade pouch arrives already made and the machine only fills and seals it. The rotary host on this page is the premade route. Forming pouches from rollstock film is the VFFS route. Flow wrap of a single piece on a belt is not a third host in this chapter — that is the flow-wrap machine page.
Photo scope. The four photographs were taken on the published rotary premade granule/snack line (elevator, multihead, pouch handling, outfeed). The same four jobs apply on a VFFS granule line, with the bag formed from film rather than picked from a magazine. No VFFS snack-station photographs are claimed here as a tested setup.
Line scope
What sits upstream and downstream
A host quote is not a granule line. The weigher is selected with the host; coding, gas flush and inspection are added when the project requires them. The photographed weigher is not in every quote.
-
01 · Infeed
Product infeed / elevator
Keeps a steady supply to the weigher without breaking or bridging.
Standard
-
02 · Dosing
Multihead or linear weigher
Selected from particle size, flow, target weight, and — for snacks — fragility, oil and drop height. Not assumed to be the weigher in the photograph.
Standard
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03 · Packing
Rotary or VFFS host
Premade pickup and seal, or form-fill-seal from roll film, including the larger snack bagger when the bag needs it.
Standard
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04 · Code
Date / lot coding
Added only when the project requires it.
Optional
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05 · Gas
Gas flush
Project-configured on the rotary sequence. Not assumed in every quote.
Optional
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06 · Inspect
Metal detection or checkweighing
Added only when the project requires it.
Optional
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07 · Outfeed
Finished product conveyor
Moves sealed pouches downstream.
Standard
See them run
Watch the machines in operation
Both clips are on the official Spack Machine channel and are already published on the rotary machine page. Each one is one running setup — not a speed or option list for your granules.
Footage, not a specification. These clips show one running setup each. Bag size, speed, weigher and whether gas flush runs in the same pass are confirmed against your product sample, not taken from a video. No verified official VFFS snack clip is published on the VFFS or high-speed pages for this industry page, so none is shown.
Side by side
Compare the machines
Use this to shortlist, then open the model page. The speed column only repeats a number the model page has already published.
| Machine | Fits when | Does not fit when | Published speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rotary Premade Bag Packing Machine | You buy premade pouches and need the host to pick, open, fill and seal weighed granules or snack pieces. The weigher is specified next to the host. | You need the machine to form the pouch from roll film. | 10–60 bags/min (200 / 250 frames); 10–50 bags/min (320 / 350 frames) |
| Vertical Form Fill Seal Machine | The pouch should be formed from roll film on the line, then filled and sealed in the same pass — typically smaller bags than the high-speed snack host. | The pouch is already made, especially a zipper doypack. | Confirmed on the model page |
| High-Speed Pouch Packing Machine | Larger snack, nut, granule or pet-food bags formed from rollstock, sized from the finished bag. | Default zipper doypack; infusion bags; compact sachet tooling. | Confirmed on the model page |
Reading the speed column. Rotary ranges are preliminary selection references on that model page. Actual output depends on dose, product flow, pouch opening and sealing, filling time, optional stations and downstream handling. Compare quotations on the same basis, and on bags per shift rather than a peak figure. High-speed versus a smaller VFFS is bag width and pack, not a promise.
What you can pack
Which products run on these machines
Weighing is the default here. If the product dusts like a powder and will not run on its own, leave this page for the powder page. Counting candy pieces is not published as a Spack counter spec — the rotary route starts with a weigher. The photographs are product-type examples, not a confirmed sample list.
Granulated sugar / salt-like crystals
Weigh, if they free-flow as crystals. Humidity changes flow, so raise plant humidity early — the humidity article in the reading list explains what it actually costs you. If the same name dusts and will not run on its own, it is a powder-page job. Not a particle-size specification.
Snack pieces / chips
Multihead plus a matched transfer path. Oil and breakage decide drop height and pan choice. Larger snack bags that need a wider VFFS host continue on the high-speed page.
Nuts / dry fruit
Weigh. Fragility and oil are the checks. Piece size and whether the pack is a premade pouch or a roll-film snack bag settle the host.
Candy / pop-rock style pieces
Start with weighing. Confirm piece size, fragility and the required net weight. If the pack is sold by piece count, state that in the enquiry; a counting configuration needs separate confirmation.
Pet-food kibbles
Weigh. Named as a cluster on the high-speed VFFS page, not as a tested SKU list. Confirm density and bag size against a sample. This is not a pet-food performance claim.
Mixed nuts in a premade pouch
The published snacks-and-irregular-solids example on the rotary page. Multihead or linear with a matched transfer. Still a weigh job, not an auger job.
Screening images. The photographs are visual examples of product type, not measured particle-size specifications, and not a claim that each product has been sample-tested on these machines. Compatibility is confirmed by running your own sample. Block cheese and butter are not default granule rows — confirm pouch fill versus a flow-wrapped piece before treating them as this page.
Output scale
Starting small, or scaling an existing line?
Buyers looking for a small granule packaging machine usually mean one of three different things. No entry-level output range is published here. High-speed versus a smaller VFFS is bag width, not a promise.
A first automatic line
You are moving off hand-filling and need one lane that weighs and seals a consistent pouch. The variables that decide the machine are the pouch route (premade or roll film), piece behaviour, and how many shifts you will run.
A small footprint, not a small output
Floor area, ceiling height and the real power supply are the constraint. The rotary page publishes reference dimensions per frame and a 380 V / 50 Hz reference supply; phase and total line load are confirmed per project. Send site conditions early.
A smaller budget
Price follows the finished pack and the line around it. A host alone, a host plus its weigher, and a host plus weigher plus coding and inspection are different quotations. Fix the pouch and the dose before comparing prices.
Automatic lines. The machines on this page are automatic pouch lines. Whether a semi-automatic option exists for your format is confirmed case by case. Rotary reference speeds are on the model page; they are not an entry-level promise.
Project inputs
What to define before asking for a configuration
Seven inputs settle most of the questions that follow. Send what you already have; gaps are normal on a first project.
01
Product
What the granule or piece is, particle or piece size, oil, fragility, and whether it is food or non-food. Those checks decide the weigher, not the product name.
02
Fill weight
Target grams per pouch and the tolerance your label accepts. Fill range is defined by the weigher and the product test, not by a single brochure number.
03
Pouch format
Premade pouch or roll-film bag, width and length, zipper or flat, and a drawing if you have one. Zipper/doypack is not the high-speed host’s default.
04
Packaging material
The laminate or film, including the seal layer. Material decides which sealing route remains available.
05
Target output
Bags per shift and how many shifts, rather than a single peak figure.
06
Downstream needs
Coding, gas flush, checkweighing and metal detection — each identified as standard, optional or project-dependent in the proposal.
07
Site conditions
Floor area, ceiling height, power supply, compressed air and ambient humidity.
Sample validation. Compatibility is confirmed with a production-representative product sample and your intended pouch. A product name or a photograph alone does not confirm weighing or sealing.
Before you order
What to confirm when you import the machine
Most first-time problems are not mechanical — they are things that were never confirmed in writing before the order.
Power and utilities at your site
The rotary page publishes a 380 V / 50 Hz reference supply and states that phase, local voltage and the total power of the complete line are confirmed per project. Match that to what your building actually provides, including compressed air.
Ambient humidity
Sugar and hygroscopic salts change flow with moisture, and so does the seal. If your plant runs humid, raise it early.
Documentation for your market
Decide which certificates and food-contact declarations you need on arrival, and who issues them — the machine builder or the material supplier. Ask for the documents; do not read a website as a certificate. This page does not state a CE, FDA or UL result.
Shipping, duty and clearance
Crated dimensions and weight drive freight, and the HS classification drives duty. The customs clearance walkthrough lists what your broker will ask for.
Acceptance before dispatch
Agree what the machine has to demonstrate before it ships — which granules, which pouch, what weight tolerance — and that it runs your sample, not a generic one.
Wear parts and format parts
Weigher pans, forming sets or pouch magazines, and spare seals. Ask for the list against your two SKUs, not a generic kit name.
Not a commitment. Nothing on this page states lead time, warranty period, installation scope or after-sales terms. Warranty wording lives on the rotary machine page. First-time buyers can start from the packaging machine buying guide.
Material route
Material comes before sealing method
The film or laminate you choose decides which sealing routes remain available, so it belongs in the first conversation. This page does not rank pouch materials, barrier claims or compostability — those are properties of the material and its certificate, not of the machine.
Related guidePrepare your product, pouch and project scope before comparing machine quotations.
First-machine buying guideClaim boundary. Biodegradability, compostability and food-contact compliance are properties of the material and its certification, not of the packaging machine. Ask your material supplier for the certificate valid in your market.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Which machine should I use to pack granules?
Start from the pouch, then the piece. If the pouch is already made, the host is the rotary premade-bag machine. If the pouch must be formed from roll film, the host is a vertical form-fill-seal machine — the smaller VFFS family or the high-speed snack bagger, sized from the bag. The filler is usually a multihead or linear weigher, selected from particle size, product flow and target weight. A powder that will not free-flow is not this page.
How much does a granule packaging machine cost?
No figure on this page would be meaningful. Price follows the host, the weigher, and whether coding or inspection sit in the same line. Fix those three things and the quotations become comparable.
What is the smallest automatic setup for granules?
An automatic single-lane line that weighs the product and fills one pouch format. Whether that pouch is premade or formed from film is the first split, and it changes the host. No entry-level bags-per-minute range is published here; it is confirmed per configuration.
Manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic — which do I need for granules?
The machines on this page are automatic pouch lines. If you are pricing a hand scoop and a sealer, say so in the enquiry so the comparison is honest. Whether a semi-automatic option exists for your pouch is confirmed case by case.
Which bag formats are most common for granules?
Premade stand-up and zipper pouches on the rotary host, and pillow or gusset bags formed on a VFFS machine. Zipper and doypack are not the default of the high-speed VFFS host. Infusion bags are not a granule format.
Rollstock film or premade pouches for granules?
Premade pouches go to the rotary host. Roll film that must be formed on the line goes to VFFS. Cost per bag at volume is not published here; it is a project comparison once the pouch is fixed.
How long does a changeover take between granule products?
No confirmed minutes are published for these routes, so none are stated here. Time follows bag size, weigher pans, and whether oil or seasoning must be cleaned out. Ask for a changeover description against your two SKUs, not a brochure minute count.
Which packaging material works for granules?
The laminate or film decides the sealing route, so bring the material you intend to use into the first conversation. This page does not rank materials. Food-contact claims belong to the material certificate, not the machine.
What do I need to confirm before importing a granule packaging line into the US?
Site voltage, phase, frequency and compressed air; ambient humidity — sugar and hygroscopic salts change flow; which documents you need on arrival and who issues them; crated dimensions, weight and HS classification; what the machine must demonstrate on your own sample before dispatch; and wear parts plus format change parts. This page does not state a CE, FDA or UL result, lead time or warranty period.
How do I get my granule product tested before ordering?
Send a production-representative product sample, the target fill weight, the pouch you will actually run and the output you need per shift. Note piece size, oil, fragility and plant humidity. Anything still open can be marked as such.
Is sugar a granule or a powder on your site?
If it weighs as a free-flowing crystal, treat it on this page. If it dusts and will not run on its own, use the powder page — that page splits an auger from an electronic scale. A name on a label does not settle it. A sample does.
Read next
Background reading before you specify
Next step
Send your project details
Tell us the product, how the pieces behave, the pouch you will run and the output you need. That is enough to put you on the right host.
Project confirmation. Machine, weigher, material compatibility and output are confirmed against your samples and site conditions before anything is quoted as final.
Include if you have it
- The granule or piece, including size, oil and fragility
- Target grams per pouch
- Premade pouch or roll film, plus a drawing if you have one
- Target output per shift
- Floor area, power supply and plant humidity