(Usain) Bolt from the blue: Tetra Pak's 'Hyperspeed' concept takes carton-filling world by storm

Tetra Pak sprung a major surprise at Anuga FoodTec 2012, whipping the covers off a modified A3 Speed filling machine called 'Hyperspeed Concept', which can process an incredible 11 cartons per second. Executive Roberto Franchitti justified the 'need for speed' to BeverageDaily.com.

The concept machine can process 40,000 cartons per hour rather as opposed to Tetra Pak's current 24,000 p/hour standard, and could hit the market in 2015.

Director, project management, developing and engineering at Tetra Pak, Franchitti told Ben Bouckley why beverage fillers needed such high speeds.

Were there tangible benefits for customers, or was it akin to the man who lived in a city and craved a Ferrari, but would really be better off buying a bus pass?

Franchitti also discussed two breakthrough technologies used in the machine, a wholly redesigned final folder section, and non-contact sterilisation via low-voltage electron beam technology called eBeam

The latter allowed Tetra Pak to "have a much higher speed of packaging materials through the machine and still guarantee excellent quality and sterility performance," Franchitti explained.