Non-profit organization MANA Nutrition has delivered over 1 billion pouches to needy kids thanks to ICA technology.

“ICA is the very best of what we all imagine in an Italian company. Great technology and engineering and a great focus on people and relationships. These days it seems people expect to sacrifice one or the other. Not at ICA.” - Mark Moore, Co-Founder & CEO of Mana Nutrition

The Project

In 2009, Mana was looking for a VFFS that could fill a large volume of peanut butter, a very viscous substance that is difficult to fill precisely. To solve this problem, ICA provided five custom-made CSV300 Twin Tubes designed for 92gr pouches. Since then, ICA machines have run consistently for 14 years, often 24/7. The machines’ durability allowed MANA to deliver over 1 Billion pouches and feed 8 million needy kids.

The Story

MANA Nutrition is a group of social entrepreneurs located in Georgia and North Carolina seeking to develop and provide solutions to severe cases of child malnutrition. MANA is a ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) composed of peanut paste, milk, and a unique mix of vitamins and minerals. Carefully formulated to meet a child’s basic nutritional needs, MANA gives the world’s most at-risk kids the boost they need to return to good health.

At the same time, MANA is a tough product to handle, fill, and seal. In 2009, MANA Nutrition’s Co-Founder and CEO, Mark Moore, was looking for a VFFS machine that could help his company produce 92gr pouches of MANA.

“We needed to be fast on the production side, accurate on the fill side, and bulletproof on our seals.”

The answer was a custom-made packaging line from ICA, composed of 5 CSV300 Twin Tubes, specifically designed for high-volume, small-pouches production. The CSV300 machine pairs standard vertical packaging technology with continuous motions for high-speed packaging. While this machine usually has a small footprint to maximize flexibility, MANA Nutrition opted for a Twin Tube configuration to double its production capacity.

The dependability and consistency of ICA machines were also helpful in troubleshooting MANA Nutrition’s location in Fitzgerald, GA. The city is remote and rural, so finding qualified mechanics would have been challenging. However, ICA machines have run consistently since 2010, often running 24/7, helping MANA Nutrition fulfill its mission.

“ICA built a workhorse engine for our company, which served us well.”

This project was a clear win for MANA Nutrition. As of 2024, they produced 1 Billion pouches on ICA machines and fed over 8 million needy kids, making a true impact in the world.

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