An apparatus for packaging sachets, the apparatus comprising:
- a primary packaging unit configured to supply said sachets containing a product;
- a secondary packaging unit configured to introduce said sachets into packages;
- a transfer unit interposed between said primary packaging unit and said secondary packaging unit in order to transfer said sachets from said primary packaging unit to said secondary packaging unit,
- wherein said primary packaging unit comprises a delivery device of said sachets, disposed at exit from said primary packaging unit and configured to supply a plurality of sachets, also coupled, to said transfer unit, said delivery device comprising one or more operating lines along which said sachets can slide until they reach the transfer unit,
- wherein said transfer unit comprises at least three transfer drawers disposed one after the other, selectively movable independently with respect to each other along a closed-ring path between a reception station and a delivery station and between said delivery station and said reception station, each of said transfer drawers being configured to contain a first number of said sachets and said transfer unit comprising a removal member associated with said delivery station and configured to remove from one or more of said transfer drawers a second number of said sachets and to supply them to said secondary packaging unit,
- wherein said first number is greater or smaller than said second number,
- wherein said delivery device comprises a number of operating lines that is equal to said first number of sachets or less than said first number of sachets so that said first number is a multiple of said number of operating lines,
- wherein said transfer unit comprises an electronic management unit that coordinates and commands the movement of said transfer drawers in a coordinated manner with respect to each other and of said transfer drawers with the movement of said removal member,
- wherein said electronic management unit is configured to command at least one actuator to move the transfer drawers independently of each other so that they take at least one of said transfer drawers into a position such that an active transfer portion comprised in said transfer drawer is operatively aligned with said removal member, and
- wherein said active transfer portion is that portion of one or more of said transfer drawers in which said second number of sachets is contained so that any remaining sachets contained in said transfer drawers exceeding said second number, that is, the difference between said first number and said second number are contained in an area of said transfer drawers outside said active transfer portion.