Patent ID: 6896474

Claim:
A process for forming, starting from a flow of products being fed forwards, groups or slugs of products comprising a given number of products set on edge, each slug comprising, in the direction of advance, a first product and a last product, said process comprising the operations of: associating, to the first product of each group, at least one first engagement element which is able to withhold said first product, preventing it from falling forwards in the direction of advance; causing said products to advance according to a substantially horizontal stacking path, bringing about the formation of said groups or slugs as a result of stacking of the products themselves up against said first product; upon reaching, by said stacked products, said given number, associating, to the last product of the slug that has been formed, at least one second engagement element; by means of said at least one second engagement element, exerting an action of thrust in the direction of advance so as to separate the slug of products thus formed from a new slug of products being formed along said stacking path; ordering said products according to at least one first flow and at least one second flow; monitoring the number of products included in said first flow and said second flow; detecting the occurrence of situations of imbalance in which one of said flows is richer than the other by a given number of products; and intervening on said first flow and said second flow in the presence of said situations of imbalance by transferring at least one product from said richer flow to said poorer flow.