Baking & Snack - May 2016 - 76

MIXERS

Although a mixer has to be strong enough to handle the batter or dough, it also has to be safe enough
for the workers to operate it. This is a challenge
that Topos Mondial addressed, especially in designing open-frame mixers. "You want to build a strong
structural frame that is sanitary in its design, but you
have to eliminate pinch points for personnel safety,"
Mr. Morabito said. "It's an engineering challenge, but
it can be done. It just needs to be really well thought
out. We figured it out on ours, how to keep the pinch
points away."
The challenge is in striking the balance among
strong, safe and sanitary - no baker is willing to sacrifice any of the three.

Keep it clean
With Food Safety Modernization Act compliance
staring bakers in the face come September, sanitation

is top of mind in every aspect of bakery production,
and mixing is no exception. "Once process parameters such as output and dough quality have been met,
one of the main structural design considerations is
sanitation," Mr. Graham said. Because of all the attention sanitation has been receiving, it's the area where
the biggest advances have been made.
Everyone knows the adage, "If you can't see it, you
can't clean it." Consider it the sanitation engineer's
mantra. It's also what makes an open-frame mixer
design attractive (despite its lack of aesthetic appeal). Open frames expose all the parts, giving optimal cleaning access. "It simplifies all aspects of mixer
operation, sanitation and maintenance," Mr. Lemieux
said. Here, care and craftsmanship take into considThe Food Safety Modernization Act has put much attention on sanitary design
for mixers.
Baker Perkins

Considerations above and beyond the mixer
Layout can be as much a factor in selecting a mixer as its
design and engineering.
"We don't necessarily get a lot of questions about the
structure, but we do get a lot about what side of the mixer the
operator will have to be on, and in the case of multiple mixers,
it is not uncommon for us to make right- and left-hand units;
therefore, we have to design to accommodate those requirements as well," said Bob Peck, vice-president of engineering,
E.T. Oakes Corp.
The space in which a mixer will sit is always a factor, especially when additional components will be required in order to
to handle the raw materials. "You have to have an additional
level that takes ingredients like a batch of flour and transfers
it into a steady stream," said Jim Warren, vice-president, Exact
Mixing, Reading Bakery Systems.
That additional level is something that can often fall off the
radar. "We run into that all the time, where we are limited
on space above the mixer," said Stephen Marquardt, sales
director, food, Zeppelin Systems USA. He advised bakers to
remember not only the room height requirement but also the
available space around the mixer. "We also run into problems with exposed protection," he said. "Hoppers have to be
equipped with explosion protection, so there must be space
around the mixer."
Regardless of the type of mixing operations, floor space and
room height must always be considered for metering devices
and bulk handling of major ingredients. "When you put in a
new mixer, you have to consider everything ... the utilities
around it, the power, the water, access to the scale hopper and
mixer itself. It's more than just putting a mixer in,"
Mr. Marquardt said.

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