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H-2 plant’s two snack blending lines feed two vertical form/fill/seal baggers that mix, make and package a variety of Cheddar and other flavored snack mixes. The H-3 facility is a 40,000-sq-ft warehouse and packaging plant, and the H-4 operation is a 60,000-sq-ft shadow site that houses a cold-formed bar line. Cold-formed bars, which are not baked like some snack bars, follow a similar process on several lines the various facilities. In the H-4 plant, which is one of the company’s most modern facilities, liquid bulk ingredients including corn syrup and yogurt coatings are stored in 48,000-lb tanks in a “hot room” that’s kept at 120°F. Instead of jacketing the two tanks with insulation, the company decided storage in an enclosed, heated room would be a more affordable option, noted Rich Roscoe, site supervisor of the H-4 facility. Production begins when 2,000- to 3,000-lb totes of dry cereal and other ingredients are dumped into one of a battery of K-Tron material transfer bins, which each can hold one ingredient and allow Hearthside to produce a wide variety of bars with multiple components in them. Upfront, the process resembles that of a line making boxed dry cereal, Mr. Adler noted. From the K-Trons, cereal and other dry materials travel up a bucket elevator to an A&B processing system with a 2,000-lb mixer where the dry ingredients combine with soybean oil and a slurry of liquid ingredients for flavor. The versatile system has a Grote kettle for heating oil and other minor liquid ingredients as well as an ancillary kettle for heating or cooking other liquid ingredients. Although the line has an Allen-Bradley PLC recipe system, mixer operators also have paper backups for formulas as the company continues to adapt more automated controls, according to Mr. Roscoe. The batch then transfers to the hopper of a Hosokawa Bepex slab former with three adjustable rollers to create the proper height, width and speed of the slab. After traveling through compression rollers to ensure the correct size and weight of the bars, the slab moves under a Woody Stringer to receive drizzle or zigzag decorative icings or coatings. Here, an optional Sollich Enromat can be rolled over and added to the line to coat the bars in chocolate or vanilla, if the formula calls for it. After traveling through a 100-ft, glycolchilled cooling tunnel set at 40°F, the slab travels through a rotary cutter that slices the slab into 28 rows and then to a guillotine to create the bars before they enter a cooling conveyor. Next, the bars pass through a Safeline metal detector and are directed, aligned, indexed and travel in single file through one of four Campbell horizontal flow wrappers. The packaging area also has a

▲ Steve Slater (left), plant manager at the H-2 bakery in Grand Rapids, MI, along with Jeff Foos, production manager, monitor production of dough from the continuous mixer on the high-speed pretzel line.

Putting the Pieces Together
In the contract manufacturing sector, now growing at an estimated 10% annually, Hearthside Food Solutions may be a new name to the baking, cereal and snack industries, but the three businesses it acquired during the past two years have been serving the major players in the food industry for 80 years. Additionally, Hearthside’s executives have extensive experience working for food and contract manufacturing businesses. Rich Scalise, CEO of the Downers Grove, IL-based company, has more than 33 years in the food industry and previously served as president of Ralcorp’s Frozen Bakery Products and president and COO of ConAgra’s $3 billion refrigerated foods division. Hearthside’s CFO James Wojciechowski also has three decades of experience, having been the top financial officer at Ralcorp’s Frozen Bakery Products and other companies. Brian McNamara, vice-president, sales and marketing, is a 30-year food industry veteran who worked at ConAgra, Quaker Oats and Heinz. Dwayne Hughes, vice-president, supply chain, has more than 20 years of experience working for companies such as Quaker, Nabisco, ConAgra and Ralcorp. Other senior managers include Steve England, vice-president, human resources, with more than 30 years in the packaging and food industry, and Bob Burchfield, chief information officer, with two decades of experience at food and information technology companies. Wind Point Partners, based in Chicago, IL, is a private equity firm, founded in 1983. It has more than $2 billion in capital under management. Its diverse portfolio has included such companies as Nonni’s and Bakery Chef, both of which it has sold to other businesses during the past few years.

BAKING & SNACK / May 2011

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Baking&Snack - May 2011

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