Baking & Snack - March 2023 - 68

Modular equipment
allows operators to
add capabilities to a
production line
quickly and easily.
Fritsch Bakery Technologies GmbH & Co. KG
since these machines can be time-consuming to
clean between products. As Bob Peck, vice president
of engineering, E.T. Oakes, noted, the company designs
manifolds for each pan type, size or type of product.
Having a second manifold for redundancy allows operators
to change between products very quickly.
" All they have to do is disconnect the feed connection;
there are four bolts and then they can have the
second manifold in place while they clean the first, " he
explained.
To make things even easier on operators, Axis
Automation incorporates a standardized rail and transfer
cart system to enable swaps to be made even faster.
The company's approach to modular equipment incorporates
an integrated conveyor for each module.
" This approach makes it easy to move equipment
around to adapt to dispense batters, toppings, frosting
and other finishes in a different sequence, " Mr. Sena
said. " All the equipment is on casters and uses quick
connectors and communication over ethernet, which
also allows bakers to use the same piece of equipment
on several production lines if needed. "
Changeovers that need tooling and component
changes can often require operator skill, but even in
these cases, suppliers are designing the equipment to be
changed quickly and easily.
" Improving changeovers requires fast tool changes,
which can be implemented with little manpower and in
the shortest possible time, plus an intelligent software
solution, which must also be designed for fast production
changes, " Mr. Zielsdorf explained.
Frtisch's Multiflex L 700 combines both gentle handling
to preserve consistent dough quality with specialized
accessories that improve the line's flexibility.
" A number of specialized accessories allows the
Multiflex L 700 to be configured for almost every product,
range and operating process, " Mr. Zielsdorf said. " This
machine has a special feature: The entire cutting system
moves synchronously while cutting is taking place. This is
how the pieces are neatly cut and keep their form. "
Depositing and finishing equipment often requires
the most flexibility as these are the ways in which bakers
often differentiate products: multiple flavored fillings or
a variety of toppings.
" We see more and more demand for equipment that
can handle production in a more flexible way, " said Sonia
68 Baking & Snack March 2023 / www.bakingbusiness.com
Bal, director of marketing, Unifiller. " For producers who
make multiple sweet goods, it's about the ability of our
depositor to handle multiple SKUs and varieties through
the addition of specific product cylinders, different heads
or attachments, or with dialed-in recipes via servo models.
The same depositor that does large round cake batter
deposits could easily also decorate the cake. "
Mr. Gregg pointed out that it's important that a depositor
can handle a wide range of viscosities.
" By purchasing equipment that can handle various
viscosities on the same machine it allows bakers to be
able to run new products on the line as their business
grows, " he said. " Our machines can handle pure batters
like cake to batters with large particulates such as
blueberries or chocolate chips. We can custom design a
depositor for a specific pan or certain width of the line. "
Changing out the tooling or even the guillotine on the
pastry line requires components that can be swapped
out quickly and safely. And all of this adds to the efficiency
of the production line. Because of the various
tooling options, Rademaker's pastry makeup lines can
provide bakers with a variety of shapes, decorating
and finishing.
" The overall setup of the line is designed for high
production efficiency, " Mr. Magistrelli said. " This is enabled
with easily removable tools, fewer change parts,
exchangeable scrapers and bins, and various options to
minimize required cleaning efforts. "
With so many options - flour removal brushes, circular
cutters, rolling-folding-shaping equipment, guillotine
cutting knives, stamping tools and high-speed
guillotines - it's easy to see how changing out components
and equipment could get complicated and slow.
Rademaker designed its Tool Assistant to simplify the
process. This program contains a chronological list of
tools for each changeover, and line configurations and
tooling information can be saved, which makes line settings
more repeatable.
" All line and tooling data can be exported to the operator
panel, a tablet or printed as a hard copy, " Mr.
Magistrelli explained. " To make the Tool Assistant even
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