(Mixing) Time Is Money

Facing upgrading or replacing costly equipment can be a daunting prospect for businesses. But battening down the financial hatches is not the way to stave off competitors baying at the door. As the old adage states, ‘the longer you leave it the worse it gets’. Libby Jones looks at mixers to save you time and money.

Benjamin Franklin famously mused that a penny saved is a penny earned – a mantra many a successful business would agree with. But balancing who, what and where to invest against making savings and boosting profits can create a precipice where one wrong step could spell the end. And as the face of the $100 bill said: “You may delay but time will not.”

For bakers looking to ‘speculate to accumulate’ and trump their competitors’ several mixers have hit the market aiming to do just that. Reading Bakery Systems believe through their mixing technology the lifespan of ovens can be substantially increased. No doubt this should come as music to the ears of those facing the expense of replacing or upgrading costly mesh ovens.

Jim Warren, director of ExACT Mixing, a division of Reading Bakery Systems, said: “While older ovens may have deteriorated over time, or do not boast today’s technology, replacement is not the only solution. Supplying dough to the system which does not place the same demand on the oven can extend an oven’s useful life.”

An oven’s ability to maintain a consistent temperature while adjusting quickly to necessary heat changes can degrade over time. Combine this with the less sophisticated technology of older models and you can easily end up with an oven that produces inconsistent, low-quality products. Resorting to upgrading controls and burners, or even the whole oven, has often been the only option.

But Warren believes the answer lies in creating a more consistent dough. He said: By reducing variation in dough moisture – even the cyclical change in hydration from beginning to the end of batch – the oven is no longer required to make rapid adjustments to maintain the temperature in a changing internal environment.
The result is more consistent finished product properties because the oven does not fluctuate in response to the changes in the dough nor struggle to do so because of its age.” Warren argues that in each primary batch mixing operation there is an opportunity for process control and consistency.

However, because these four processes (delivery of bulk ingredients, measuring of the ingredients placed in the mixer, mixing of ingredients into dough and handling the dough as it exits the mixer) is designed and implemented separately, accuracy and flexibility are compromised.

That’s where continuous mixers step in. By combining the four operations of bulk delivery, metering, mixing and dough handling, a cohesive process can be maintained. Metering systems are accurate and designed for accuracies of ± ¼ percent or better. Because the process is continuous, variations from flow start and flow stop are eliminated. “Dough is discharged from the mixer as a continuous stream rather than one large chunk every 10 – 15 minutes,” said Warren. It is this consistency which the American company believes can improve the longevity of an oven.

Theory Put to the Test

To test this theory, Reading Bakery Systems trialed continuous and batch mixed dough in a 1950s vintage oven that was 1 meter wide and 90 meters long. The dough was set to form a sheeted snack product at a rate above 2,200kg/hr. The two mixing systems were set to produce dough at the same rates for periods of three hours without interruption to allow the oven parameters to sstabilize

Gas flow was then measured every 10 minutes before being used to calculate the hourly gas consumption rate. Warren said: “A stable gas flow would indicate the process was under control with minimal intervention by the oven controls, while a fluctuating gas flow would indicate that the batch mixing process was causing a variation in energy input from the oven. “All other factors such as production rate, bakery conditions, sheeting equipment and plant operators remained constant.”

Modern ovens are better equipped to deal with rapid gas flow adjustments to correct dough inconsistencies. Furthermore, older versions can add to the problem by making adjustments in a strictly reactionary manner with no process control. “It is easy to conclude that the gas draw by the oven was much more consistent when continuously mixed dough was supplied to the oven.

“The oven was not asked to make rapid adjustments to provide constant temperature in the oven.”

Although not the focus of the study, product texture, moisture and color were all deemed better when the continuous dough was used. Warren added: “Consistent dough from continuous mixers eases the burden of the older oven from having to constantly make corrections. This allows older ovens to make more consistent product.”

Wodschow & Co.

With almost a century of experience under their belt, Wodschow & Co. is one professional mixer specialist that believes failing to invest in new equipment is a false economy. Area sales director for the Denmark based company, Michael S. Nielsen, said: “When a company has to invest in a mixer, a BEAR Varimixer is a good investment in the long and short term alike. We also believe that when assessing a modern, efficient mixer, you should focus on how the mixer uses the ingredients, the volume of ingredients required, and the mixer’s service life, instead of just focusing on how much you can save here and now on the purchase cost.”
Wodschow have developed an entire range of mixers from the compact 5 L Teddy to the large 200 L industrial mixers in a bid to maximise options and offer tailor-made solutions.

They also offer advanced computer and manual controlled mixers and have designed several color and shape options to suit even the most sophisticated of environs. But the key point for most bakers is their commitment to maximising ingredient use for an improved financial return. Nielsen said: “It’s no coincidence that we use the Superior Strength concept to describe a BEAR Varimixer. A wide variety of tests has shown that our products have superior strength in most areas, and their effectiveness in terms of volume, mixing time and energy efficiency explains why they are market leaders internationally.

“Our mixers have the right strength and the right dimensions, and all our components are thoroughly tested, of course. That’s why they require only minimum maintenance and have excellent durability and user-friendly hygiene, because our products are easy to clean and operate.”

Mixers by VMI

At last year’s iba show in Dusseldorf, French firm VMI unveiled their newest range of spiral mixers, confidently named EXPERT. The line was the culmination of several months of development in a bid to satiate industry professionals’ demand for easy cleaning, sanitation, flexibility, comfort and easy maintenance. Possibly the oldest mixer manufacturer in the world, VMI looked to improve these features while maintaining the kneading quality, sturdiness, and reliability on which they have built their reputation.
A spokesperson for the company said: “In fact, these points have even been improved, particularly by focusing on optimising the role of the bowl pivot, or, even, through better distribution of the stress supported by the structure.”

Developments introduced included a tubular load bearing structure to increase rigidity, stability and improve component access for maintenance, tool driving function to reduce noise and limit spare parts, as well as a tank driving function to increase reliability including an off-centered sprocket to avoid damage when inserting or locking tanks.

Furthermore, the mixers offer tool driving function, lifting of the head end by rotary system joints, a compact hydraulic power station with immersed motor, tank locking systems, kneading capabilities to suit different product specification and automation adaptability. The spokesman added: “Our design offices have brought forward numerous innovative solutions to fully meet these ambitious specifications and hence offer new mixers that are more suitable to respond positively to the varied requirements of bakery industrialists.”
With plenty of mixer options available promising the golden elixir of better profits , t seems the fundamental issue for bakers is to investigate what they want before investing.

And as Franklin said: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”