Filling Technology to Optimize the Process

Unique tastes and flavors are achieved by adding various types of fillings to traditional and novel recipes. Understanding the process in minute detail is crucial to developing the best filling technology and, conversely, for manufacturing effectively the desired formulations.

Anything can constitute fillings for bakery products, from creams of various viscosities, jams, jellies, fruit or nuts to seeds, and chocolate. They are inserted in the product by either depositing or injecting, both processes relying on accuracy to minimize waste and resources used.

An important aspect of depositors is process accuracy. One of Rademaker’s new improvements is adding individual timers in the nozzles. This allows the equipment to adjust the depositing amount for each depositing nozzle. Furthermore, “On specific product solutions, we have improved applying custard filling for custard pies and we have improved the accuracy of our cheese applicator. We also designed a new, user-friendly interface,” Marc van Rooijen told us on behalf of the Dutch equipment specialist. For Italian specialist Tonelli, innovation in filling solutions is a continuous process and one of the most important topics for the technical department. On behalf of Tonelli, Eng. Marco Melegari, managing director, Engineering & Production, has explained for European Baker & Biscuit the operating principles of the latest advances made in the field by the company. Tonelli creates continuous cake and sponge cake plants and has been focusing its attention for years on cooling and aeration systems for creams and their continuous injection and deposit.

“To guarantee a result, Tonelli supplies the complete package, not only the filling manifold but also the operating pressure regulation system and the cream cooling/aeration and refining system. In this regard, Tonelli has patented a machine that simultaneously performs the task of cooling/aeration and homogenization. This system then interfaces with the Tonelli filling storage system which can also be used to deposit three different fillings at the same time with the same filling with three different colors.”

Versatile Solutions

When dealing with fillings that may be liquid, viscous as well as with chunky textures, i.e., fruit pieces, challenges arise. One of the biggest challenges is the need for one hybrid depositor that can do it all. This is very hard to achieve because, in some way or the other, you have to make compromises that will lead to lower accuracy. That is why Rademaker has a different range of depositors, to ensure they provide the best possible accuracy and quality. The type of filling is key for the design of the depositor for the company. Rademaker’s High-Speed Depositor, for example, has a wide variety of depositing possibilities, including discontinuous and continuous depositing of liquid and semi-liquid fillings (jelly, jam, pastes) without seeds/skins. Additionally, The Mohno Pump Depositor can deposit in spot, discontinuous or continuous filling strips. This system has a high depositing accuracy due to the individual volume control per nozzle. The auger and mohno pump combination enables depositing materials that include large parts such as vegetables and fruit. Each row is individually driven and controlled.

Rademaker depositing solutions are capable of handling a large variety of filling materials. “Our philosophy for our depositing solutions is to have them tailor-made because we think this way of working suits the customer best. This is because each filling material has its own specific characteristics,” van Rooijen (Rademaker) said, adding that flexibility is an important aspect. “Therefore, our depositors come on a wheelable frame to move in and out of the line (for product change and proper and deep cleaning of the pump).” Rademaker makes sure that their depositors achieve best-in-class accuracy and excellent product weights, as a variety of different nozzle types is available for all of the depositors. “The nozzles can be executed with a special anti-drip system. Rademaker depositors can also be executed with a nozzle lift,” he explained.

You can read more in our print magazine European Baker & Biscuit (Nov/Dec 2019)!