Particularities of the Perfect Sheeting and Cutting Line

With the global biscuit demand growing year by year, it is crucial that producers continuously improve their technological lines. And dough sheeting and cutting are no exceptions.

All baking businesses should study market possibilities as technologies are quickly advancing in every processing stage. As far as dough forming is concerned, special attention is required. This is because the selection of a quality sheeting line can reduce costs and minimize losses.

In a biscuit factory, sheeters are the machines that transform dough mass into a uniform sheet, with an expectation of no significant holes and smooth edges. These are essential qualities that give biscuits their expected shape and reduce losses.

Handling a wide variety of dough

One of the most important requirements of biscuit producers is for the machine to be able to handle a wide variety of dough types at high capacities – hard dough for sweet and semisweet biscuits, soft dough for biscuits and cookies and short (tart) dough.

It is also essential to extrude smooth, uniform sheets of dough with consistent thickness and width, according to specialists from Reiser, the US manufacturer of processing solutions for the bakery industry. Their equipment portfolio includes two machines for sheeting: the Vemag HP-E, which is used for larger volume production and the Vemag 500, which is used for smaller volumes. These models have a stainless steel construction to ensure the highest level of hygiene. An easy to operate controller stores multiple programs.

Hygiene and energy saving

Ease of maintenance and energy saving are important topics in all industries, and these also apply in biscuit production. This is why Rademaker, the Dutch technology producer, has improved hygiene standards, for example, by making all the belts removable by quick tension release when necessary. This way, the entire plant can also be wet-cleaned. The plant equipped by this company is controlled through an SPC controller, which automatically regulates the speed and height settings. In addition, only the latest generation of motors and gearboxes are used, so as to run with the greatest possible energy saving.

On the other hand, the plant allows the customer to decide, depending on the product, whether proofing takes place after cutting out the baked products or immediately after rolling out the dough sheet. Thomas Wimmer, executive director of Rademaker Deutschland GmbH, Würzburg, explains, “A few customers want the fully proofed dough sheet to be cut. Other clients prefer the dough to be rolled out, cut and then proofed. This affects, for example, the pore pattern of the baked goods. However, we can offer both variants by using bypass stations.”

Different shapes

The diversity of products that are required by the demanding customers has created new challenges for manufacturers.

Hard biscuits can be made using various recipes of different degrees of richness; these products are obtained from hard, tenacious and elastic dough (agglutinated) and are processed industrially by rolling and laminating. For this reason, these biscuits are technically known as laminated biscuits. The same forming machines may also be used for making crackers by adding various accessories, as explained by the Italian equipment producer, Laser.

Shortbread biscuits are obtained from tender dough (fragile, not hard), using a rotary machine. Therefore, they are also technically known as rotary biscuits.

After sales assistance and maintenance

Most companies ensure that their clients will benefit from after-sales assistance. Some companies even provide worldwide support through local service organizations. For example, Rademarker does this through its Technology Center in Culemborg, the Netherlands. Field service engineers are stationed worldwide and the Service Helpdesk is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide first-line support in case of machine downtime.

When a machine is purchased, the client might also consider timely preventive maintenance. This kind of maintenance is ensured by the specialists at the highest possible availability of equipment and reduces the chance of unforeseen breakdown situations.