Technology: Pre-oven Section in a Biscuit Plant

The pre-oven section is essential in a biscuit plant for creating qualitative products. To find the key developments in this area, we talked to Enrico Pevarello, manager at Laser, an Italian manufacturer of industrial machinery and equipment for the confectionery and bakery products.

When equipping a biscuit plant for the pre-oven section, the mixer should be flexible enough to cover both hard and soft products and should be big enough to also handle slower manual feeding if necessary, according to the Italian engineer Enrico Pevarello. The line should ideally be wide rather than long, as wearing will be slower and the product will be easier to handle. However, plan mixers and packing sections should always be at least 10% to 15% bigger than required.

According to Pevarello, a complete state-of-the-art plant has automatic raw material handling and dosing. Auto-feeding on the line and continuous fermentation are also required. “Automatic raw material handling and dosing is a must, as well as auto feeding on the line or continuous fermentation if needed. Easy changeover of cutting molds rolls and CIP possibility in case of particular production is also becoming a must”, says the Laser specialist.

The atmosphere inside the factory doesn’t need to be controlled unless specifically required for cookies, deposited biscuits and products with high quantities of fats and/or eggs. In case of fermented dough, the fermentation room must be atmosphere controlled.

For a fully automatic process line from raw material handling to cooling, the factory shouldn’t have more than four employees involved in the production process.