Expro goes for growth
Date: 05 February 2004
Two new production lines in Guatemala
A Guatemalan biscuit company has installed two additional production lines to double its capability, and pursue aggressive growth into export markets in Central America and the Caribbean.
Expro already ran a cracker line and a cookie line, and are the dominant biscuit manufacturer in Guatemala; active in export, they saw considerable potential in their markets.
"Sales have been continually expanding over the past three or four years - but we were reaching the output limits of our existing systems," says Production Manager Juan Pablo Castro.
Expro decided to invest in state-of-the-art lines from Baker Perkins to provide the capacity and flexibility required for growth through existing customers and new markets in southern Mexico and the Caribbean.
One new line produces a range of moulded cookies in a variety of flavours, the majority packaged specifically for the snack market. The second line makes a variety of crackers and hard biscuits - include oil-sprayed crackers, animal crackers, Maria and Petit Beurre.
The cookie line combines process technology from Baker Perkins in the USA and the UK. Forming is achieved by rotary moulding, and baking in a gas fired recirculation oven. Most cookies are then sandwiched, and presentation for packaging achieved in two pile pack creamers, which produce snack packs for vending and lunch boxes.
These machines are reaching combined outputs of 1500 sandwiches per minute, configured as two piles of either two or three sandwiches. "Output is excellent. The cookie line is running at 93% efficiency, which we think is first-rate," says Juan Pablo Castro.
The 1.2 metre wide cracker line also combines technology from Baker Perkins in the USA and UK. A laminator and cutting section is used for forming, with baking in a 40 meter long Direct Gas Fired oven; an oil spray is included post-oven. Maximum output is one tonne per hour, but there is inbuilt flexibility to increase this to fulfil future requirements.
"We are very pleased with the new lines: this is extremely efficient, high technology equipment," says Juan Pablo Castro. "We are already utilising most of our new capability, and expect sales to expand to absorb the rest of the capacity in the near future."
