Automated depositing lines for lollipops
Date: 21 August 2003
Innovative, high quality products
Completely automated, high capacity processing lines for lollipops, developed and introduced last year by Baker Perkins, are now at work producing a range of colourful, innovative products for customers in Europe, India and the Far East, at rates up to 1600 per minute.
These systems were developed to provide a more flexible technique in production and product formulation terms than conventional methods of die forming. A key benefit is a high quality product with superior appearance, high clarity, and a smooth 'mouth feel' with rapid flavour release.
Another major advantage is the wide choice of lollipops that can be made, with dual and triple deposit used to produce multi-colour lollipops, including the value-added options of stripes, centre-fill and layers.
A wide range of profiles including ball lollipops and 3D shapes is possible, each built up from different colours or flavours. Centre-filling opens up new markets with the ability to produce gum, toffee and chew centre-filled products. The addition of medicinal or nutraceutical elements, and the capability to produce sugar-free products, provide value added opportunities.
The potential for an almost unlimited variety of new products is accompanied by significant advantages in production flexibility and rapid changeover between products. The nature of the depositing process, and the use of aluminium moulds, create complete control throughout the process, leading to extremely high dimensional, shape and weight accuracy, with negligible scrap rates and efficient wrapping at high speeds. Depositing maximises hygiene and lowers maintenance requirements.
Baker Perkins' fully proven automatic stick placer, for which patents are pending, allows greater outputs to be achieved, eliminating a highly labour-intensive operation, and offers rapid return on investment.
Today's lollipop technology is the result of Baker Perkins 80 years of continual process and product development, linked to the practical experience of commissioning over 500 depositing systems worldwide
The lollipop depositor can be linked to automatic weighing, feeding and dissolving equipment, and a 'Microfilm' cooking system, to provide a total integrated solution for lollipop production. The 'Microfilm' swept surface cooker is regarded as the industry standard for high boiled products.
Baker Perkins offers the widest range of depositors on the market, including an advanced servo-controlled (electronic) option. Servo-control increases flexibility, with rapid changeover between products and fine-tuning 'on the run'.
Proven lollipop technology is backed by full process support, including an Innovation Centre at Peterborough in the UK for product trials in a confidential environment. All the companies that have installed lollipop depositing lines developed their new product range in this Centre
Baker Perkins combines its in-depth process knowledge of the confectionery industry with the latest automation technology to enable total control of the process from ingredient handling through to cooling and wrapping.
Recipe management software can determine the complete process. Product changeover is a push-button operation: downloading a new product from memory will balance the complete plant for optimum performance, adjusting parameters such as flow rates and temperature.
The operator can also be reminded of all the mechanical components which might need attention, such as hoppers or colour/flavour top-up requirements. Start and stop sequences, and clean-in-place cycles, are totally automatic. Key factors affecting product quality, such as mould lifting and phasing can be monitored and adjusted in real time.
