Baking & Snack - June 2009 - 43

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flours and other minors are loaded
into storage bins of two AZO Componenters linked with the bulk dry
ingredient handling system.
Flour is sifted through MAC
Equipment and, together with dry
minors, is metered and preblended
in one of the two Componenters. It
is then pneumatically conveyed to
the holding tank above the premix
chamber of the mixer, where yeast,
water, oil, malt and other components are introduced.
Each line is equipped with a Reading Bakery Systems (RBS) ExACT
Mixing system that continually and
consistently feeds the makeup areas.
The capacity through each mixer
is 4,000 lb per hour. Included in the
mixing systems are not only the continuous mixers but also the platforms
and metering systems. Each mixer
has the ability to meter flour, a dry
blend and sponge into the blending
chamber as well as water and oil. The
dry blend and sponge systems employ loss-in-weight metering while
the liquid feeds are mass flow based.
The sheeting lines use T.L. Green
sheeters and die cutters. Extra dough
is separated from the cut crisps and
returned to the mixer. After a short
inline proof, "crisp" pieces feed the
meshed oven band.
Two MAC Equipment towers were
added during the expansion and installation of the existing and new
sheeting lines. "These towers, which
include premixing and preblending,
were essential for the added capabilities of whole- and multigrain products," Mr. Susko said.
The plant's newest sheeting line is
similar to the other but encompasses
enhancements that reduce breakage and minimize transitions. Each
RBS oven uses radiant convection
heating. The new line outputs up to
1,500 lb per hour - 63% more than
the expanded original line. Bake time
for crisps is about two minutes.
Because of the wider processing
band on the new line, potato agglomerate from the mixer feeds the

BAKING & SNACK / June 2009

sheeter via an oscillating incline belt.
Differential glycol-chilled rollers
sheet the mass, which then feeds the
ripple rollers or bypasses this feed
and makes its way to the die cutter.
The low-pressure extruded lines
for pretzel crisps also employ RBS
mixing systems and ovens. After extrusion, pretzels run through a caustic bath to help impart the appropriate texture and color, and products
bake in the 2-pass oven for about six
minutes, after which products slide
to a lower drying chamber and travel
back the length of the oven to further
reduce their moisture.
After baking, products cool while
being incline conveyed to segregated
mezzanines where seasoning is applied using Spray Dynamics continuous feed tumblers. These rooms are
air-conditioned to enhance product
flow. Plain or salted items bypass the
seasoning tumblers and make their
way to packaging.
Finished products come out of the
seasoning rooms and, after passing
through either Safeline or Fortress
metal detectors, enter a Heat and
Control FastBack conveyor system,
complete with diverters and Revolution drop gates. Two trunk lines
house FastBack systems situated
side-by-side. The systems can direct
product from any of the six lines to
virtually any of the 19 Ishida weigh-

ᮡ Potato crisps exit the oven after a quick
2-minute bake and make their way to the
mezzanine-level seasoning rooms.

scale systems. Eleven weighscales and
baggers have been added in the past
two years. Two Ilapak baggers for the
quad-seal products will be added
later this year.
In addition to numerous types of
packaging machines such as Atlas
v/f/f/s systems, Adco bag-in-box cartoner fed by a SpanTech conveyor or
bulk packer, two horizontal f/f/s systems have been added for resealable
bags and a Roberts bagger for filling
premade club-store bags. Most shipping cases are now tuck-lock style to
eliminate carton sealing tape.
SELF-CREATED. In all, the company has invested more than $20 million in the past two years to ensure
future capabilities and maintains
a sense of urgency to all tasks and
relationships.
"When we look at our business as
a whole, in the past five years we've
created what we are whether that
be customers, products, employees,
quality, service - the hard side and
the soft side of the business," Mr.
Howe said. "And the ideals we live by
each day are the drive to create even
more, our desire to improve and our
receptiveness to change.
Ⅲ

Baking & Snack - June 2009

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