Maarten van der Coer – Sales Director at BVT Dough Process Solutions, reveals how Verhoeven Bakery Equipment’s artisan bread line fits perfectly into production facilities to optimise productivity
With two existing artisan bread lines in two different plants already in full operation, this bakery felt it was time to expand its existing capacity. They therefore decided to invest in a third artisan bread line in central Germany. First, they made an enquiry with us and about a year later, the new line was installed with a better configuration. Key details were predetermined in the requirement specification for this new artisan bread line. In order to process soft dough gently without destroying the fermentation bubbles, the processing had to be “stress-free”. This was to enable higher dough yields and a longer shelf life of the bakery products.
The company also wanted a stone oven line that had previously only been available in another factory, but not yet in this one. As a result, a five-oven Vulkan Euro back from Heuft – one of our strategic partners – featuring stone baking plates was chosen. A particularly important factor was that maintenance and servicing were kept to a minimum. Accordingly, the new line is comparatively wide and able to process a correspondingly wide dough sheet of 1500 millimetres. This means it can also run more slowly, which reduces wear. In addition, a minimum number of personnel was required; the idea was that a single employee could take care of the entire line from dough line production to the end of cooling. This required also an automatic flour feeding system to eliminate the need for manual refilling of flour spreaders and seeders.
At the same time, double-sided sprinkling, also with automatic sprinkling, had to allow for a wide variety of finishes. In addition, an intelligent cutting system had to be used to enable every conceivable cutting direction. The customer deliberately did not choose cutting systems with water or ultrasound because, in the case of scattered products, these would not be able to cleanly cut the applied seeds. We then proposed a robotic solution, which is not based on conventional 2- or 3-axis technology, but on six delta robots with circular rotated knives, that can rotate in all directions. Although automatic positioning of the dough pieces is now standard in cutting systems, it was important to be able to determine the height of the dough pieces using 3D measurement to ensure consistent depth of cut. This flexibility in the cuts means that customers can now offer different cutting patterns.
We always develop hygienic lines that are easy to clean. In this case, automatic product recognition had to be used to ensure that the flour spreaders and the seed station operated only when dough pieces passed through, keeping the belts as clean as possible. Finally, for optimal energy use, a heat recovery system had to be installed to heat the proofing chamber with the heat from the flue gases from the oven’s thermal oil system.
Smooth implementation
Verhoeven Bakery Equipment Family was responsible for the total project planning and interface management and supplied the entire line: from the extruder with lift-tipper to the processing modules, tray handling and proofing cabinet to the cooler after the Vulkan Euro back integrated into the line. This involved close cooperation between Heuft – one of our strategic partners – as the oven manufacturer, and also the integration of the automatic flour and seed supply system.
The customer said in an interview with a bakery magazine: “We chose BVT as a partner because they didn’t offer us a standard solution right from the start, but started the project planning with a blank canvas. BVT took all our suggestions and implemented them before and after the award. All project managers involved were in constant contact throughout the process. The monthly meetings took place alternately at the customer’s premises in Germany and at Verhoeven Family of Companies in Oss. Both parties learned a lot from each other. The approach of the BVT team was always very proactive and flexible. The goal was always to find the best solution for our requirements. Because they manufacture almost all components by themselves, they are particularly capable of offering customised lines for all kinds of product groups.”
During construction, the available space had to be utilised in the best possible way, since another line in the factory was already located to the left of the new artisan bread line and the outside wall to the right. Thus, the relevant air supply was mounted on the outside of the building to minimise the width of the proofer chamber and cooler. The cooler was also custom made due to the available room height of only 2.40 metres.
The hourly production of the new line is between 2 and 2.5 tonnes of dough, depending on the different shapes and weights of the products. “Thanks to the flexibility of the new line, we can now develop even more new products and offer them to our customers,” says the customer. Existing products are manufactured according to proven recipes and for the new bakery products the company has developed new recipes, partly hand in hand with us. The new line is currently used for all types of artisan bread, in the form of rolls or loaves, with or without seed decoration, as desired. Other “new” products include omega and pointed baguettes and spelt rolls. On the existing artisan bread line, pointed baguettes or omega baguettes could not be produced because the guillotine was not designed for these products.
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