Wednesday, 27 January 2010

Innovation in exciting shapes, colours and wrappings is leading the way. Innovation in exciting shapes, colours and wrappings is leading the way to a dynamic industry. Lollipops are enjoying a revival. The retro confectionery has moved on featuring many different and sophisticated facets – from the ingredients through to the shapes, sizes and wrappings. Colour and shapes have become major selling points for the industry which, in turn, is claiming more dynamic shelf space at point of sale. The supermarkets have prompted the revival of this traditional confectionery which was originally the darling of small shops at British seaside resorts. Baker Perkins has introduced the ServoForm Lollipop Depositor range which includes machines for moulding ball and flat lollipops. With greater production flexibility than the traditional die forming process, lollipop depositing offers a profitable new market opportunity for a product with high consumer appeal. The unique underband servo design improves output capacity and hygiene levels, whilst patented stick placing technology streamlines the whole process with low labour requirements. Depositing or Die Forming? Keith Graham puts the case forward for depositing machines. “When choosing between depositing and die forming of lollipops there are a number of factors that manufacturers should consider. In general, depositing produces a wider range of higher quality products with greater efficiency than die forming, and where any or all of these are important the case for depositing is extremely compelling,” he said. Depositing is capable of making a very wide range of products that simply cannot be made by die-forming. Clear lollipops with hard or soft centre-fills; 2, 3 and 4 colour lollipops with stripes and swirls, and side-by-side and layered products are typical examples. This greater flexibility is achieved because a depositor handles up to four different components independently, right up to the point at which the product is formed, and this gives limitless scope for different varieties of end product. Consistent high quality and clarity of appearance are achieved because air bubbles trapped in the syrup are virtually eliminated and surface graining is avoided entirely. This leads to a smooth ‘mouth feel’ with no gritty texture and sharp edges, and no ‘flashing’ where the two halves of the die meet. A more regular, consistent shape is achieved by controlled depositing of syrup into a precision, die-cast mould in a way, it’s claimed, that rapid forming of a plastic mass cannot match, especially if the size and plasticity of the rope vary. Efficiency levels are very high as there is minimal waste on start up or shut down, unlike die forming which produces significant amounts of out-of-specification product at the start and end of each run, and when a rope breaks. Depositors are fully automatic and require no operator intervention during running while the slow-moving, broad-front nature of the process ensures that wear and maintenance requirements are minimal.  By contrast, die forming is a high-speed, single-row process needing high levels of operator and maintenance attention to keep it running smoothly. Help is at hand for customers at The Baker Perkins' Process Innovation Centre based in Peterborough, UK. The centre provides technical expertise for development of new products and processes, in conditions of total confidentiality and with the support of experienced food technologists and technical partners. Eurosicma Eurosicma has launched the latest version of the Eurosicma the Euro 77 DS/900 lollipop version which replaces its original Euro 77. One of the key points is its practicality – a standard machine which is sufficient to carry on a format change in order to transform it into a Euro 77 DS/900 for candies, jelly or chiclets. In the previous version this was not possible to do that, because of the radial position of the disc feeder to the bench. The new disc feeder is now placed in tangential position to the bench and is composed by two loading defined zones, a main one and the 'compensative storage', controlled by an appropriate photoelectric cell. The constant presence of the products in the compensative storage guarantees an optimal feeding which almost eliminates the risk of empty holes. Reaching the disc the lollipop is naturally (centrifugal force) oriented with the stick towards the centre of the disc. Thanks to a fixed guide and a motorised roller (which directly acts on the little balls) the sticks are oriented towards the outside and contextually caged between two fixed guides where the natural selection of the products lacking in stick is carried on. The presence of the product into the holes is checked by means of a photoelectric cell, after the selection for the stick and in case of empty holes, it activates the automatic phase of recovery. Along the bench chain the product is conveyed with the little ball ahead, the position is guaranteed by the presence of a fixed cam in the exchange zone. Compared to the Euro 77/DS 900 for candies there is an additional motor which rotates the little ball and the inverter which commands the brushes, in order to keep their speed independent from the speed of the aligning disc. In total the wrapping machine is equipped with 11 motors: 6 brushless (nuc, cst, csl, bench chain, paper pulling unit and holed disc) and 5 asynchronous (conical disc, balls turning roller and 3 brushes) Production speed up to 600 ppm. Loynds Machinery International Loynds has over 70 years experience in lollipops, both in manufacturing and today, in supplying the machinery. Eddie Loynds first started making lollipops back in the 1930s and passed on his wealth of knowledge to his two sons Doug and John. Today, Doug runs his own candy factory and John is the managing director of Loynds Machinery International. Loynds Machinery has now been selling confectionery machinery for nearly 20 years and lollipop machinery is something they are very familiar with. “By working with the smaller manufacturers around the world we can supply high quality machinery at extremely cost effective prices,” said John Loynds. “All our new lollipop machinery is brought into our UK workshop before despatch to the customer. Here, our own time served confectionery machine engineers upgrade, and re-engineer many of the systems and make the machines ready for the European market. “We can take on full turnkey projects for people wanting to manufacture lollipops. We can supply the machinery, install into the factory, train staff and help with recipe development. We even supply lollipop sticks. “There are many types of lollipop machinery which we supply including ball rotary forming machines, rotary forming machines for flat pops, flat sandwhich wrapped lollipop machines and deposited lollipop plants.” Whatever your requirement for lollipops, Loynds have the knowledge and experience to supply to your requirement. New addition to the family The latest addition to the CFS Aquarius family of BunchWrapper machines, the Aquarius BunchWrapper 400-S, shares all the advanced features and is built to the same quality standards as its larger, faster brothers yet comes with a price tag that cannot fail to be attractive to smaller sized, starting or even large lollipop manufacturers. (See cover story November issue). The new family of Aquarius BunchWrapper machines from CFS has already won considerable acclaim in the lollipop manufacturing world for the quality and performance the machines offer. The family originally comprised the CFS Aquarius BunchWrapper 600 and 800, capable of wrapping lollipops at speeds up to 600 and 800 per minute respectively. These high speed machines have now been joined by the cost attractive BunchWrapper 400-S with a wrapping speed 400 lollipops per minute. In developing this new machine, CFS Aquarius has made no compromises on quality, with the result that except for its lower wrapping speed, the 400-S offers the same quality levels and advanced technology that have become the hallmark of the Aquarius family.  Like other members of the family, the CFS Aquarius BunchWrapper 400-S is characterised by very low energy consumption thanks to the use of direct, cable-less, electrically heated diaphragms for sealing the wrapping material around the lollipop stick. This groundbreaking system offers not only very efficient energy transfer and excellent heating control, but also exceptionally high reliability thanks to the absence of cables which are liable to fracture during extended use. The machine also features a revolutionary (patented) film-feeding and sealing system that ensures precise positioning and reduced film usage, as well as allowing for a wider range of types and qualities of film. The system is suitable for all types of heat-sealable wrapping materials including cellophane, polypropylene, laminates and wax paper. To assure maximum ruggedness and hygiene, the machine is manufactured in stainless steel and high-grade aluminum. In addition, all control and mechanical components are sealed in compartments to eliminate wear and tear caused, for example, by the entry of abrasive sugar dust. Optionally the BunchWrapper 400-S can be enhanced with a double film reel support, a PopCounter that automatically counts lollipops or rejects pre-defined imperfectly wrapped lollipops and an automatic splicing system for automatic change of wrapping material reels. Also, there are special features available to make the BunchWrapper 400-S suited to run in less ideal environments, such as dust removal system – for instance when running with dextrose lollipops – and air- drying system to create a micro climate with extra dry air inside the production part of the machine that will prevent sugar dust from getting sticky.

 

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