New shortening machine promises greater control and savings

Shortening is a semisolid fat used to promote a crumbly texture, but it can change during transport and storage. A spokesperson from TFT said biscuit manufacturers can remove this uncertainty and increase control over the density of finished products by electing to make shortening in-house.

Producing shortening in-house means manufacturers buy oils instead of solid fats. TFT said the advantage here is that oils are directly stored in silos so companies can cut back on packaging materials and costs associated with handling of boxes and manual labour.

Process control ​

With the TFT RotoPlant the company spokesperson said manufacturers also enjoy the advantages of having a machine that uses up little space and makes control of the process easier. Instead of rushing between several units, operators can use one control panel for all settings such as capacity and temperature.

Another plus point of the RotoPlant underlined by TFT is that the shortening produced is immediately ready for use so no storage tanks are needed for ageing. The company said this is the result of the larger, scraped surface that creates perfect control over the crystal formation.

Other performance features include automatic feeding to dough mixers and control over viscosities. With regards to health and safety TFT said it uses ‘risk-free’ ice water as a cooling medium in the RotoPlant instead of the usual ammoniac, glycol or others.

The new machine uses existing TFT innovations including a RotoTemp scraped surface exchanger and a RotoPlus continuous pin blender and five controlled warm and cold water circuits.

New sheeter-depositer ​

TFT is also launching a sheeter-depositor called RotoSheeter, which can be used to put semi-viscous materials such as creams and jams on cakes and wafers or to sheet cake batter on a steel band oven.

The machine can deposit multiple lanes in widths from 400 to 1200 mm and the thickness of the sheet can be equal across the full lane width and adjustable from 1 to 10 mm.

One of the main selling points of the machine is that the amount added to the machine is the exact amount needed on the final product, said a company spokesperson. He said the machine does not allow the cream to crystallise, so none can be lost in production.

The other advantage of the RotoSheeter is that it can process thick products thanks to its dual roller system, with one feed roll and one depositing roll, according to TFT.

Both the RotoSheeter and the RotoPlant will be on display for the first time at IBA bakery show in Düsseldorf, Germany this October.