Industrial head machine to slash bakery downtime

12-Oct-2009 - Last updated on 13-Oct-2009 at 10:45 GMT

A reduction in downtime of almost a third thanks to a host of easy-to-clean design features are claims made for a revamped industrial head machine launched at the 2009 IBA Show by manufacturers Konig.

Demand from customers for a dough divider and rounder with enhanced hygiene features was the reason behind the development of the Industrie Rex III, company head of sales Franz Sommerauer told FoodProductiondDaily.com at the show in Düsseldorf last week.

Quick cleaning, less downtime

Following a poll of leading European bakery producers, Konig said: “They all agreed that in future more and more time-saving and easy to clean machines would be required which would increase productivity and at the same time maintain the highest levels of hygiene standards.”

The quick change units enable speedy cleaning, including wet cleaning at low pressure. All the drivers are situated outside the machine which simplifies cleaning the frame. Central components of the machine are combined in replaceable subsystems, which can be cleaned and maintained quickly at the end of the shift or during short production downtimes, said the company.

“This is important for industrial producers which run production lines practically 24/7,” said Sommerauer. “The easier a machine is to clean, the less downtime a company faces. We believe it could cut downtime by as much as 30 per cent.”

Technical advances

Konig said other technical improvements include a change in the method to drive the heavy dividing drum. This is now driven directly by a geared servo motor instead of mechanically via chain drive with a dividing slide drive, where the feeder fills the open pistons. This means the drum can be set for different product runs via separate programmes stored in a computer.

This drum drive motor also drives the transfer belt and the drum cleaning brush. Like all other drives, the heavy-duty timing belts in use are maintenance free, said the company. Another major advantage is that the slide pressure can be continuously adjusted by a spindle motor. These settings can also be stored individually for each product.

The redeveloped machine is scheduled to be trialled next month, with a launch date to the market due in January 2010, Sommerauer said.