Hygiene priorities ruled the drawing board for new equipment revisions at SOLLICH. The Thermo-Flow® cooling tunnel debuts a wheel-out heat exchanger, to allow the operator to clean it easily and thoroughly. Efficient cleaning is an improved feature we will find on numerous SOLLICH machines this year, most of which are to be unveiled at interpack.
R&D at SOLLICH is focusing on the optimization of the manufacturer’s production process, by improving machine uptime and equipment handling. The company has recently revised its entire portfolio, which is designed to meet hygiene standards, and has designed several new features for various machinery that will further improve their efficiency and cleanability.
The Turbotemper®, for example, is a machine for chocolate pre-crystallization, or tempering cocoa butter crystals into melted chocolate. SOLLICH now provides it with a complementary cleaning device, which allows quick and easy mass changeovers. The mobile cleaning device can be flexibly operated within the production site for different tempering machines with a throughput of up to 3,600 kg/h.
The Turbotemper® can be cleaned with vegetable fat or cocoa butter. Ralf Schaeffer, Executive Director, SOLLICH explains: “The external circulation system guarantees optimum cleaning of the tempering column, combining the role of its filter with functions such as automatic temperature adjustments, using different speeds and movement directions. The corresponding pipework can be cleaned with a ‘pigging system’.”
The Enromat® enrobing machines are also among themachines that have received a makeover in hygiene functionality and now come with Cleaning-in-Place (CIP) systems. All enrobing machines are built to meet increasingly strict hygiene requirements, SOLLICH explains, in addition to a mobile washing station and new additional accessories for cleaning.
Designing an enrober with a CIP system does not simply mean that the cleaning system is added onto it; rather, every component and feature is engineered to be able to withstand cleaning with water if needed, while also keeping in mind maintaining the quality of the enrobing process itself. Hundreds of SOLLICH enrobers with automated or semi-automated cleaning are in operation, Schaeffer points out.
Ralf Schaeffer, Executive Director, SOLLICH
New technology concept for the Thermo-Flow® cooling tunnel
The Thermo-Flow® cooling tunnel segment now comes with an absolute novelty: the wheel-out heat exchanger, which allows the operator to achieve easy and thorough cleaning. It can be simply disconnected from the cooling media supply to which it is attached with a fast connection. “The efficient heat exchanger has a big surface and is located in a small space. Therefore, it is difficult to clean it in one place, i.e. in the air cooling box. When wheeled out, it can be cleaned with high-pressure water and air in a separate washing room to achieve the highest hygienic standards. In other cooling tunnels, the cleaning has to take place in the air handling box and cleaning is more difficult,” explains the company’s executive director.
Cleaning requirements for the cooling tunnel vary according to the products and the specific production circumstances. The air filter guarantees that the cooling air has no products, such as sprinkling materials. Furthermore, the temperature of the tunnel itself can impact the tunnel’s cleanliness, when it becomes too cold. This, too, has been addressed: “The new automatic humidity control of the cooling tunnel will help operators to always keep the cooling tunnel in the right condition. Additional air dryers can further improve the situation,” says Schaeffer.
The conveyor of the cooling tunnel can be cleaned during or after production with an automatic belt-cleaning device, which can be used at different places in the factory. Normally, cleaning is carried out with hot water only. What’s more, “The new design of the belt washing device will help operators to keep the unit itself clean,” SOLLICH highlights. The mobile belt washing unit with an integrated hygiene washing drum is designed for convenience in handling when cleaning the conveyor belt. In this way, no foreign particles can get onto the products during the cleaning process.
© SOLLICH
Sweet, smart tools
Automation tools are mandatory for today’s process efficiency requirements. They autonomously detect anything from changes in production to machinery errors, monitor material supply and make necessary adjustments and/or notify the operator. The German company has also made new improvements to its digital tools, focusing on the information exchange between the machine, its operator and SOLLICH itself. To this end, it founded SweetConnect GmbH, in partnership with other supplies of confectionery technology. On the SweetConnect® platform, users can manage all their integrated production machines. “SweetConnect® supplies all required information of the entire line to guarantee efficient production including manuals to easily identify spare parts for the maintenance schedule and support. The main advantage is that all these features are not only for machines from one supplier, but also for the complete line or even the complete factory,” the specialist explains. SOLLICH also provides remote maintenance for the SweetConnect® platform – the ‘Fast Lane’ service. Application data is transmitted to optimize services and performance.
SOLLICH is also launching its first Artificial Intelligence solution, building on the tempering machines’ ability to perform self-analyses. This feature will be the basis for the machine’s automatic self-regulating function. The goal is to have the equipment adjust its temperature values independently, to minimize the operator’s workload, while also achieving quality tempered chocolate, consistently.
The Tempergraph® by SOLLICH is yet another solution designed for process efficiency, aiming to improve the quality of chocolate during the handling process. This device automatically monitors the tempering degree of the chocolate. It can also be installed on enrobers.
Each machine has gained new features that help them improve product quality, such as the dew point display within the cooling tunnel, for instance. This instrument helps to prevent errors during the cooling process, ensuring the product’s quality after cooling.
SOLLICH history
SOLLICH is also organizing a ‘Heritage’ area at the booth, with highlights of key moments in its history of more than 100 years. A few century-old, retro machines will be displayed.
The future of chocolate
Digital tools such as the SweetConnect®, ‘Fast Lane’ and Artificial Intelligence are increasingly more important, to ensure constant and efficient production quality. Accurate monitoring is especially instrumental when dealing with a delicate, often premium and super-premium product: chocolate. Product consistency has been traditionally relying on the skill and experience of the operator; today and tomorrow, AI and digital tools are in charge of this instead, making production less dependent on finding these highly-experienced people. Process efficiency increases and the staff can take on new, superior tasks.
In this way, “In the future, the production lines will work as if all the experienced operators were combined to ensure perfectly efficient production,” Schaeffer anticipates.
That’s not all: for the production of various bars, SOLLICH will bring another new machine to interpack, the Miniconbar® system. With this version of the Conbar bar line, the specialist is adapting to the demands observed in the bar product industry and is also offering a version for smaller production capacities.
Other new machines presented at interpack include the Sollcocap® sandwich system that can produce up to 240 biscuit rows per minute. Sandwiches processed with the Sollcocap® can have two different fillings, with the help of two separate depositing machines.
Last but not least, SOLLICH will also present a new solution for tempering and aerating masses with ingredients and/or flavors. “Mixing of ingredients and tempered mass is always an important part of the whole process. As the mass with mixed ingredients cannot be easily reused, SOLLICH has a rework tempering system to recycle the mass with ingredients during the process in combination with aerated masses,” the specialist details.
The picture of solutions will be completed by Chocotech, SOLLICH’s sister company. Together, the two offer solutions for the complete process, from cooking to forming and enrobing.
