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Equipment


A novel approach


In a bid to cater for more demanding consumers and tougher competition, the chewing gum industry is continuously evolving and improving products. Chris Shaw takes a look at some of the more novel manufacturing methods.


ometimes the novelties come from the ingredients side, using functional molecules that add value to the product. Sometimes it is the packaging that tries to catch the attention of the consumer and expand or secure the market share of a particular player. Sometimes the innovation comes from the processing element, and this is where equipment manufacturers come into their own. While everyone is aware of Wrigley’s domination of the chewing gum sector, there may be some who are not aware of one of its strongest competitors. Donal Kavanagh, group director of Zed Candy says that industry awareness needs to change in order for companies to truly build on their strengths and expand. As co-founder of Zed Candy, he is keen for the confectionery industry to be aware of just how strong the company is positioned within the gum market. “For a while now, Zed Candy has been flying just below the radar,” Kavanagh told Kennedy’s Confection. “But we are in fact the largest supplier of gumballs to Euro vendors – and our Jawbreaker brand in the UK market is second only to Wrigley. The group turnover is now worth €25million and tonnage per week is 140tonnes on a single shift of gum, with huge capacity.”


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There aren’t many privately owned businesses that can state such a claim and, according to Kavanagh, the secret of the success is that it is one of the few companies prepared to actively invest in new equipment. “Our state of the art equipment is brought in from France, while our panning equipment is from Germany,” added Kavanagh. “Although many assume that because our bubblegum is made in China, that we are your typical cheap and cheerful ‘chuck it out’ company. It couldn’t be further from the truth. What many people don’t realise is that we use brand new German panning and forming machines. We invested heavily in brand new machinery. We also manufacture a range of products for other companies under their own brands, and made all the gum for Skittles.”


Zed Candy uses Gabler Automatic coating pans and Proform mixing, pre-kneading, extruding and gum forming machinery.


The high capacity ball forming Line was designed and built by Proform, located in Hangenbieten France, near Strasbourg. In order to meet Zed Candy’s production requirements, the configuration of the Proform line includes pre-conditioning of the gum using a GPE pre-extruder, which in turn supplies two GE 140 forming extruders. These are each equipped to form a hollow product rope; the extruders are also equipped with powder filling units, to make gum products both with or without powder filling.


BF 1000 ball forming machine 38 Kennedy’s Confection September 2012


Next, the product rope is fed into two BF 1000 ball forming machines, each equipped with a cutting device. A programmed length of rope is cut and then it is shaped into pieces in the format cylinders. The continuous


production of the Proform ball forming machine is said to result in higher production, and ensure smoother forming when filled products are made. According to Proform, the BF machines discharge the shaped gum pieces directly into cooling tables, with the double function of cooling the products while ensuring they remain shaped to format specification, before heading down stream towards packaging.


Flexibility


As part of Zed Candy’s investment, it has prepared for the potential need for more production capacity in the future: the GE 140 extruders are equipped to supply additional ball formers and their cooling tables, with no modification. Zed Candy is currently running more than 25 different products on this line. The company says that product changes are simple; only a matter of a few minutes to change the format set on the ball former, with no special tools. As all the different recipe production parameters are saved, they are easily called up in the operator touch screen, and production can resume quickly. With the BF 1000, product sizes range from 10 to 35mm in diameter for hollow balls, while production capacity is up to 46 strokes/minute. This same type of ball former for gum can also shape grained chewy candy, hard candy and marzipan, plastic or feed type products.


As for formats, the Proform BF machine can make any spherical shape from pears, to bottles, or even lentils. Semi-liquid filled products or solid products can also be formed. The BF range: With the Proform BF 1002 ball former, product sizes range from 8 up to 50mm in diameter and the


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