Automation and Flour Conveying in the Baking Goods Industry with Piab
Flour, sugar, salt, and other dry powders, granules, grains, and small particles are used in producing baking goods. Our solutions ensure consistent quality, low-dust conveying of ingredients, and compliance with hygiene standards.
Conveying systems for bakeries
Conveying systems for baking goods are essential in automating the transportation of ingredients and flour within the baking goods production line. These systems use gentle suction to move bulk materials like flour, sugar, grains, nuts, and spices. They transport these items from storage silos or containers to different processing points along the production line.
Vacuum conveying removes the need for manual handling. This method ensures a clean and safe transfer of flour and other ingredients. It keeps the quality and integrity of the final product.
Since materials change often, it’s important to have conveying equipment that is versatile and easy to clean. It should also provide quick changeovers if you switch between different flour mixes.
Robotic solutions for baking goods production: Automation of processes
We also offer food grade suction cups and grippers for pick-and-place solutions. Pick-and-place systems help automating the assembly and packaging of baked goods. These automated systems are equipped with pick-and-place suction cups or grippers capable of precisely picking up baked items such as bread, cakes, cookies, and pastries from the production line and placing them into the packaging.
With the ability to gently handle delicate products with speed and accuracy, pick-and-place solutions optimize throughput rates while minimizing product damage and waste.
Conveying ingredients: Handling of seeds within an industrial bakery - Customer story
Check our success story with Austerschmidt, a German industrial bakery. They automated seed handling using Piab's piFLOW vacuum conveyor.
Different pneumatic conveying system for flour, sugar, seeds
Sugar, seeds, and flour handling system: Feeding to and from mixing and blending units
Piab vacuum conveyors can replace manual feeding in your blenders, mixers, or other lifting solutions. They ensure a fast filling and emptying process. Our flour conveyors also make it easy to change materials. You can pick up baking ingredients from the barrel or drum. This makes the workflow easier and speeds up the process.
Our smart enclosed vacuum conveying systems for flour, sugar, mixes, and other ingredients create a safe workplace. They also lower the risk of material segregation and contamination.
All types of pneumatic conveying systems by Piab are quiet. They have a modular design and small size. This allows them to fit in most spaces. Maintenance, regular cleaning, and filter changes are easily done to minimize your production’s down time, reducing the risk of product exposure and required human effort.
Feeding seasoning and sprinkling units
Vacuum conveying for baking goods is mainly used to move ingredients. This includes sugar, salt, wheat flour, other flour types, and similar materials. These ingredients are transported through sieves into blending and mixing equipment.
Vacuum transfer also helps move ingredients to dosing machines. It spreads flavorings, seeds, or salt onto baked goods.
It is important to reduce small particle size and dust exposure when delivering seasonings. This includes salt, spice mixes, sugar, and nuts. These items are delivered to a sprinkling machine. This helps lower the risk of material segregation and boosts productivity.
You can replace manual feeding of seasonings with Piab vacuum conveying systems for bakeries. A flour conveying system can pick up powder from a barrel or container, delivering it safely.
Reduce material loss and packaging waste: Reclaim of product with Piab
The possibility to automate the reclaim process of materials can increase the efficiency of scrap handling. Piab vacuum conveyors for baking goods can move damaged products via an enclosed system to scrap handling thus eliminating dependency on operator interaction. Reclaiming of the product within the process reduces material loss and packaging waste.
Feeding packaging machines in the baking goods industry
Packaging is the last step in the manufacturing process and is usually done with many employees present, which means that low noise levels are critical to ensure a safe working environment. Piab vacuum conveyors are well suited to feed packaging machines because of low noise levels and are designed with an enclosed system ensuring employee safety due to removing any dust particle exposure during the packing process.
Direct food contact picking: Vacuum ejectors and suction cups for baked goods
Due to the large variety of shapes, sizes and consistency of food products an adjustable vacuum level is required in order to avoid product marking or damage. Vacuum systems fitted with right type of suction cup and vacuum ejector are the most versatile and reliable solution for pick-and-place in the baking goods industry. Piab solutions ensure a high performing picking and placing operations.
All our food contact classified products meet FDA requirements, are easy to clean and need minimal maintenance. Most of our products are configurable and modular to your needs, which helps to simplify operations and get you up and running quickly.
Above all, we were impressed by Piab's rapid planning and implementation, taking our requirements for integration into the existing systems into account one-to-one. In addition to the excellent, customer-related advice, we were also delighted that the delivery timeframe was met and that we were able to put the vacuum conveyor into operation very quickly.
Benefits of flour vacuum conveying in the baking industry
Made for food processing
Hygienic, compliant, and safe in direct food contact with raw materials, as well as easy maintenance and cleaning.
Ease of use
Our pneumatic conveying systems for different types of flour, sugar, and other ingredients used in baking are easily adjusted to provide a quick changeover of materials.
Human safety
Our enclosed flour pneumatic conveying technology helps reduce exposure to dust and move flour in a safer working environment.
FAQ
Do Piab vacuum conveyors replace screw conveyors?
Certainly! Mechanical options, like screw conveyors, bucket elevators, chain or even belt conveyors are less suitable to move materials than Piab dense phase conveying solutions. Screw systems, especially, have a fixed design, have a big footprint, can lead to product segregation (separation of ingredients in flour mixes, as an example) and tend to damage the product due to frictions during the conveying process. Vacuum conveying avoids these risks.
We work with an especially fine flour mix that tends to build “ratholes” during transportation. Is it possible to overcome that?
Each situation differs when using vacuum conveying in flour transfer. Fine powders often tend to “do bridging” or create “ratholes” during the process. This can be easily avoided by choosing a flour conveying system with the right setup and by using fluidization whenever it is needed. Talk to our experts to find out what flour vacuum conveying solutions we offer to overcome bridging.
How does Piab vacuum flour systems support quick changeovers in production?
With easy-to-clean designs and adjustable settings, vacuum systems support quick and efficient changeovers between different materials, maximizing uptime and productivity in baking goods production.
Can vacuum systems handle different types of baking ingredients?
Yes, flour vacuum conveying systems are versatile and can handle a wide range of baking ingredients including flour, sugar, starches, and nuts, making them suitable in various applications within the baking goods industry.
Are Piab products easy to clean and maintain?
Vacuum conveying systems offer easy cleaning and maintenance, with some models offering features like Wet-In-Place (WIP) providing efficient cleaning and ensuring compliance with hygiene standards in the food industry.
How do you ensure the gentle handling of delicate ingredients?
The technology behind a pneumatic conveying flour system is designed to transport materials gently to prevent damage to delicate ingredients, ensuring they maintain their quality and integrity from pickup to discharge.
Can flour vacuum conveying systems be customized in specific baking goods applications?
Yes, they can be customized with various feed point equipment and configurations to meet the specific needs of different applications, from sugar pneumatic conveying to finished candy products, within the baking goods industry.
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