COST SAVINGS
REDUCTION OF LABOR COST
Todays increased food and quality demand asks for a certain level of automation. Due to the high automation grade of continuous dough mixers, labor costs decrease significantly. Sobatech’s continuous mixing systems are called “the dark room operation” as there is simply no light burning at the location of the continuous mixer.
LESS PRODUCT WASTE
Continuous mixers produce a more consistent product quality and eliminate undesirable batch to batch dough variations. The so called head and tail of a batch mixer refers to the age differences between each batch being produced. A difference in age means a different level of product proofing. As a result of the interactions of different ingredients (proofing), product density and temperature change. This inconsistency will be present throughout the entire production process. Trying to manage quality while chasing these variables will add to the already higher and ongoing labor costs of batch mixing. As a result, weighing can be done less accurately, resulting in more waste and less yield. In a continuous mixing process, every piece of dough has had the same mechanical treatment and proofing. This is what we call constant consistency.
LESS FLOOR SPACE
Sobatech is known for its flexible and compact building style. Sobatech bases its layout drawings on customers preferred floorplan. Besides that, a continuous mixing system simply need less space. A continuous mixer/kneader of about 2.5m length, 0.5m width, 1m height can produce up to 6.000 kg of dough per hour. Sobatech’s continuous mixers are able to produce high capacities of dough in at relatively small floor plan.
NO ICE OR COLD GASSES REQUIRED FOR COOLING DURING MIXING
Each piece of dough gets the same (mechanical) treatment. This means the dough temperature is kept constant at all times. Sobatech’s continuous mixers have a relatively little amount of dough in the mixing chamber, with a relatively high volume of mixing tooling (low product-tooling ratio). This results in efficient cooling or heating. In case there is a need for extreme high or low product temperature, Sobatech uses their patented HOT&COOL technology. This innovation allows to heat up or cool down at the exact point of friction.
LESS ENERGY WASTE
The low product-tooling ratio also results in remarkable high energy efficiency. A large part of the energy developed by the tooling, is put into the dough. Besides that, Sobatech registers the energy it puts into the dough (Wh/kg) and believes in the importance of this objective parameter. Sobatech’s continuous dough mixers are the only one in the world that constantly moniter the energy that is put into the product. This allows the system to constantly audit and control product quality development. Besides that, it allows for just-in-time mixing.