Extruders and depositors feature options for automative integration, flexibility and control. Bakers frequently look for ways to manufacture product faster and with less labor. Extruder and depositor manufacturers continue to provide new models to meet these needs better than before. Features to look for include automative options; high speed, high performance machines; high sanitary standards; and clean-in-place machines that allow for fast changeovers. Whether you are working with icings, fillings or dough, the following cost-effective machines offer precision and efficiency.

Fudge depositing system

Hinds-Bock's automatic fudge depositing system adds efficiency to any production process. Hinds-Bock model 4P-16 is ideal for depositing fudge, chocolate, caramel or ganache. The depositor includes special positive shut off spouts to spread the product within the tray, cup or mould. Product specific features are available, such as heated machines, hopper agitation and moving spouts. Tray denesting and conveyors are provided to automate the depositing process.
Hinds-Bock Corp.
877-292-5715
www.hinds-bock.com

Flexible cupcake icing depositor

Colborne Corp. offers a cupcake depositor for a variety of icing applications. The new design is capable of applying “single shot” split color icing to 12-count and 24-count mini-cupcake trays (varying sizes/shapes, including a round party pack configuration) at up to 480 per minute. In addition, it can deposit on six-count and 12-count regular cupcakes in 2-by-3 and 3-by-4 clamshells at more than 312 per minute. Custom manifolds for infinite icing variations are available to suit most customer applications.
Colborne Corp.
847-371-0101
www.colborne.com

HP 15C coextrusion system

In addition to their ability to stand alone, two Vemag units can be used together with a Reiser-engineered coextrusion attachment to produce an assortment of filled products. Working in conjunction with a forming or crimping attachment, the HP 15C coextrusion system delivers a finished product with consistently accurate size and weight. The first unit creates the product's outer dough “shell”; the second machine fills the product. The forming attachment shapes the product, and the crimper securely seals product ends. If a product requires folding, Reiser has the solution for both hand-folding and folding machines. Combine two Vemag HP 15Cs with an RC100 crimper to produce totally encapsulated products in a variety of shapes and sizes. This system is perfect for high-volume production of filled pastry pockets, filled breadsticks, filled scones, fried pies and more.
Reiser
781-821-1290
www.reiser.com

Ideal for gourmet or chunky-style cookies

Because of the increased demand for a heavy duty, easy-to-use cookie depositor and extruder, Unifiller Systems designed the ultimate cookie depositor: the Dopositor. Not only can it deposit gourmet and chunky-style cookies in many shapes and sizes, but it also can extrude all dough types from fudge brownies to breads and rolls, as well as power and energy bars. The Dopositor is available in two sizes: the stand alone Dopositor HD or the Dopositor with built-in 6.5 ft. conveyor. Visit Unifiller's new Web site to watch video clips of some of its machines in action.
Unifiller Systems
888-733-8444
www.unifiller.com

ENSURE ACCURATE FILLING

Accurately deposit fillings with NuTEC's C-Frame depositors. The depositors are available in three models that feature hoppers of different sizes and varying line widths. Bakers can deposit fillings up to 1.5 in. thick. These depositors feature C-Frame technology, which allows them to be placed in existing production lines. In addition, C-Frame depositors feature all hydraulic operations, 22-hp power systems and rotary vane product pumps.
NuTEC
815-722-2800
www.nutecmfg.com

Deposit batter easily

Effortlessly deposit muffin, cupcake and pound cake batter with Edhard's PT-Series transfer/depositing systems. The PT-Series combines versatility and mobility to offer a cost-effective, reliable transfer/depositing system.
Edhard
888-EDHARD1
www.edhard.com

Synchronize equipment

Rheon offers a variety of depositors and injectors suitable for all types of fillings. Bakers can select depositing shapes or injecting styles. Depositors are synchronized with other Rheon equipment for maximum efficiency.
Rheon USA
949-768-1900
www.rheon.com

Economical option

Peerless Fedco offers its new batter depositing system, which is based on a proprietary rotary peristaltic pump system. Application of this proven pumping technology has resulted in a combination of very high deposit rates with deposit-to-deposit accuracies (< 1%) not currently found in conventional piston-depositing systems. It also is gentle on inclusions. The wash down-duty machine is both clean-in-place (CIP) and sanitation-in-place (SIP) for quick changeovers. A peristaltic pump squeezes the outside of a tube and advances the flow of the product around a radius into an integral pinch valve to shut off the flow. The product does not come in contact with any of the pump parts and is totally enclosed in the tube. This enables quick and easy cleanup. Just flush the pump with water or sanitizing solution and the system is clean. With no pinch-points, this depositor is both simple and safe to operate and maintain. Having only one wear item and low compressed air consumption, the Fedco XPD's total cost of operation makes it an economical depositor.
The Peerless Group
800-999-3327
www.thepeerlessgroup.us

Depositor advances

Bakers are interested in efficient, easy-to-use depositors that offer flexibility. This is one reason more bakers are taking advantage of automation and using PLCs to link depositors and other bakery equipment to control panels for maximum control. Automation allows an operator to control the entire operation from a desktop computer. If something occurs to slow the upstream or downstream operation, the depositor can be temporarily slowed or shut down.

“The other beauty of the controls integration is, for instance, if you wanted the depositor to be tied in with a downstream checkweigher, the checkweigher can then feed information back to the depositor, so the depositor automatically adjusts deposit weights based on the information the checkweigher is giving it,” says Lance Aasness, vice president, Hinds-Bock Corp., Bothell, Wash.

In addition, more bakers are requesting depositors with servo-driven motors. “Our company builds more air cylinder powered machines, but we're building more [servo motors] now than we ever have,” Aasness says. He adds that when using servo-driven motors, it is easy to make the adjustment into an automated line.

Servo-driven motors can offer better control over the spread of the deposit or the appearance of the deposit. For some applications, they are significantly faster and they do not use compressed air. Consequently, if a bakery is concerned about utility costs, it is a less expensive machine to operate because it is not consuming compressed air, Aaness notes.