ConfecPRO - plant technology for deposited confectionery

In recent years, hygiene requirements have not only increased in confectionery production. Validated plants for the production of OTC sweets and supplements are currently very popular. WDS recognized the market demands as early as 2018 and has been continuously developing its machinery ever since. In current projects, the proven benefits of chocolate production have also been used for the production of gums and jellies. Today, the WDS-ConfecPRO is a requested modular solution for many applications in the production of gum and jelly as well as chocolate products in hygienic polycarbonate moulds.

Winkler und Dünnebier Süßwarenmaschinen GmbH (WDS) is one of the leading international manufacturers of confectionery machines and is known for the constant development of its machinery and plants. The WDS machinery portfolio covers the entire spectrum of deposited confectionery, with the most diverse areas of applications and performances. Constant research and development as well as the reaction to trends and customer needs is a guarantee to meet market demands with innovative technologies.

Combining the potential of existing plants wisely

In 2019, WDS presented the ConfecPRO as a production line for chocolate products for medium to high capacities. The modular design with decentralized control unit enables future growth-oriented expansion with only little effort. The plant showed a whole range of proven but also completely new advantages. The completely paint-free design, easy accessibility and good insight into dirt areas, which contribute to the implementation of high hygienic requirements, should be particularly emphasized here. In addition, EasyClean components enable easy set-up and cleaning in all areas with mass contact.

All these advantages are not only of interest in chocolate production. On the contrary: While manufacturing gums and jellies in the context of OTC products or supplements, the classic production process with mogul technology is becoming less and less important since the use of starch powder is often viewed critically. For a long time, starchless alternatives to mogul plants have mainly existed in machinery with silicone moulds. The disadvantages are well known - heavy moulds, high wear and tear, time-consuming cleaning and a small amount of mould cavities.

WDS is addressing this problem and is further developing proven advantages from existing production plants to use them also for depositing jelly masses.

Particularly thanks to its hygienic and accessible design, the ConfecPRO chocolate moulding plant offers an ideal basic structure. The modular design also enables easy replacement of single units. In this way, chocolate-specific stations could be exchanged to re- and newly-designed units for the production of gums and jellies. WDS has many years of experience with jelly-specific aggregates, thanks to well-known starchless plants and the ConfecECO machinery system.

Because of uniting machinery advantages, the redesigned ConfecPRO is now ready to produce gums and jellies in polycarbonate moulds.

Plant configuration of a ConfecPRO for confectioneries made of gum and jelly

The depositing of jelly masses in polycarbonate moulds implies special challenges to mould preparation and the de-moulding process of the products. But let's start with the beginning of the production process:

First, each ConfecPRO has an empty mould control with subsequent mould exchange unit. This is used to sort out individual moulds or change entire mould sets.

Loading is done manually or via an automatic mould set exchanger. Now, the actual production process begins. Each mould cavity is precisely sprayed with release agent by the wetting device.

The correct dosage of the release agent is particularly important here:  On the one hand, it has to moisten the mould cavities completely and evenly in order to ensure that the sticky products are later demoulded. On the other hand, under no circumstances too much release agent should be dosed. WDS works with a circular spraying process that only wets the cavities and reliably leaves out the mould edges. In addition, the spray quantity is infinitely adjustable in order to be able to apply the low-viscosity release agent precisely and thus prevent a golf-ball-like surface deformation of the product.

Depositing follows immediately after the mould cavities are sprayed. Various pump system options are available for jelly products. Depending on the mass and customer requirements, the pump system is designed with a continuous flow system and intelligent SmartPipes or with hoppers. With the latter, the pistons can also stand in the mass if required.

When processing masses with gel-enhancing acids, the use of continuous flow systems in combination with SmartPipes is particularly useful. A short and controlled dwell time of the mass can be ensured here and the mass is not exposed to the atmosphere. Due to the short dwell time, temperature-sensitive additives (e.g. vitamins) are protected and overdosing of these expensive recipe components, which would otherwise be necessary, is avoided. The restricted guidance also ensures a reliable CIP process. This solution, which has already been tried and tested in practice, shows very clearly which developments have already been made in recent years in order to deposit even more sensitive masses than those of a common mogul product in a hygienically perfect manner.

After the subsequent cooling and curing in a cooling cabinet specially adapted to the product, the next special feature of a plant for starchless gum and jelly production follows - the de-moulding.

In a starchless environment, the products must be de-moulded in a regimented formation to prevent them from sticking together. WDS is introducing a completely new pick-and-place solution for this. Products can be placed flexibly on a discharge conveyor or on plates for subsequent post treatment or directly in blisters.

Plant qualification and OTC-production

Hygiene requirements have increased noticeably in all areas, both for chocolate and gum and jelly products. A few years ago, the qualification of plants was still a blank slate in mechanical engineering for confectionery machines. WDS recognized market changes early and is already qualifying large plants such as the ConfecPRO. The qualification is extremely customer-specific, as the requirements vary greatly depending on the target market, production country and special product characteristics. WDS accepts the challenges of plant qualification with its own specialists from the field of GMP-compliant plant design together with expertise from the pharmaceutical industry and has already implemented several projects from lab scale to large production lines in recent years.

To put it in a nutshell!

After cleaning and hygiene requirements initially increased in chocolate production, WDS advanced the previously proven machine concept of chocolate moulding plants. The successfully introduced ConfecPRO soon was very popular in the market due to its advantages in cleaning and hygiene, but also its modular, decentralized structure and exceptional accessibility. Through further discussions and trends in the market, the new impetus of the ConfecPRO was taken along to the field of gum and jelly products. In addition to the ConfecPRO properties mentioned, the new ConfecPRO-Jelly scores with precise wetting of the mould cavities, optimized depositors especially for sensitive jelly masses and a new, product-friendly, orderly de-moulding of the products. The ConfecPRO is also ready for use as a qualified system and is therefore just as interesting for the production of OTC confectionery and supplements.

Prospective buyers immediately found the advanced ConfecPRO concept extremely interesting and large numbers have already been sold.

Further information: www.w-u-d.com; www.sweet-otc.com