Intelligent Solutions for better Hygiene in Production

With the new Mambo^® system, Netzsch Confectionery brings to the market a machine made of coordinated components and launches the ideal solution for the preparation of chocolate and fillings. Netzsch Confectionery will present its new development to the public for the first time at this year's Interpack in Düsseldorf.

Production planners are focusing more strongly on the efficacy and efficiency of cleaning procedures in light of more diversified recipes and declining quantities of individual product varieties. For decades, large confectionery manufacturers have repeatedly combined proven technologies and customized their particular production processes with individual solutions. From now on, this practice will no longer be sufficient to meet the rising hygienic standards while keeping production costs under control.

Coordinated Components

Therefore, the Mambo^® is based on an integrated concept. Outlining the new development, Theron W. Harbs, Managing Director of Netzsch Confectionery explained, "We have configured our new system from components that, individually, already meet the highest possible quality standards and hygiene requirements. During the development phase, we harmonized the design for concerted operation in a plant in order to achieve the best possible efficiency." In so doing, Netzsch is setting new standards in hygiene and product safety.

Enclosed Unit

The design of the Mambo^® is very compact and it is a completely enclosed unit – with clear advantages when it comes to hygiene: On the one hand, the enclosure of the plant components reduces contamination from the outside to a minimum, especially since the entire system operates under a slight overpressure. On the other hand, the product contact surfaces can be cleaned directly before and after a product batch, since the paths are short and the cleaning procedure is part of the production process. Cleaning is done with fats, which are part of the relevant confectionery mass anyway, so they can easily be fed back into the production process after the cleaning cycle. This minimizes the formation of residual product in the system as well as the amount of cleaning fat required.

Drastic Savings of Time and Material 

In practice, the significant enhancement of hygienic standards and product safety substantially reduces time and monetary expenditures. "With Mambo^®, the required amount of cleaning fat alone drops from hundreds of liters to about 10 to 50 liters per cleaning cycle, depending on the throughput volume and the size of the plant," submitted Theron Harbs as an initial estimate. Since the cleaning process is virtually integrated into the production cycle, the time expenditure is also reduced from several hours to a few minutes, with the size of the plant determining the potential savings here as well. "Through the well- thought-out supply of the raw materials and the integrated cleaning process, only minimal amounts of product residue remain in the system, which means that only a correspondingly small amount of cleaning fat is required," commented Theron Harbs.

Raw Material Supply and Production cleanly separated

Another strong point of Mambo^® is the specific dosing of pre-melted fats and emulsifiers. They are fed automatically according to the recipe via spray systems positioned directly on the mixing tanks. So an initial pre-cleaning takes place in the tank for every batch, without the use of additional materials. And Mambo^® also aids the user when filling the raw materials: an integrated hoist transports the sacks to the appropriate filling position, thus saving time and strenuous hauling. In this way, Mambo^® meets the latest challenges when it comes to ergonomics.

The charging of raw materials and production components is indeed strictly separated with Mambo^®, but at the same time, both the production machines and the pipelines are integrated into the systematic cleaning process. As soon as the finished mixture has been pumped into the processing tank and the mixer is empty, the pipelines are cleaned via a pigging system – automatically, after every pumping cycle and all without changing the product.

Netzsch Confectionery at the Interpack 2014 in Düsseldorf

We will be exhibiting these and other innovations at the Interpack 2014 at the exhibition center in Düsseldorf. You are cordially invited to visit us at our stand in Hall 03/F28 from May 8-14. We appreciate your interest.