Minor Ingredient Weighing And Batching

OVERVIEW:
Sterling Systems & Controls, inc. supplied a Minor Ingredient Weighing and Batching System, with Batching Controls to a bakery that produces fresh baked goods such as Buns, Bagels, French Bread and Italian Bread Products. The system supplied by Sterling Systems is responsible for the individual weighments for the minor ingredients for their bread dough and helped contribute to a consistent batch every time.

THE CHALLENGE:
The primary requirements were related to a full days worth of production storage of the raw ingredients. Ten ingredients had to be stored and weighed with the maximum accuracy that could be achieved by the system. The customer already understood what the system would achieve in relation to the end products that they produce. It was required for each individual ingredient that weighments would be accurate and production time cost would improve. It was also vital that there were no missing ingredients and double dosing of the ingredients would not occur.

There were also space restrictions as the height and floor space were predetermined. Supply bins were sized based upon the feasibility studies performed on the customer products. Four 70-cubic foot circular bins stored the most commonly used ingredients and six rectangular bins store ingredients that are used in smaller quantity. A combination of feeder types and sizes were used based upon the material weighment size and product flow characteristics.

THE SOLUTION:
The system’s overall dimensions covered an approximately 13 feet by 18 feet wide area under a 16 feet tall ceiling that allowed the operators to climb a stairwell to the mezzanine to fill the bins. Removable lids were installed with dust collection pickups and the supply bins had bar grating inside . The automation system and process controls (PC & PLC Based) allow the operator to select a formula and the number of batches to be produced for that formula. A custom scheduling screen allowed for a full day of production without the need to interact with the controls during production. The system provided tolerance control and material in suspension capability that ensures each weighment is with-in the acceptable tolerances. Modification to the formulas, ingredient parameters, system parameters are all available to the customers via security levels.