Food & Drink Process & Packaging Issue 22 2019 | Page 56

Premium Chocolate Maker Sees Massive Labour-Saving Benefit Of Tij System It is easy to assume that labour-intensive artisanal food operations do not benefit from automated or semi-automated solutions in the same way that a technology-heavy manufacturer might. But in fact, as Suffolk chocolate maker Pump Street Chocolate demonstrates, automating the process of manual date- coding by installing a RF Lite feeding system with iJet thermal inkjet (TIJ) coder makes a huge difference on production efficiency, freeing up skilled workers for core duties. While the team of six full-time workers in Pump Street’s chocolate room does use a certain amount of machinery, it is very much a hands-on operation. As one of the few UK producers going all the way from ‘bean to bar’, it requires maximum workforce availability for a range of processes, from roasting, winnowing, grinding and conching to tempering. That is before the team even starts to mould and pack the chocolate. So, when at the end of last year the Orford-based company began to produce smaller 20g bars to complement the existing range of 70g bars, it soon became clear that automated coding would be a necessity. The full-size bars use a zipper-resealable sachet printed in- house with a batch code and best-before Now, in 20 minutes or so, the Rotech “The speed and the efficiency of the date, which also acts as a tamper-evident machine prints what it would have taken system were both important, as well seal. us three days to write by hand.” as its ability to adapt to other products The smaller tear-open sachets for the Rotech’s RF Lite feeding system is ideal 20g bars, typically destined for the for small-scale food producers like Pump coffee-shop and hotel market, required a Street Chocolate which are automating different solution. for the first time. It pulls individual packs “We were literally writing the sell by date on to the sachet by hand,” says Sally Jones Customer Manager. “Every month we make batches of around 4,000 bars, and it was taking up hours of our time. 56 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk from a hopper, positions them ready for further down the line,” says Sally. The company is developing packs of couverture chocolate and chocolate powders for supply to the foodservice sector. coding with the iJet TIJ system, before “From order to delivery and installation, it transferring them to a stack of coded all happened very quickly,” she adds. “We sachets. The feeding system has a linear were shown how to operate it, and it’s speed of up to 60m per minute. incredibly user-friendly.