Fully automatic rotary moulder. (Plant & Equipment).

APV Baker has launched a new, upgraded Series 540 rotary moulder for the biscuit industry, which offers motorised adjustment of all major functions-forcing roll gap, moulding roll scraper position, extraction roll position and web tension. According to the company, totally automatic control provides the benefits of improved consistency and repeatability of dough quality, rapid product changeover and additional management information. On previous generations of machine, only the extraction roll position could be motorised. The rapid spread of SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems requiring complete plant operating data to function effectively, and a decline in the availability of experienced operators capable of accurate adjustment by hand, have motivated the introduction of full automation.

Optimum settings are now identified and stored for every product, and re-selected at every changeover or start-up. The new rotary moulder retains the ability for operator adjustment, within limits chosen by plant management.

This development of the Series 540 provides the ability to fully integrate the rotary moulder into a SCADA system, providing real time and historic data to optimise the performance of the whole plant.

Contact: APV Baker, tel: [phone]; fax: [phone] or visit www.apvbaker.com.