Swedish candy maker pumps up the volume

Jonkoping, Sweden - Swedish confectionery manufacturer Bubs Godis has achieved a series of productivity gains following the installation of 13 new peristaltic pumps at its plant, which produces 15,000 kg a day of starch-based gel candy each day. The highly automated production facility requires just four people to manage the complete production process: from the storage of the raw ingredients through entire manufacturing process and right up to the drying stage.

Since their installation, the Watson-Marlow 520VBM/REH OEM brushless-drive peristaltic pumps have become integral to the production process. Controlled by an advanced process control system, which communicates over a Profibus network, each of the thirteen pumpheads are used to inject flavourings and colorants – all of which are required to operate at different flow rates and to a high level of accuracy.

Unscheduled downtime at Bubs Godis' plant can cause the plant operators a major problem. During normal production, the pumping pressure is about 3bar, however, if the line is stopped, the glucose mixture soon becomes more viscous. Therefore, once production is resumed, the pressure is increased as high as 7bar. Prior to the installation of the corrosion resistant pumpheads, this caused a number of issues: one of the most significant of which was that the pipes needed to be washed with hot water to clear the ingredient build-up. This cleaning procedure caused 45 minutes of valuable production time. In addition, up to 200kg of product would be wasted – a costly exercise for any company.

According to Watson-Marlow, the high-pressure capability of the pumpheads has brought other benefits to Bubs’ process engineers. Now, it said, there is no pipe cleaning required if production stops thereby saving the company money, resources and costly plant downtime. The OEM pumpheads also improve product quality and consistency throughout the production batch. The consistent flow rate means the amount of colorants and flavourings used has been significant reduced, the equipment supplier added.