Sugar cone producer invests in CAIMAN-D-300 lines

AUSTRIAN baking technology expert CFT Haas Convenience Food Equipment GmbH supplied two CAIMAN-D-300 lines to Biscuits Dupon, a sugar cone manufacturer based in Spain. According to Haas, the negotiation from initial inquiry to first production run, took place within 12 months.

Only six months after Biscuits Dupon sent an inquiry to Franz Haas CFT, the sugar cone producer endorsed the ordered CAIMAN lines during trial runs at the Haas headquarters. In 10 days after the lines were delivered, Dupon was already producing the first batch of sugar cones with the new equipment.

Dupon was looking for a line that would provide continuous, reliable performance, 24 hours a day and five days a week, according to Jordi Juncosa, Director of Operations at Dupon. The company was no stranger to Haas whose CAIMAN line offers high capacity and consistent quality.

Dupon has been running the CAIMAN lines for five months and reports that after a few weeks, the ovens were producing the required output of 18,000 cones per hour with low downtimes and little waste. Easy handling of the lines is a further aspect: The equipment is absolutely user-friendly, confirms Dupon. The touch panel is logical and easy to operate; the icons require no particular skills. Cleaning intervals are favorable and cleaning is quickly performed, keeping downtimes to a minimum.

“The big advantage of the CAIMAN equipment is that consistent quality is warranted even at very high output rates, a typical strength of Haas technology”, according to Mr Juncosa.

Easy changeover times were also especially important for the Dupon operation. Depending on customer demand, Dupon needs to offer a variety of taste options. With Haas technology, Dupon can play with recipes because the CAIMAN lines accept different recipes with little modification or change in parameters.

Haas Project Engineer, Harald Zeller was Dupon’s partner in developing the project from the very beginning. He is especially proud of a tailored solution to meet the client's requirements: A feeding conveyor was extraordinarily long and twisted, leading to high friction. Harald Zeller’s simple but effective answer was to install two conveyors which transfer the product from one to the other. The unusual length of the production line was a further aspect which needed attention: A passage now enables quick access between the lines.

Project Engineer Zeller also stays in touch with his client Dupon as part of after-sales service.