Exact Mixing manufactures Continuous Mixing equipment for bakeries that are ideal for a wide range of dough for breads and buns, snacks, cookies, baked crisps, pizza, pretzels, crackers, tortillas, pet treats and more.
Exact Mixing, a Reading Bakery Systems brand, is the leading supplier of Continuous Mixing systems for the food industry and has solved complex mixing challenges for customers across the globe.
Founded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1994, Exact Mixing joined Reading Bakery Systems in 2008 and continues to bring innovative solutions to a growing number of customers and industries. Exact Mixing equipment is now engineered and manufactured at the main Reading Bakery Systems facility in Robesonia, Pennsylvania.
Is Continuous Mixing Right for Your Process?
Continuous mixing is not perfect for every application, but neither is batch mixing. If, in particular, your bakery has several batch mixers feeding one large production line, we can help you decide how continuous mixing technology could improve your process.
The batch mixing process has existed many more years than the continuous mixing process. However, the development of improved mixers, control systems, and metering devices has resulted in continuous mixing systems that are accurate, reliable, and easy to use and maintain, including in the area of breads, cookies and crackers.
So, how do batch mixing and continuous mixing compare?
- Bulk delivery of materials: The delivery systems used to deliver bulk materials to the mixer are exactly the same for batch and continuous mixing. In general, they are brought from a source such as a silo or super sack unloader to the mixing receiver by pneumatic transfer. Additions by hand are also possible in continuous mixing by using a ribbon blender. The difference is that adding raw materials to a continuous mixer is more accurate than with a batch mixer in nearly every case.
- Measuring of materials into the mixer: Additional weighing equipment and controls are often required to get the “proper size” batch of ingredients to the batch mixer. With a continuous mixer, all metering is done at the mixer itself. Metering directly at the mixer leads to greater automation, greater accuracy, and a significant cost savings over the long term.
- Mixing: Studies have shown that continuous mixing eliminates the problems associated with batch cycles and produces a consistent product all day, every day. In terms of cost, batch mixing is slightly less expensive than continuous mixing at the lowest production rates (500 to 1500 pounds per hour). At higher rates, continuous mixing is less expensive and the savings increase as production rates increase.
- Dough leaves mixer in usable size loaves: Batch mixers make large “batches” of dough. Manufacturers need additional equipment to resize the batches. This can cause time delays and unnecessary exposure to the environment where contamination can occur. Continuous mixers produce a continuous stream of dough that can be sliced automatically into loaves by the mixer.
Try our Continuous Mixing Calculator to explore whether your process is a good fit for continuous mixing. If you would like to see your products being mixed in a continuous process, we encourage you to visit our Science & Innovation Center in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, where pilot versions of all types of Exact Mixers are available.
To learn more about continuous mixing equipment for bakeries, get in touch with Exact Mixing at (01) 610.693.5816 or contact us online.
