For over 40 years, Fazer Mill & Mixes has supplied high-quality flour and other grain products for the needs of the Fazer Group bakeries, later to other Finnish bakeries and the markets in Europe, Russia and Asia.
So far, the grains of Fazer Mill & Mixes have consisted of wheat and rye. In the autumn of 2013, the product range enlarged, as a new oat mill with stateof-the-art technology was in-augurated in Lahti, Finland.
Consumer awareness of the health benefits of oats has increased, which has boosted the demand for oats in Finland and Northern Europe.
– The consumption of oat products in these market areas has grown over 3% annually in the past three years, confirms Mr. Pekka Mäki-Reinikka, the Director of Fazer Mill & Mixes.
Adjustable filling height for big bags
The new oat mill enables a product line that includes assorted oat flakes, heat-treated and steel-cut groats as well as rye and wheat flakes for the needs of the bakery and food industry. The sizes of the sellable packages vary from 10 kg paper bags to 1000 kg big bags.
Dosetec has been Fazer´s partner since the 1990s and engaged in many of the group´s construction and expansion projects. For the needs of the new oat mill, Dosetec delivered a big bag filling station that performs the filling of big bags of various sizes (500–1000 kg).
The height of the filling spout is adjustable according to the size of the bag. The adjustment range is as much as 800 mm, and the filling capacity of the station is 8 000 kg/h. The high filling capacity goes hand in hand with the high demand of oats.
Sellable big bags automatically
There are only a couple of manual functions in the new filling process; the rest is taken care of by Dosetec automation. After having set a big bag in place, the user may start the automatic dosing. The bag is filled with air, and when the dosing conveyor turns on, the bag begins to fill with grain product to be dosed. Dust that forms during the filling exits to the mill´s dust removal system through a suction connector at the filling spout.
The dosing is controlled by the Siemens Siwarex weighing electronics until the desired amount has been dosed and the conveyor stops. The user detaches the mouth of the bag from the filling spout and seals the bag. The shipping note is printed with a sell-by date, and the big bag is sellable straightaway. The big bag is conveyed to the warehouse by a forklift truck.
– As usual, Dosetec delivered the station reliably, on time and without problems, Mäki-Reinikka sums up.