On the west coast of Norway in Stranda is one of seven factories of food giant Stabburet. There, some 35 million frozen pizzas are baked each year. An extraordinary production volume like this requires the perfection of dosing and weighing systems.
Stabburet is known for its high quality food brands. At the Stranda factory, it manufactures the famous Grandiosa frozen pizza, which is also exported to Finland and Sweden.
Since the 1980s, the factory has made over 400 million Grandiosa pieces, as well as two other frozen pizza brands, Big One and Originale, which raise production volume to 35 million a year.
This staggering volume requires efficient dosing and weighing systems that can only be achieved by a high automation level. This is why the factory has minimized manual operations with the help of Dosetec Exact during recent years.
A continuous filling for strewers
Last year Dosetec tailored automatic dosing for the ten strewers at one pizza production line. The strewers sprinkle flour onto rolled dough to maintain the dough´s consistency and so it does not to stick to the dough rolling device.
Mr. John Egil Filtvedt from Megatec is Dosetec’s delivery partner in Norway and Sweden and makes sure that the customer’s specific needs are met.
– The automatic dosing has made our pizza production quicker and more efficient, tells the bakery’s chief, Mr. Tommy Torgersen.
Enhanced work ergonomics
Thanks to the new automatic dosing system, the factory now benefits from enhanced work ergonomics. Running around with heavy filling sacks from one strewer to another is gone, making more time for essential tasks.
The excess flour quantity during strewing is restored back to the dosing process by a vacuum conveying system, thus keeping the working environment dust free.
The customer requested high-efficiency space utilization for the new system. Dosetec’s sizeable experience from various applications produced a solution, which eliminated a cramped workspace as well.
Carefree and easy to use
In order to benefit from the new dosing system in the best way, the control system of flour dosing was also fully upgraded. Dosetec´s control systems are always designed with an easy user interface. At Stranda, the system is equipped with Siemens S7 technology and two 15-inch touch screens. The Norwegian-language system collects service condition data of the dosing equipment for preventive maintenance. The operation is secured and duplicated: the dosing is automatically changed from an emptying silo to a full one without moving a finger.
Accuracy for small component dosing by automation
This year, the enhancement of the dosing and weighing systems continued at Stranda, as Dosetec fully automated the dosing of small components at their other pizza production line. Now seven small components are accurately dosed on the basis of the loss-in-weight principle. The dosage sizes of five small components are 1–10 kilos, and with two micro components under one kilo. In addition, Dosetec automated the dosing of liquid yeast. The system features adjustable dosing velocity and yeast temperature measurement.
The automation eliminates the possibility of forgetting ingredients to be dosed, and other human errors, thus guaranteeing uniform product quality. Like last year, this delivery also requested a high-efficiency solution for space utilization.
– We are very satisfied with our cooperation with Dosetec. The solutions related to projects last and this year serve us in the way we want, says the bakery´s chief, Mr. Tommy Torgersen.
Founded in 1943, Stabburet is a Norwegian food producer and a part of Orkla Foods. Stabburet manufactures well-known brands, such as Grandiosa and Fun Light.