Extrusion can be combined with a large swath of cutters, dryers, sprayers and other systems to provide snack makers with additional flexibility to develop multiple products on one production line.

“Clip-on components add functionality for making unique shapes and sizes, chips and breadsticks, multiple fillings, enrobing with sweet or savory flavors, bi-coloring and more,” observed John Barber, regional sales manager, Clextral USA. “Snack processors can easily create a new product from a proven recipe in a new size, shape or color, with clip-on components.”

He added the company’s Evolum+ Dryer was designed with modularity for coated and uncoated snack production.

“It has advanced drying and air handling capabilities to manage air flow to optimize efficiencies, energy and product quality,” Barber said. “It is equipped with different product conveying and spreading devices to efficiently dry a range of snacks.”

Nico Roesler, pretzel and snack equipment sales manager, Reading Bakery Systems (RBS) noted that bandcutters can cut shapes off the extruder die face at up to 275 cuts per minute, or they can be programmed for slower cuts to create thicker products.

Additionally, RBS Guillotine Cutters cut shapes on the proof belt and can use a standard blade, crimped blade or an ultrasonic blade.

“Each of these blades offers a different advantage, depending on the product,” Roesler explained. “Standard blades cut sticks and rod shapes very well. Crimped blades help you seal and cut filled nuggets or sticks. And ultrasonic blades allow users to cut through the hardest or stickiest of inclusions.”

Snack makers are thinking differently about how to slice these products and where to cut them. RBS recently developed a new style of pretzel snack called a Dynabite. Instead of traditionally cutting the pretzel dough before baking, a partially baked pretzel rod is sliced into consistently sized bites right out of the oven.

“The advantage of cutting at this stage is that you expose the interior of the pretzel which is able to better absorb oil-based seasonings,” Roesler said. “This allows snack manufacturers to offer a variety of tasty seasonings that will be popular in their specific geographic area.”

Ty Sarajian, president, Axis Automation, suggested using sprayers for uniform application of coatings, glazes or flavorings.

“Their efficiency is particularly evident in the uniform distribution of liquid toppings, like oils or egg washes, over large product batches,” he said. “Furthermore, sprayers can enhance the aesthetic appeal of baked goods by adding detailed patterns or fine decorations.”

Moreover, glazers and coaters enhance the flavor and visual appeal of extruded products.

“Drizzlers can create fine streams of chocolate or icing on pastries, while coaters are adept at thoroughly covering snacks with various flavorings or protective layers,” Sarajian explained. “This combination of extruders with such innovative and versatile equipment enables bakery and snack producers to create a wide array of products, from simple, single-flavored items to more complex, multi-textured ones.”

To enable bakers to reduce hand labor and automate their process, Reiser provides the XY Panning Table for smaller producers. The XY Table automatically loads their pans full of products such as cookie dough portions.

John McIsaac, vice president, strategic business development, Reiser, said alternatively a shuttle conveyor and indexer can be added to automatically load pans at high rates of speed.

This article is an excerpt from the February 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Extrusion, click here.