Even when a cooler or freezer has been designed to maximize capacity and product quality, there will eventually come a time when problems arise and maintenance is needed. And with the labor shortages and growing knowledge gap found in many baking and snack facilities, it’s easier for these problems to snowball.

“In today’s labor market, it is difficult to find mechanics who are trained in both refrigeration and baking,” Peter White, president of IJ White Systems. “Proper training of standard operating procedures and following sound maintenance practices is essential.”

Suppliers are making it easier for bakers to follow these practices and better train their employees. 

JBT’s Gyrocompact freezers offer a digital maintenance platform that enables preventative maintenance plans, diagnostics, inspections and training.

“It makes it easy to prepare for part replacement with an online parts portal, and with the assistance of the integrated digital tools, sensors and artificial intelligence (AI)-supported insights, customers can optimize their production and equipment efficiency,” said John Bauer, freezer product line manager, JBT. 

IJ White’s Ultra Series systems automatically monitor freezer and cooler components and warn operators of potential failures. White noted this is especially beneficial as many employees avoid going into blast freezers due to their low temperatures and high air velocities, and as such, are less likely to notice these issues.

“Our remote monitoring systems, Predicative System Alert, are essential for achieving continuous production by reducing unscheduled downtime,” he said.

Common maintenance issues include worn bearings, misaligned sprockets, excessive belt wear and incorrect belt tension and tracking, Keir Bordner, technical product specialist, Wire Belt Co. of America. 

Freezers can also build up ice over time, which hinders effective cooling. Nicola Menardo, president of TP Food Group North America, noted bakers should periodically defrost their freezers to avoid this buildup.

“Blast freezing helps in maintaining moisture and preventing ice crystal formation, which can damage the texture of baked goods,” he added.

To ensure coolers and freezers are operating optimally, Intralox offers an air flow analysis and modification service. 

“Intralox does a full audit of a customer’s actual air flow in the product zone, then using proprietary computational fluid dynamics modeling, we can re-construct their spiral in the virtual world then optimize it,” said David Bogle, conditioning platform lead engineer, Intralox. 

Optimizing coolers and freezers to promote greater throughput, consistent product quality and proper maintenance ensures they stay calm, cool, collected and ready to keep up with production demands.

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