Bubs Godis Confectionery, Jonkoping, Sweden

Bubs Godis (Godis means candy) is a small confectionery manufacturer based in Jonkoping in Sweden, which produces a wide range of fruit and liquorice wine gums, jelly sweets, hard-boiled candy and dragees.

The company's facility at Jonkoping is highly automated and only requires four personnel to oversee the entire process right up to the drying stage.

The products are produced and packed on site and then shipped for the Scandinavian domestic market. The factory also has its own retail outlet to sell products to the public.

TECHNOLOGY

Bubs Godis produces around 15,000kg of starch-based Azo colourant-free candy of various types per day at the Jonkoping plant. Part of the problem for Bubs Godis is the large product range for which they needed to conduct many changeovers on the same production line.

The company wanted to eliminate the waste of raw materials and more importantly time on their lines and so they introduced new technology in the form of peristaltic pumps supplied by Watson-Marlow Alitea.

The company introduced corrosion-resistant 520VBM/REH OEM brushless-drive peristaltic pumps, which are controlled by an advanced process control system via a Profibus network. There are thirteen pumps at the factory, all of which have to deliver different quantities of flavourings and colourants for different products.

The peristaltic pumps allow different flow rates of addition and are also very accurate in the quantities added to the candy mixture.

PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

If the plant has to shut down for problems or for product changeovers one of the potential problems is the glucose candy mixture in the system. When it begins to cool and becomes more and more viscous, the mixture causes the pipes to become blocked and a large increase in pressure once the system restarts.

Normal pressure is around 3 bar but after a shutdown this could increase to over 7 bar. Before the introduction of the new pumps the entire system would have to be washed with hot water to remove the glucose material causing the blockage. This led to at least a further 45 minutes downtime and also a waste of the ingredient material in the pipes, which could represent as much as 200kg of product.

With the new system and the high-pressure capability of the peristaltic pumps, there is now no pipe cleaning required and also the recipes and addition of ingredients are more consistent.

The Watson-Marlow Alitea 520 pumps are equipped with Marprene LoadSure tube elements with hygienic fittings for rapid and secure connection during high-pressure applications.

The Marprene tubing has the required chemical compatibility to the food product ingredients at the factory and has long tube life under high pressure, with a temperature range from -10 to 45°C. The pumps can achieve 300l/hr flow rates and have standard IP54 protection.