Producing regular shapes with rotary cutter

Baker Perkins has extended its snack extrusion end-product capability with new die technology and the adaptation of equipment from the biscuit industry.

This new process involves a specially adapted Baker Perkins SBX Master twin-screw extruder and a new die that produces a thin, wide sheet of dough.

The process may be supplied as part of a new snack extrusion system or, potentially, retrofitted to an existing line.

After extrusion, the sheet is cut into regular, geometric shapes by a rotary cutter, a technology well established in other sectors.

The shapes may be fried as a conventional snack, or baked in an oven for snacks with a lower fat content.

Snack manufacturers are also able to take advantage of the latest equipment and product technology via the Snack Master modular line concept.

This ensures that lines installed to produce one type of product can be gradually extended to make others by adding units from Baker Perkins' wide range of post-extrusion equipment.

Key to this concept is the SBX Master twin-screw cooker extruder, a solid-barrel unit offering process flexibility through modular design, high free-volume geometry and high torque capacity.

In its standard form this machine produces conventional direct expanded snacks that can be used to build or consolidate a market position.

Additional units such as cutter/crimpers and co-extrusion equipment may be added over time to increase the range of end products to include pillows, tubes and filled snacks.