Is pizza dough getting stuck in your company’s conveyor systems during assembly? Is the pizza dough getting jammed or becoming misaligned as it continues down the production line? Do your pizzas struggle to survive packaging, freezing, transportation, or shelf life? These are all annoying events that cause unnecessary downtime and maybe even machine maintenance. However, there’s a simple solution for these problems involving pizza dough– it’s using cardboard circles.
Cardboard circles placed on the conveyor belt system before the dough have many logistical benefits for frozen pizza assembly. Especially if your company relies on automated pizza production, circle feeders can help significantly improve the assembly process and increase the quality of your brand’s products. Here, we’ll describe both the benefits of using cardboard circles and disks as well as the benefits of automated circle feeders. This simple addition is so important to the pizza production process.
Benefits of Using Cardboard Circles and Cardboard Disks
Adding cardboard circles and cardboard disks to the conveyor belts before the addition of pizza dough and assembly begins can help create a better product in many different ways. Cardboard disks, circles, and rectangles have many benefits in pizza production such as alignment, product protection, and machine maintenance. Let’s explore them now:
Alignment
The immediate benefit of using cardboard circles and cardboard disks is that they keep the pizza dough aligned for topping application. Alignment makes manual assembly easier so your employees can apply toppings faster. It also allows automated pizza equipment to apply toppings exactly where it needs to on the equipment, for optimal results. Cardboard circles and cardboard disks help keep the pizza dough where it should be on the conveyor systems.
Product Protection
Cardboard circles, disks, and rectangles act as a protective foundation for pizza dough during the assembly line. Not only do they protect the pizza dough from the conveyors, but they also protect the finished pizzas during freezing, packaging, transportation, and shelf life. Without cardboard, pizzas can lose structure between assembly and shelf-life, which can cause a customer to choose a different product.
Machine Maintenance
The last of the benefits of cardboard foundations is that they also protect the conveyors and pizza assembly equipment. Without cardboard, the pizza dough can get caught in the conveyors or other pizza equipment, especially topping applicators. This results in expensive downtime and wasted products and ingredients. Also, the machinery might need more maintenance over time, which compounds these problems. Cardboard circles can help extend the life of your pizza equipment.
Along with using cardboard foundations in general, there are benefits to using automated circle feeders as well. The combination of using cardboard foundations and automated circle feeders can increase the quality, consistency, and productivity of your frozen pizza brand. These are all important when preparing a meal for your consumer.
Benefits of Automated Circle Feeders
Automated circle feeders are exactly what the name suggests– automated pizza equipment that applies cardboard foundations to a conveyor system before the dough. Besides having the many benefits of automation, using automated circle feeders has its own advantages in the frozen pizza industry. They include consistent application, increased productivity, customization, and reduced materials waste.
Consistent Application
Automated circle feeders apply the cardboard to the conveyor belts the same way, according to brand specifications, every time. Manual application can often miss the mark, which can result in misaligned pizza and missed toppings. However, your company can rely on automated circle placers to place the cardboard where it needs to be on the conveyor, guaranteeing consistent application.
Customization
At Quantum, our automated circle placers, like our QTCR Cardboard Circle Placer and the QTFF Series Friction Feeder, are made with state-of-the-art technology. As a result, your company can customize a wide range of features on the automated circle placers, such as speed and the shape of cardboard (circle vs. rectangle) it can accommodate. Customizable features allow the equipment to meet brand guidelines.
Increased Productivity
Because of the automated circle placer’s consistent application and range of customizable features, this type of equipment increases productivity. With lowered downtime, higher speeds of application, and precise application, automated circle placers help keep your company’s pizza production line going. Depending on the shape and size of the cardboard, our circle placers can apply up to 1800 circles per minute! However, automation guarantees consistent results without sacrificing efficiency. Together with infeed conveyors such as our Infeed Orientation Conveyor Model IFOR Series, your brand can rely on correct application and alignment.
Reduced Materials Waste
Since automated circle placers apply the cardboard consistently and require minimal staffing for upkeep, this equipment also reduces materials waste. While during manual application the cardboard can become damaged or become misaligned, the cardboard would require replacement. However, automated circle placers confidently produce consistent results, which significantly limits wasted cardboard. This also conserves capital and overhead costs over time, benefitting your brand’s bottom line.
The benefits of both cardboard disks and automated circle feeders are numerous, which can all have positive impacts on your company and pizza production process. They are also in line with the benefits of automating most or all of your pizza production line. Automating your company’s pizza production process streamlines and simplifies the way that your brand makes its products. Automation is a single solution to multiple problems that the frozen pizza industry has to solve, such as material waste, meeting demand, and creating productions that survive their shelf life. Our team at Quantum Technical Services is proud to offer a range of automated pizza equipment to solve your pizza brand’s most difficult challenges.
Automated Circle Feeders at Quantum
At Quantum, we believe in simplifying every part of the pizza production process, including circle feeders. Automated placement of cardboard circles helps set up the pizza dough for success during the rest of assembly. Incorporating automated circle placers can further optimize your pizza production lines and increase productivity. Contact us at Quantum today to learn more about our wide range of automated pizza equipment solutions.