MEACTHERM presenting MECAFLEX

09/02/2019

IBIE (Hall Central – Stand 6437) - Las Vegas (United States), 8th September 2019 – MECATHERM, one of the world leaders in automatic industrial bakery and pastry production line design, is presenting MECAFLEX at the IBIE show in Las Vegas: a flexible production line concept which has already been tried in Europe for several years now.

The MECAFLEX offers the ability to produce a wide range of products from different process combinations, with diverse baking tray types and formats. In addition to the equipment, the MECAFLEX features simple and high performance simulation and control tools. Thanks to this new MECATHERM offer, industrial bakeries can benefit from major flexibility, and thus manufacture quality products with a high level of industrial performance.

Current trends are no longer encouraging mass consumption. In the last 5 years, the annual number of new products launched on the market has leapt by 60 %, with 13 000 market launches for 2018 alone. To keep up with fluctuating market expectations, the companies must be able to manufacture a wide range of products. They must switch between product series without compromising on quality or hindering their industrial performance.

As a production line designer, MECATHERM has been working to offer a universal, adaptable solution that meets this challenge.

Olivier Sergent, the CEO of MECATHERM, explains: "Companies who work in the industrial bakery and pastry sector need to be extremely agile to keep up with market trends. While agility seems to be simple enough to achieve, it is actually the product of a considerable amount of work at all levels in the production chain, from management down to operators. We saw that our customers were dealing with this agility issue, and so we developed MECAFLEX, a solution that enables industrial companies to invest without worrying about the future".

MECAFLEX is MECATHERM's response for the sector's industrial companies who need to face changes in consumer tastes and to manage the high demand for new products.

MECAFLEX, an evolving solution:

The MECAFLEX offer has been designed to be evolving to provide a solution to industrial bakery companies’ issues. MECAFLEX is available in 2 versions: MECAFLEX ESSENTIAL and MECAFLEX ADVANCED, the second version providing a more advanced level of automation than the first. Industrial bakers will be able to choose the option that best suits them according to their own requirements and their investment capacity. Gateways have been created between the 2 versions. Customers who choose the ESSENTIAL solution will be able to switch easily to the ADVANCED offer if they decide later to expand their processes.

François Retailleau, MECATHERM Line Product Manager: "Our MECAFLEX flexible line concept has been designed to assist all industrial bakers regardless of their profile, their existing equipment and their current and future requirements". The real value of the MECAFLEX offer is that it works on the parameter(s) where manufacturers need to improve while preserving their strong points: flexibility, quality and/or performance. "This gives them what they need to perform and achieve their objectives in a fast-changing market context where they must be agile to stand out".

MECAFLEX, an innovative solution built on 3 basic principles:

A flexible line architecture

At the start of the line, a deposit zone enables as many line heads to be connected as required, with the possibility to deposit individual products (trays, cartons, foils, etc.) into MECAFRAME frame.

Along the line, production customization zones at each step (flouring, seeding, scoring, injection, cutting, etc.); And, the possibility of carrying out different processes on the line if necessary (raw, pre-proofed, basked, frozen pre-baked, etc.)

At the end of the line, a smart supply of the multiple packaging lines enables to reduce drastically the machine supply operations.

Next to the line, cleaning and storage solutions for the different baking supports used.

Flexible equipment

One of the main objectives for flexibility lies in the changeover times, and the equipment’s ability to deliver quality without compromising the products.

The MECAFLEX uses a new equipment which has won awards from the professional sector in fermentation and baking. Besides, quick tool change processes are used when required (depanner head change, scoring tool change, etc.).

Agile management software

Given the host of processes implemented by the MECAFLEX, MECATHERM has developed a line management tool which assists operators as they plan their production, in order to reduce impact on line availability and to provide instant monitoring of the different products during production on the line (end of run, start of next run). This solution is part of the complete DIGITAL offer which MECATHERM has developed for its lines’ users and which will be presented at IBIE.

Flexibility is a state of mind that must be shared by everyone in a company. Digital tools are an excellent way to train users, to open their minds and make them want to meet the market's expectations.

MECAFLEX, an evolving solution:

An evolving solution to help the development of industrial companies
An adaptable offer to market trends and production diversification expectations
An optimized offer for Flexibility, Quality and Industrial performance
The latest MECATHERM innovations integrated into this new offer: M-UB mechanization and M-TA oven