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Those who visit our FRITSCH World of Bakery in Kitzingen enter an exciting world that stands for the latest dough technology, expert knowledge and culinary delight. Over 4,600 square metres, the testing and innovation centre presents the entire range of FRITSCH machines and lines – from the smallest dough sheeter to the largest industrial production line – and not just to look at, but also to test out under real conditions and in combination with modern machine technology.
This is how it was in the summer of 2019, when Ralph Fuhlhage came to Kitzingen with a team in tow. The general manager of the giant Austrian bakery Ankerbrot, a customer of FRITSCH since 2001, was looking for a new croissant line to replace an aging line at the production site in Vienna.
The original, to be replaced Ankerbrot LAMINATOR 300
While visiting the FRITSCH World of Bakery, the visitor’s eye quickly spotted the LAMINATOR 700 line that was set up there and ready to go. “The big advantage of this line is that we can use it to process many different products made from croissant, Danish, puff and short pastry dough largely automatically at consistently high quality and with very low mechanical stress on the dough,” says Bernd Friedrich, Sales Manager for MULTIVAC Austria at FRITSCH.
In addition, when appropriately equipped, it can even process soft doughs for rustic products. Because important components of the LAMINATOR 700 can be quickly removed without the need for special tools, the laminating line allows fast swapping between products with short changeover times.
Discussions during the tests revealed that the current machine from the World of Bakery was to be replaced by a successor model and therefore offered for sale as part of the “FRITSCH Young Classics” used machine range. Ankerbrot and its representative, general manager Ralph Fuhlhage, did not think twice and decided to purchase the demonstration machine on relatively short notice.
Senior dough technologist Oliver Lehmann
Successful production test in Kitzingen
Another advantage in this choice was the possibility to do trial runs on the display model and to define basic programmes even before its delivery planned for the late summer of 2020. And so in early 2020, Ralph Fuhlhage and a team of managers and skilled workers came to the World of Bakery for a week to work on the LAMINATOR 700 with their proprietary mix of raw materials.
“In addition to the four main products they had produced on the old line to be replaced, Ankerbrot tried out many other baked products at our facility. During these tests, we adjusted the parameters of the entire line so that it can make around 20 products with their specific raw materials,” explains Oliver Lehmann, Senior Dough Technologist at FRITSCH.
In June 2020, two weeks after signing the contract to purchase this machine, FRITSCH commenced the manufacture of new components for the LAMINATOR 700 and an proceeded to service and overhaul the line. “This involved, among other things, changing the conveyor belts and scrapers to bring the line fully up to date,” explains Julia Klein, a product manager at FRITSCH.
In close coordination with the customer, who had since dismantled the old line, the generally overhauled LAMINATOR 700 was delivered to Vienna in early October 2020. There, it took its new place on the fifth floor of the heritage-listed building in which Ankerbrot runs their production.
Ankerbrot in Vienna
Collaborative commissioning in Vienna
In order to complete the mechanical and electronic assembly of the line as quickly as possible, and to keep the interruption of production as short as possible, FRITSCH dispatched several assembly workers to Vienna.
Oliver Lehmann was on site in Vienna to accompany the commissioning. “Thanks to the preparations in February, we were able to get the line configured for producing the four main products within three days, and to adapt it to environmental parameters like the kneader, portioner, temperature and air humidity,” explains the senior dough technologist. After that, the settings were then newly adjusted for the additional baked products and adapted further to the local conditions.
In January 2021, Oliver Lehmann was back in Vienna to provide the Ankerbrot personnel with more training for the LAMINATOR 700. Yet, Austria’s capital will not necessarily be the line’s final location.
“We’re planning an extension for our second production site in Lichtenwörth. In three years, the line will probably be moved there,” says Ralph Fuhlhage. By then, it will have provided Ankerbrot’s customers with thousands of bread rolls and fine pastries. And after that will be plenty more to come.
"While enquiring, we learned that this line will be superseded by a new model next year, and the existing one was to be sold off. Because it was not only an ideal replacement for the line we were using so far, but also promised a much broader range of products, we basically pounced on it in a spur-of-the-moment decision.“
Ralph Fuhlhage, general manager Ankerbrot
