Blog
GROW YOUR SKUs, NOT YOUR FACTORY FOOTPRINT
Replacing traditional melt tanks with a portable, compact V20 melter lets you reclaim valuable floor space. With more space to play with, you have the freedom to add more and more complex SKUs, establish washdown areas for greater efficiency or add additional process equipment
SWITCH UP PRODUCTION ON A DIME
As markets and consumer demands shift at an ever-faster rate, manufacturers need plants that are agile enough to keep up. That means looking carefully at all aspects – including how they melt chocolate.
PUTTING POWER BEHIND PRODUCT
If you can eliminate the chocolate-melting bottleneck, your overall production capacity is suddenly unleashed. With faster processing improving downstream production rates, you can produce more bars or chocolate in a shorter time, maximising the potential of your facilities and staff.
SKU PROLIFERATION – IS YOUR FACILITY KEEPING UP?
For bar and chocolate manufacturers, ignoring the micro-segmentation trend and focussing on just a few SKUs is no longer an option. But simply introducing more SKUs without an eye on how to manage the accompanying time, complexity and cost increases isn’t an option either.
REVOLUTIONISE THE PLANT TO MAKE IT MORE ATTRACTIVE TO PEOPLE
We can expect to see almost 3.5 million more manufacturing jobs by 2030 in the United States. The majority – about two million – will stay empty.
AUTOMATE YOUR WAY OUT OF THE LABOUR SHORTAGE
As with most bar and chocolate manufacturers, one of your biggest headaches right now is staff. Not just finding people, but finding reliable people and keeping them for longer than a few days or weeks. There’s much you can do to improve recruitment and staff retention.
SOLVING MANUFACTURING’S STAFFING SHORTAGE
Automation, psychology and smarter design We’ve spent the last quarter on the ground in the US visiting bar and chocolate manufacturers, from small, independent outfits to large-scale facilities owned by multi-national conglomerates. Despite their obvious differences...
THE FOUR ISSUES FACING AMERICA’S MANUFACTURING
The pandemic has shaken things up in ways that many of us couldn’t have predicted. One of those is the impact it has had on staffing. In our industry and across many others, businesses simply can’t find or keep staff. While that’s always been an issue, the problem has reached a critical point.
3 PROFITABILITY GAME-CHANGERS
PTL Machinery’s guide to efficient bar production and better equipment choices – three ways to boost your manufacturing bottom line. The way you configure your production floor – and the equipment you use – can make a tangible difference to your production numbers. This can mean reworking lines to maximise efficiency and choosing machines with a smaller footprint.
MELTER MAGIC: EFFICIENCY, FLEXIBILITY, SUCCESS
PTL’s new V2O melter was designed with features built around efficiency and fast changeovers. Instant melt functionality and continuous supply mean fewer delays and faster processing, while removable melt grids and easy-wash design make it simple to clean between products – even if you’re dealing with allergens.
HYGIENE COULD BE YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
When it comes to equipment that streamlines your hygiene practices, details matter. For example, in PTL’s V20 Melter, non-product contact surfaces are also designed with hygiene in mind.
THREE KEY IDEAS FOR ADAPTING YOUR BAR AND CHOCOLATE PRODUCTION PLAN
SKU proliferation is one of our industry’s biggest challenges and it continues to impact on production.
RAISING THE BAR: HOW TO OVERCOME BAR MANUFACTURING QUALITY ASSURANCE AND COMPLIANCE CONCERNS.
Nutritional bars have steadily grown in popularity since first conception in the early 1960’s…