Dive Brief:
- If a manufacturer can manage oven airflow, particularly the breakpoint air stream that cooks product, it can improve products and production processes to boost top and bottom lines, Jason Vana, marketing director at Fusion Tech Integrated, wrote in Food Manufacturing.
- One advantage to evenly dispersed airflow is more consistency in each batch of products rather than certain ones being too close or too far away from the breakpoint.
- Evenly directing oven airflow across the truck can also improve the yield and capacity of industrial ovens.
Dive Insight:
When manufacturers evenly direct oven airflow to different zones on the smokehouse truck, all products will be closer to the breakpoint. This means less time is necessary to heat all products to the right cooking temperature while fewer products are overcooked. Products will also be more consistent in terms of both coloring variations and dryness.
As for yield improvements, instead of losing more product closer to the breakpoint and less product farther away, the even airflow ensures all areas of the truck produce the same yield. This typically results in a 1% to 6% improvement in yield loss average, Vana said.
Also, evenly dispersed airflow means manufacturers don't have to space out products to ensure airflow hits all of them, so they can fit more products in each truck — up to 30% more, according to Vana.
Better consistency, less yield loss, and higher production capacity are all key to improving the efficiency of production. This enables manufacturers to improve both top and bottom lines by losing less while making more products to sell. Oven airflow management could be an important strategy as more companies determine ways to improve productivity and cost effectiveness.