Minimizing thawing time with controlled thawing process
Eesti Pagar, the largest bakery in Estonia, invested in improving its thawing process by acquiring Kometos’ Finncold MTS-24+12 thawing solution designed for 36 pallets, allowing for a total of up to 21,000 kg of thawing per thawing process.
Eesti Pagar manufactures and freezes various cakes. Storage takes place in a freezer warehouse with a temperature of -22°C.
The main challenge in the customer’s thawing process before the acquisition of the new thawing equipment was the long thawing time, which also affected the achievement of uniform thawing quality, as the thawing process involved products with different compositions that thawed in different ways.
Depending on the product, thawing time could be between 48-72 hours, and controlling the thawing process was difficult. As a result, the customer lost one sales day because best-before dates had already been applied to the products before freezing.
In addition, production volumes had increased, and the storage space had become tight due to the slow thawing process. Eesti Pagar also expected production volumes to continue to grow in the future, and it was time to invest in an efficient thawing system.
However, there was a need to find a thawing solution that suited different and varied products. Andrus Põder, Logistics Manager at Eesti Pagar, says:
As our product compositions vary greatly, we needed to find a thawing solution that fits all products. We tried different solutions, but none of them worked. Fortunately, Kometos was able to develop a suitable system for us.”
Goal: Shortening the thawing process
The customer’s main goal when making the purchase was to significantly shorten the thawing time. This goal was immediately achieved: after the implementation of Kometos’ thawing system, the thawing time was reduced to 12 hours from the previous 48-72 hours. This also allowed for an additional sales day for the products.
Additionally, Kometos’ thawing equipment helped solve a challenge with the packaging: during storage thawing, the printing of product box dates would suffer from moisture, but with the new thawing process, the printing remained high quality.
Market leader in Estonia
With over 30 years of history, Kometos has provided solutions for improving food processing to several Estonian companies. Knowledge of the quality of Kometos’ systems has spread by word of mouth, and this is how Eesti Pagar heard about Kometos’ expertise. Kometos’ good reputation in Estonia, as well as recommendations from other industry players, gave the customer confidence to make the final purchasing decision from Finland:
Kometos’ thawing solution met all our expectations 100% – the purchasing process was straightforward and on schedule. The cooperation with Kometos was very pleasant, and their professional sales representatives were helpful throughout the process. Also, the price and the quality of the solution were very good.”
