To keep up with demand, the company replaced a circular tray blender with a Munson Rotary Batch Mixer, increasing capacity by a factor of four while preserving bean quality.
After resting on a cooling tray, roasted beans are loaded through the stationary inlet of the vessel as it rotates.
Internal mixing flights create a gentle four-way, tumble-turn-cut-fold mixing action that prevents damage to the fragile coffee beans.
The flights also serve to elevate and direct the blended batch toward and through a stationary discharge gate as the vessel rotates until fully evacuated, preventing segregation of beans having disparate sizes, shapes or bulk densities.
The company typically mixes four to ten batches per day, each requiring a mere five-minute cycle time, and each weighing 300 to 600 kilograms—or about 660 to 1320 pounds—which is less than the mixer’s capacity of 850 kilograms—or 1,875 pounds.
Total batch uniformity is achieved at 100% down to 15% of rated capacity, allowing the company to scale up or down as needed.
