Schut Systems
Leupoldt counts on Schut Systems
In 1971, the gingerbread manufactury Leupoldt® Lebkuchen purchases a Sprinter SFA tray erector to package its specialities, which are made according to an old family recipe. One generation later, the SFA tray erector is still in use, but it will be succeeded by the next machine generation, a Sprinter F60-2.
In 1971, the gingerbread manufactury Leupoldt® Lebkuchen purchases a Sprinter SFA tray erector to package its specialities, which are made according to an old family recipe. One generation later, the SFA tray erector is still in use, but it will be succeeded by the next machine generation, a Sprinter F60-2.
In the high season from August to December, carefully baked gingerbreads of the highest quality leave the Leupoldt® Lebkuchen factory in Weißenstadt every day. Since Adam Leupoldt founded the company in 1905, the range of products has increased enormously. Chocolate and glazed gingerbreads, minis, spelt and Elisen gingerbread, gingerbread with alcohol, Grandfather Adam certainly could not have dreamed that all these delicacies would still be prepared with the same mixture of spices that he created. It is the very special mixture of spices which lends the Leupoldt gingerbread its very distinctive flavour.
In 1960, Franz Leupoldt joined the company, which at that time was run by his father Heinrich. Both the father and the son shared a love of technology and this led to a fully automated production line for wafer-based gingerbread being introduced in Weißenstadt in 1965. In 1971, one of the first Sprinter packaging machines was purchased: the Sprinter SFA, with which manual folding of the trays, was automated.
This 42 year old machine is still in use. It was recently decided to buy a new generation machine: a Sprinter F60-2. Not, as could be expected, because the SFA machine is now outdated - because it still works perfectly - but because more flexibility and output are required. The old SFA machine erects a cardboard section with a mechanical locking system and therefore no glue is required. This system is still an important feature of the Sprinter machines. The major difference to the previous machine is the format parts with which the trays are erected. Schut Systems, a company which has supplied Sprinter machines for over 40 years, has specialised in the production of format parts over the years. Compared to previously, the format parts produce less noise, are lighter, easier to replace and require less maintenance. In addition, format parts are also currently being produced in Eerbeek for special designs or machines other than the Sprinter.
By purchasing the F60-2, Leupoldt became much more flexible. The machine has a 2-head design, so that 2 trays of the same or different formats can be erected simultaneously. The trays are transported out of the machine via 2 horizontal conveyor belts, one on the left and the other on the right. The trays are then filled manually with wafer gingerbreads and then transported to two separate flow wrappers. It is therefore possible to choose whether to produce the same kind of gingerbread with double output or 2 types simultaneously.