SternMaid combines blending and filling processes to improve productivity by over 50%
Food powder sieving is an essential step in food processing to ensure product quality, consistency, and safety. By sieving ingredient powders such as flour, sugar, or spices, manufacturers can remove foreign particles, lumps, and contaminants that may have formed during production or storage. This process ensures a uniform particle size, which is why SternMaid chose our Russell Compact Sieve® to support consistent and reliable mixing and blending of ingredients.
SternMaid is part of the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe, one of the world’s most successful food and feed ingredient companies. They specialize in producing blends of confectionaries, bakery products, and micronutrients and can handle up to 5,000 tons of blending per year.
SternMaid’s production process begins by dosing the required ingredients in a blender, where they are thoroughly mixed. Once blending is complete, the material is discharged into super sacks and transported to a dedicated filling and packaging area.
The challenge of industrial ingredient sieving
Inefficient ingredient sieving often leads to inconsistent particle sizes, increased contamination risk, and mesh blockages that extend downtime. Poor sieving processes also generate dust, creating health and safety concerns for operators, while material loss negatively impacts profitability.
In addition, slow throughput caused by manual handling or inadequate equipment can create bottlenecks across the entire production line. To overcome these challenges, manufacturers must invest in high-quality sieving solutions that improve reliability, maintain product quality, and support cost-effective production.
These challenges were evident at SternMaid. Their largest client, a US confectionary company, required blends of up to 400 kilograms consisting of 3 or 4 ingredients. Their original dump station was single-sided, so only one operator could dose ingredients into the blender at a time. The ingredients are supplied in 25-kilogram bags, making this a time-consuming process.
In addition, operators had to manually move the super sacks between lines to blend and fill. From dosing into the blender to discharging and filling, the process took approximately one hour. SternMaid needed to adapt their facility to improve their productivity and efficiency.
The solution to industrial ingredient sieving
SternMaid chose our sieving solutions after receiving recommendations from staff and SternMaid’s sister company in Germany. They installed our Russell Compact Sieve® to screen products before they entered the blender, along with a magnetic separator to capture any ferrous contamination.
This new approach combines sieving and filling into the existing blending line, eliminating the need for a separate filling line. As a result, when the product is discharged from the blender into a super sack, it is ready to ship.
A further improvement for SternMaid was a custom double-sided feature on our Russell Compact Sieve®. This change helps SternMaid gain even more efficiency by allowing 2 operators to dose 50 kilograms, compared to 25 kilograms previously.
With the implementation of the Russell Compact Sieve®, SternMaid expects to see the overall blending and filling process time cut from 1 hour to 25 minutes.
What our customers say
Russell Finex’s reputation speaks for itself. They’ve been helpful all along the way. One of my jobs is to look for ways to improve efficiencies and reduce costs. That includes headcount, cleaning time, and how much product we can push out the door in an 8-hour day. With the help of Russell Finex, we’ll cut costs, improve efficiencies and increase throughput. All big wins for anybody in operations.
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About Russell Finex
We are the only manufacturer in the world that makes our own screening and filtration equipment alongside ultrasonic mesh deblinding systems. We do this for virtually every industry around the world and, with over 90 years of experience, we’ve helped the process industry with measurable impact.
We partner with customers to help them enhance their production lines. By combining high-quality equipment, deep expertise, and the ability to customize solutions, we deliver results while acting responsibly and ethically toward both our customers and the environment.
Contact us today to learn how you can benefit from our sieving solutions.
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