Dale Spiral Systems Hit the Export Trail

dale spiral

“Stainless Steel’s” Anne Rotteglia (left) shares a joke with Jill Dale (director, Dale Spiral Systems) (centre) and Kim Smith (SASSDA) (right).

Established just on two years ago, Dale Spiral Systems has already completed seven major installations in bakeries for major blue chip organisations such as Albany and Sasko/Bokomo in South Africa.

The spiral conveying method of conditioning and cooling bread and rolls has been used in Europe for some years, employing air wash systems.  The unique Dale system, which uses a refrigeration system that employs a number of evaporators specially designed to produce humidity to condition the bread, is new to both South Africa and Europe.

Stainless steel spiral conveying systems can also be used for other products in food process operations such as meat, poultry, frozen meals and ice cream.  The benefit of using a spiral system, rather than alternative conventional cooling methods, is that less factory floor space is required.  Additional benefits are the elimination of holding racks, and physical handling of products, thus creating space for automated handling equipment.

The latest news from director, Christopher Dale and his wife Jill, is that they have just been awarded a contract to supply a spiral system to the bakery of E. Brace & Partners Limited in Newbridge, Wales.

It transpires that the South African made product is of equal quality to those produced in Europe, and more than competitive in terms of price.  This is because of the competitive local stainless price, and favourable exchange rates.

Dale Spiral Systems has employed a representative in the UK to handle the project, and to promote further sales, once installation of the Brace system is complete.  All components will be containerised and shipped to the UK.  A member of the Dale team will be sent over to join forces with the UK representative, and the job is expected to be completed within four to six weeks.

The Brace UK contract, totaling R4-million, is for a system to handle 4000 x 800 gram loaves per hour in a double drum air wash spiral.  The air wash system is commonly used in the UK due to the country’s low wet bulb temperatures.

The Brace installation consists of a twin spiral cooler unit, which reduces the bread temperature from 95°C to a core temperature of 27°C over a 100 minute continuous period.

The process of conditioning the bread within these systems, increases product shelf life, controls weight loss and provides significant labour savings.  Typically, packaged sliced bread will last for up to three or four days longer while retaining its freshness.