Unbar Rothon

John R Boone Helical Blade mixers make short work of spice. 

Unbar Rothon, since 1948, has specialised in the bespoke production of seasonings, flavourings and colour blends for use in the food industry. John R Boone supplied a pair of helical blade mixers that have helped Unbar Rothon to generate significant process efficiencies, saving time and increasing batch sizes while maintaining crucial product quality.

A PAIR of helical blade mixers from John R. Boone provided the ideal solution when seasonings specialist Unbar Rothon of Billericay needed to expand production and increase efficiency.

Extensive tests were undertaken at Unbar Rothon’s premises with a variable speed Helical Blade mixer to demonstrate the suitability of the mixer across a wide range of seasonings.

Following these tests two 1500 litre Helical Blade mixers were built to Unbar Rothon’s exact requirements at Boone’s Congleton workshops. Designed to accurately produce formulated seasoning blends without damaging delicate ingredients both mixers operate at variable speeds and have full access to the mixing chamber for ease of cleaning.

Since Unbar Rothon’s reputation is built on the consistency of its blends, the mixing plant is at the heart of its business. The top priori- ty was to increase output using bigger machines while maintaining quality.

“We had the mixers designed to our own specification so they were able to harmonise with our existing processes,” said director Patrick Rothon. “The size of our batches was getting larger and larger, and we were doing up to eight mixes per batch. The new machines have enabled us to scale up our batches, and they have a good, quick blending action.”

Reducing the number of mixes has achieved important efficiencies, particularly on the pre-weighing of the ingredients for each mix which is the most time-consuming part of any mixing operation, explains Mr Rothon.
“When we were looking for a manufacturer, Boone’s were able to demonstrate that they build all the machines to order, and we could see the range of functions that their mixers perform,” added Mr Rothon.

“They were competitively priced, and handled our order professional- ly at all stages.”

J. R. Boone managed the complete project including design, support steelwork, sieves, control panels, delivery and commissioning.

J.R. Boone has been manufacturing mixing machinery from the same site in Congleton for nearly 50 years. The mixers can be supplied with interchangeable blades for different functions, thus enabling any machine to be easily modified for widely differing products, for exam- ple to produce heavy pastes, or disperse sticky liquids into absorbent powders.

The company frequently undertakes mixing tests for clients on pow- ders, granules, pastes or liquids, either at the customer’s premises or in its own dedicated testing bay.

Clients include food, mineral, chemical and pharmaceutical compa- nies, and machinery can process under pressure or vacuum, with either heating or cooling if required, using low, medium or high shear mixing elements.