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When visiting the Hamburger Gewürz-Mühle (spice mill), one sometimes feels reminded of Christmas, sometimes of a holiday in Indochina and sometimes of a summer walk in Provence. In any case, visitors experience an intoxication of the senses when they stroll through the halls of the traditional company, which was founded by Hermann Schulz more than 90 years ago. The medium-sized family business is now in its 4th generation of producing high-quality spices and spice mixtures. The range includes an unbelievable 650 different articles, for the production of which up to 18 tonnes of raw materials are needed every day. In the warehouses, 1500 tons of the extraordinary spices are waiting to be shipped to the customers, who turn them into fine curries, hot sauces or sweet desserts.

Those who allow their senses to be clouded by the scent quickly forget that spices can do more than caress the palate. Some spices are used as a natural means of preserving food. Others have medicinal properties and aid digestion or help with intestinal cramps and other ailments. Some spices are even said to have aphrodisiac or concentration-enhancing effects.

With such a wide variety of uses, it is hardly surprising that spices have had an incredible significance for power and prosperity since the dawn of mankind - a significance that is also felt at the Hamburger Gewürz-Mühle. With great care and passion, spice mixtures are created from leaves, buds, blossoms, barks, plant roots, fruits or seeds, in which not only taste and scent are right. Appearance, consistency and, last but not least, the homogeneity of the blend must also meet the strict specifications of the Hamburger Gewürz-Mühle, whose customers ultimately expect products of the highest quality.

The requirements for a homogeneous mixture are particularly important here; after all, each portion, even from different batches, should look, smell and above all taste identical. Even with ingredients that have very different bulk densities or components that are added in small quantities to the spice mix, the smallest deviations would have an impact on the customer’s taste experience.

When the production management of the Hamburger Gewürz-Mühle was confronted with bottlenecks in production capacity and ageing, maintenance-intensive production facilities at the beginning of 2020, it was therefore clear that no compromises would be made in terms of homogeneity and product quality. In addition, the new mixing technology was to offer further advantages in the production process. Plant manager Güngör Gümrük was faced with a difficult task: "The challenge was to install as large a mixing plant as possible that would meet future capacity requirements and that could be integrated into the existing and unfortunately also limited space. In addition, the existing periphery was to continue to be used, which further restricted the overall height and connection dimensions of the new mixers.

Since there are frequent product changes in the production process, a significantly improved discharge behaviour as well as convenient and thorough cleaning were essential requirements for the new mixing technology - with the aim of significantly reducing downtimes for cleaning during recipe changes.

The simple and standardised solutions initially envisaged could not be implemented due to the space available, so the company looked for a competent provider of a complete solution and finally decided on the specifically designed solution from MAP Mischsysteme GmbH in Altlußheim, which also best met all other requirements. "By means of modified drive variants, positioning of the flange nozzles according to requirements and individually adapted base frames, the balancing act between the greatest possible mixer capacity and spatial conditions was achieved without having to change anything in the existing and proven systems, for feeding and emptying."

After a detailed needs analysis and several mixing trials with different spice blends, the choice fell on three WBX horizontal batch mixers with 550, 1100 and 2000 litres nominal capacity. The mixers, which are completely made of stainless steel, are driven by 18.5 kW, 22 kW and 37 kW drives that were optimally adapted to the limited space available. Via the plant control system, which was also supplied by MAP Mischsysteme GmbH, the speeds can be adapted to the respective recipes by means of a frequency converter and thus the best possible results can be achieved after a very short mixing time.

The mixers were all equipped with inclined paddle tools, which, while providing an optimal mixing effect, are nevertheless easy to clean and do not destroy the components during the mixing process. In mixers where contamination during product changes is to be absolutely avoided, the tools are welded to the rotor shaft instead of the standard screwed design, so that no product residues settle on the screwed connections either. For quick, easy and thorough cleaning, all mixers have been designed with generous maintenance and inspection flaps. This facilitates access to the mixing chamber and significantly shortens the cleaning and inspection time. Liquid ingredients are metered into the running mixing process via the integrated liquid feed lances; if necessary, knife heads located underneath ensure rapid mixing into the product, thus preventing the formation of agglomerates or liquid nests in the mixture.

The three new mixers represent another important step for the traditional company to continuously modernise and expand its production facilities. Because for the Schulz family, tradition does not mean holding on to the old, but rather continuing the story and adding new chapters. Where the next fragrance journey will go, they don’t want to reveal. But we will smell it soon.