Speed helps wholesale bakeries meet customers’ demands. Most cake bakers want depositors to keep up with their ovens so downtime is minimal.

“It’s expensive to heat an oven, and you want to make sure that oven is completely loaded with pans,” said Lance Aasness, vice-president, sales and marketing, Hinds-Bock Corp., Bothell, WA. Downtime equals money lost, so Hinds-Bock designs its large industrial depositors to meet its customers’ throughput requirements for their ovens.

The piston depositor has speed on its side based on the diameter of the piston, said Steve Crocker, product sales manager with The Peerless Group, Sidney, OH.

“Usually you can get up in the neighborhood of 90 strokes per minute for small deposits, but you’re still limited based on the actuation rate of the equipment that’s available,” he said.

Unifiller Systems’ depositors bypass the rotary valve typically found on cake depositors and opt instead for a horizontal switching inner valve to cut off the deposit. According to Stewart MacPherson, vice-president, sales and marketing for the Delta, BC-based equipment manufacturer, this speeds up the depositing process but doesn’t sacrifice the gentleness necessary to maintain the batter’s consistency.