Rudi Jahnke Süßwaren e.K.

Kaltenkirchen, Germany

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Rudi Jahnke Süßwaren e.K. is one of the rare exceptions in the world of confectioners: a traditional family business that has remained under family control since its inception. Founded in the Hamburg suburb of Altona in 1980 by Rudi Jahnke - assisted at the time by his wife Anna and son Heinz Peter - Jahnke specializes in licorice sweets such as salmiak-salt licorice candies and licorice cross squares. The company also manufactures traditional sweets such as May leaves with woodruff flavor, and lemon and raspberry drops. 

Headquartered in Kaltenkirchen, Germany since 1989, the company has been run by Rudi Jahnke’s son, Heinz, for more than 25 years now. Rudi Jahnke Süßwaren e.K.’s confections continue to be produced at its sole manufacturing facility according to traditional recipes with the help of the latest production methods. Today, it is an International Food Standard (IFS) certified company that maximizes economic and efficient production with the most modern processing and packing technology available. 

As expected, given the  thousands of kilograms of candy the company handles per shift and per day, Rudi Jahnke Süßwaren e.K began to search for ways to conserve both energy and water and thus reduce production costs. Heinz Jahnke turned to Bosch Packaging Tehcnology for help. It addressed the candy maker’s need by recommending a new dosing and mixing unit BDK 2000 G.

Until the changeover, the company used an electronic dosing and mixing unit to whisk sugar, glucose and water together, a mixture that was then added to the pressure dissolver. Though satisfied with the machines that delivered consistent, high-quality product, Heinz Jahnke faced ever-increasing energy and water costs and needed technology that demanded less of both components.

The BDK 2000 G’s continuous dosing and mixing unit makes it possible to produce a crystal-free sugar-glucose syrup-solution without the addition of water as well as realize significant savings in energy consumption. The machine’s integrated TurboMixx mixing system dissolves the sugar into the glucose syrup to create a homogenous mixture, eliminating the need for the addition of water. The Rapidsolver heat exchanger, integrated into the BDK 2000 G, dissolves the mass into a crystal-free solution, also allowing the production to be interrupted without product loss. Since the required moisture level is already reached after the dissolving process, cooking to reduce water content is no longer necessary, saving significant amounts of energy and eventually reducing production costs. 

Rudi Jahnke Süßwaren e.K  has seen clear results after the switch to a complete manufacturing line by Bosch that integrates the new BDK 2000 G system, with energy savings of 60%. Production Manager Torsten Ress points out that the new technology has enabled the establishment of a second production line without the need to replace the original boiler with a bigger one.

”Due to the new system we can save two-thirds of the energy as well as increase the quality of our products which, with regard to our customers’ growing demands, becomes a very important criteria,” adds Heinz Jahnke.

 Because of the energy and water savings, the conversion proved worthwhile. As Ress points out, “The development of these machines is trend-setting within the confectionery industry, because it gives us manufacturers the possibility to produce more efficiently and sustainably.”