Trick or Treat! LEWCO Drum Hot Boxes in the Candy Industry

Trick or Treat! Did you know LEWCO Drum Hot Boxes are used to heat a key ingredient in many popular chocolate candies, such as Baby Ruths and Crunch bars? The key ingredient, palm oil, is semi-solid at room temperature and has a high melting point, making it smooth and easy to spread. But in order for it to be mixed with chocolate, candy makers must first melt it in a hot box with a minimum temperature of at least 95°F.

LEWCO recently delivered a non-standard, EC04L (electric, 4 drum capacity, low profile), hot box to a Swiss multinational leading food and beverage company. The hot box will be used in their India R&D facility to heat palm-oil.  Due to the overseas location, LEWCO’s standard electronic controls were upgraded to accept a 415/3/50 electric supply and all units are displayed in °C.

Upon speaking with LEWCO Engineers, the customer indicated that the hot box would need to be used in various parts of their facility at different times.  Taking this into consideration, LEWCO engineers came up with a way to conveniently move the unit by hand. They engineered a 3” thick structural base designed with outrigger casters to make the unit fully portable.  To maintain the benefit of a low profile design, LEWCO provided a heavy-duty ramp to allow for easy loading and unloading by a pallet-jack or drum dolly.