Watching Mars make Dove bars, Snickers ice cream cones
From a consumer’s perspective, ice cream is about fun and good times. The ice cream division of Mars Chocolate North America shares that point of view. Evidence of the company’s sense of humor is a banner welcoming visitors to Mars’ little “corner ice cream shop.” In fact, the processing facility is larger than an airplane hangar. The building consists of four production lines, wet and dry ingredient storage areas, packaging supplies and a warehouse.
Mars makes ice cream bars, sandwiches, stick novelties and cones at a facility in Burr Ridge, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. Mars entered the ice cream business in 1986 with the acquisition of Dove ice cream from the Stefanos family.
Within the first year of the acquisition, Mars moved the business to the current location, built originally for trucks parts manufacturing. At first, the site produced only Dove Ice Cream bars, and a bell was rung every time a truckload was sold. The Snickers Ice Cream Bar line was added in 1991, and the current cone and stick lines in 2000. Other ice cream novelties made here are Snickers Ice Cream Bars and Cones, Milky Way Ice Cream Bars, Twix Ice Cream Bars, M&M’s Cookies and Cones, and Snickers Brownie Bar and Cones. All of Mars’ ice cream novelties for the North American market are manufactured in this facility. (Pints are filled by a co-manufacturer.)
The ice cream sandwich line was replaced in 2011. It’s a hybrid of automation and human labor. On the day of Dairy Foods’ visit, associates were loading hoppers with cookies studded with M&M’s. The bottom cookies moved two abreast (the line is capable of producing four units at a time) down a conveyor and under a filler, which deposited ice cream the consistency of soft-serve. As the cookie passed down the line, an associate placed the top cookie by hand, and the novelty was conveyed into a spiral blast freezer.
Upon exiting the freezer, the sandwiches passed under a camera which checked for the presence of a top and bottom cookie, proper alignment of the cookies and other standards. Then each ice cream sandwich was wrapped and hand-packed into boxes marked for wholesale or retail sale. The boxes moved by overhead conveyor to the secondary packaging line where they were case-packed according to customer requirements (for example, six boxes per case).
Premium ingredients
Mars buys the cookies and brownies for the sandwiches and shortbread for the Twix Bars from outside sources because its competency is ice cream, not in baking, says Kim Latham, the Ice Cream Supply Director. The company buys ice cream mix from several regional suppliers in the Midwest who source milk from local farmers. Other ingredients, including the M&M’s chocolate candies obviously, come from Mars. Mars makes its own chocolate. It is in control of the process from “bean to bar,” says Laurie Winward, Director of Research and Development.
The processor makes its own caramel for its Milky Way, Snickers and Twix novelties. Winward says new hires in product development are taught how to make “a proper” caramel.
“We believe we make the best caramel in the industry, and we believe consumers can see and taste the difference,” Latham says. “As such, we make our own caramel from scratch in a controlled manner with rigid quality standards. It’s the care, time and precision that make the difference.”
The other signature ingredient in many products is the peanut. Mars sources these from Albany, Ga. These are the same peanuts used in Snickers candy bars. In Burr Ridge, Mars makes peanut butter from the peanuts and blends it into the ice cream mix used to make the Snickers Ice Cream Bars.
Dove Bar Ice Cream stick novelties used to be hand-dipped; now that process is automated. The ice cream bar line produces Dove Ice Cream Minis, Snickers, Twix and the soon-to-be-released Milky Way Ice Cream bars. Thirty-six nozzles on the freezer extrude ice cream into continuous ropes. If the company is making Milky Way Ice Cream bars, then a second nozzle lays down a bead of caramel in an indentation on the top of the product. The extrusions, having the consistency of soft-serve ice cream, pass through a block-long tunnel freezer where the temperature is about minus 40˚F.
Upon exiting this freezer, the now rock-hard extrusions are guillotined into portions. The final bar size depends upon the product and retail channel. Items sold in boxes in grocery stores weigh a few ounces less than SKUs sold singly in convenience stores.
The portioned items are then conveyed to an enrobing station, essentially a shower of liquid chocolate. At the same time, the bars move through a chocolate bath to ensure coverage on the bottom. Next, the pieces are blast-frozen to harden the chocolate, and then they are conveyed to packaging.
There are multiple packaging lines, and sensors direct the bars to whichever line is available. Wrapped product is put into boxes which are conveyed to the secondary packaging station.
Mars processes milder flavors (vanilla) first and stronger ones (peppermint) last. Likewise, products containing peanuts or other allergens are processed after non-allergenic foods.
Quality control
Mars pulls samples every hour for quality control. Every morning, a quality assurance team inspects random samples of the foods and the packaging.
“We have a fully developed quality program that details which product attributes we examine for each of the products we make,” says Craig Hall, the general manager of the business. “The final step is, of course, to taste the product to make sure it meets our high standards,”
A poster on the wall of the room used for the Daily Quality Meeting states: “The consumer is our boss. Quality is our work. And value for money is our goal.” There is also a “peanut changeover pledge” signed by employees who vow to remove peanuts “from nooks and crannies” on the line.
Hall says Mars has “a very proactive supplier certification program as well as an in-house auditing program that we believe is innovative.” It is based on parent company Mars Inc.’s Five Principles, the first of which is Quality. (See related article.)
“Consumers and customers know they can count on Mars’ quality in our products. Therefore, our in-house and supplier audits are thorough and continually renewing. Our goal is to continually raise the bar on our audits and to welcome them as a way for improvement,” Hall says.
For example, in-house audits are conducted weekly, with experienced associates auditing and looking at systems from a new perspective. The company’s “Peer Assists” concept is an in-depth review of systems by peers directly related to specific processes in order to look for new methods, materials and ideas for improvement.
“These have been very effective and allow us to compare and contrast, giving us the opportunity to pick the best ideas for improvement,” Hall says.
Safety practices
As for safety, the company encourages employees to suggest new safety features or improve existing ones. The company evaluates suggestions from the standpoint of compliance and effectiveness. An interdepartmental group follows up on each suggestion to ensure that long-term, user-friendly corrective actions are implemented and maintained.
Mars Ice Cream used to have an on-site lab, but based on its Efficiency principle, it turned to outside labs for analysis. Mars tests for microbiological controls and analytical measurements.
“Since Quality is our first principle, food safety is foremost on our quality agenda,” Latham says. Standard practices include in-line checks, daily quality reviews and a thorough review of all incoming raw materials (including daily sensory reviews and certificates of analysis).
“We also have strict standards for transportation, packaging, code dating and traceability for all raw materials as well as finished products. From start to finish, food safety is built into our products, packaging and transportation to ensure our products are safe and wholesome for all consumers,” she says.
Last November, corporate parent Mars Inc. pledged $500,000 to the Global Food Safety Multi Donor Trust Fund, which is managed by The World Bank. The fund is a public-private partnership that aims to expand knowledge and understanding for effective food safety management around the world.
Mars Inc. also has ambitious sustainability goals for the entire company. Key targets include cutting greenhouse gas emissions from factories and offices to zero by 2040. The company states it plans to achieve the goal through “absolute emission reductions, without the use of carbon offsets and regardless of business growth.”
The Burr Ridge plant follows sustainable manufacturing processes to reduce its carbon footprint. In 2010, it achieved a 95% landfill-free status. The electricity saved through energy-saving initiatives since 2005 could power 1,400 homes annually, Latham says. Other green practices include the use of laser coding, which eliminates ink, and using scrap ingredients for animal feed.
Posters hanging throughout the plant remind employees that what they do here has impact far beyond Burr Ridge. As they enter the plant, production workers pass by photos of the sales team and their key accounts. This serves to reinforce the notion that manufacturing and sales must work together as a team. At the end of the day, there is a customer to be served. Other posters show the popularity and sales strength (based on SymphonyIRI sales figures) of the Mars ice cream brands. It is hard work for any processor to produce to high standards. And it is difficult to do it day after day. Mars Chocolate North America does it. And the processor has fun doing it.
At a glance
Year plant built/opened: Built in 1974 as a truck parts manufacturing facility. Mars bought it and converted it to a dairy facility in 1986.
Size of the plant: 282,000 square feet on 26 acres
Number of employees: Approximately 130 in manufacturing and 180 in the total ice cream business
Products made: Bars, cones, sandwiches and stick novelties. The bar brands are: Snickers, Twix, Milky Way and Dove. Cones are Snickers and M&M’s. Ice cream cookie sandwiches are M&M’s and Snickers Brownie. Stick novelties are Dove Ice Cream Bars. Pints (co-packed off site) are Milky Way, Snickers, Twix, Twix Peanut Butter, Snickers Rocky Road, Dove and M&M’s.
Number of shifts: Three to four, depending on demand
Storage silos: 10
Pasteurization: High-temperature/short time and batch pasteurizers
Number of filling lines/types: Four ice cream novelty lines producing stick, cone, sandwich, and bar formats
