Gearboxes Aren't Corny

Every October 31st, bags of triangle-shaped, orange, yellow, and white candies fill the sacks of young trick-or-treaters nationwide. What's the name of this debatably delightful treat, candy corn (originally called "Chicken Feed" in the 1880s.) According to the National Confectioners Association, candy companies produce nearly 35 million pounds of the corny candy annually. That's about 9 billion individual kernels of corn.

Fan of candy corn? Believe it or not, you can find gearboxes throughout the entire process—from processing the raw materials to creating the treats and shipping them to retailers.

FREAKY FACT

Annually, Americans purchase nearly 600 million pounds of candy for Halloween.

?Candy com ingredients vary with the manufacturer. Nevertheless, corn syrup and sugar are essential ingredients for candy corn. Sugar is harvested and processed in a mill using an industrial gearbox such as our Hansen P4. The Hansen is unique as it is service friendly with split housing, an inspection cover, and a maintenance-free sealing system. Sugar harvesting requires power that doesn't quit. Having a Sumitomo industrial gearbox can give you the peace of mind you need.

Once these raw ingredients are harvested, milled, and processed—the real fun begins. Candy corn is manufactured using a process called starch casting. In this process, the shape of the candy corn is formed by making impressions in cornstarch, then filled with liquid candy and left to dry. If you look closely enough during this process, you may see a gearbox such as our?Fortress. This AISI 304?stainless-steel gearmotor?features a compact, modular housing. We fill them with FDA-approved synthetic grease and seal them for life.?Fortress' smooth contour design reduces the number of scary pathogens in hard-to-reach areas.

?FREAKY FACT

In 2018, there were nearly 400 food product recalls. About 70 U.S. food products were recalled due to possible Listeria contamination.

Once the “corn” is dry, it's polished, packaged, and shipped off! Can you imagine what would happen if there was an issue with the shipping? The Packaging and?parcel handling industry?can't afford breakdowns during that process. Parcel handling applications typically operate for long hours and move a high volume of packages at freakishly fast speeds. Wherever there's a need to package, haunt, convey, hoist, rotate, index, or just push—that's where our gear drives, such as our?Cyclo? Bevel Buddybox? 4 Series Gearmotor, can be found.

FREAKY FACT

We have a wide range of products to match your specific industry needs—or?configure your product?we'll custom build it to the way you like it.

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According to the National Confectioners Association, an opened package of candy corn will last between three and six months. A fresh, unopened package will last about nine months! Other than Twinkies, the only thing we know that lasts for years--is our products! For over 80 years,?Sumitomo Drive Technologies?has been providing world-class compact gearmotors featuring industry-leading gear reducers with fully integrated premium efficient motors.

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About Sumitomo Drive Technologies

Sumitomo Drive Technologies has been trusted for over 130 years to provide quality products and innovative solutions to help our customers solve their complex challenges. This rich history has made us a leading manufacturer of power transmission and control products such as gearmotors and industrial gearboxes for a wide variety of applications for leading brands around the globe. For more information about our products and services,?please contact us.