to increase, the number of new conches needed to be manufactured annually today is extremely small compared to the energy producing machines, tools or tool machines, The Conching Process extrusion equipment and/or other comparable machines (not to men- tion the number of electronic An Historic, Economic and devices) required annually. Around the entire world, the aver- Technical Perspective age total number of new conches installed annually, for example, is approximately 100 (replacement of outdated equipment plus machines required to cover the increased demand for chocolate as compared with the previous year). This is based on the assumption that the lifetime of a new machine is 35 years, even though the lifetime of machines that round 1878, the conching Either way, he was able to are currently being replaced due to Aprocess as such was discovered observe the refining effect of this obsolescence is around 50 years on in Bern, Switzerland, by Rodolphe process, and the conching machine average. Lindt, a Swiss national. Was it purely was thus invented. It is also interesting to note that by chance? Because Rodolphe Lindt Where are we today, nearly 120 the demand for machines due to forgot to turn off a mixer filled with years after this discovery? increased production capacity Any specialist in this field who chocolate mass over the weekend, because of an increase in chocolate speaks publicly on the conching consumption is higher during years or, because he deliberately treated process could ask: Was there really a the chocolate in a type of conche of marked increase in consumption quantum leap with the conching anyway, but also—on average over a over a period of days in order to process? But on the other hand, the 10 year period—higher than the reduce its moisture content? principle of the Otto engine, which is demand for new machines to replace perhaps more frequently described as obsolete ones. Between 1980 and a high-tech machine, is still based on 1990, consumption of chocolate in the 4-cycle piston travelling up and the Western industrialized nations down within the cylinder (Figure 1). (U.S.A., Western Europe and Japan) Viewed from this perspective in a increased by 19.8 percent, whereas figurative sense, the conche com- the population of these countries pleted the step from piston machine increased by 5.4 percent. to rotary turbine a long time ago. Of the approximately 1,000 new Nevertheless, the question still conches installed over this time remains, “If we only admit to lim- period, a little more than one-third ited progress, what are some of the replaced existing obsolete machines, reasons for that?” and a little under two-thirds were Within the economic area of new installations to meet the addi- “mechanical engineering,” machines tional demand for chocolate. used for the production of chocolate The years 1990 to 1996 were represent a certain niche in the mar- marked economically by the open- ket, more so today than was the case ing of the market to the Eastern previously. Even though the amount European countries, including Rus- Kurt Müntener of chocolate produced worldwide sia and the remaining countries of Richard Frisse GmbH may seem enormous and continues the former Soviet Union. Presented at the National American Association of Candy Technologists Technical Session The Manufacturing Confectioner/October 1996 57.