Target throughput is the first driver
The single largest driver is how much product per hour you need. A line built for 200 kg/h and a line built for 600 kg/h are different machines, not the same machine turned up. Larger drives, wider infeeds, longer tunnels, and higher-capacity tanks all scale with throughput.
On our one-shot moulding lines the split is clear. The M-540 semi-automatic runs 200-500 kg/h at 15-18 moulds/min. The M-560 automatic runs 300-600 kg/h at 12-16 moulds/min. Choosing between them starts with the kg/h figure your business plan actually requires — not the largest number available.
Upstream stations follow the same logic. A ball mill M-150 refines 500 kg per 2-3 hour cycle; a pre-mixer M-1200 handles 1,000 kg per 15 min; a fat melting tank M-1000 melts 1,000 kg per 30 min. Your hourly moulding output sets how many of these you need feeding it, and at what size. Oversizing every station 'to be safe' is the most common way a specification carries cost it will never use. Size the line to a real target, then stage from there.
Explore the full line at /solutions/chocolate-processing-lines/ and the moulding options at /machines/moulding-lines/.
Level of automation: semi-automatic versus automatic
After throughput, automation is the biggest lever. A semi-automatic line moves cost from the machine to the operator; an automatic line moves cost the other way. Both are valid — the right choice depends on your labour situation, product consistency needs, and how many shifts you plan to run.
The M-540 is the semi-automatic answer: capable output with more hands in the process. The M-560 automatic adds Siemens servomotor dosing, a PLC touchscreen, Festo pneumatics, and FAG bearings — repeatable deposits, tighter portion control, and less operator dependence across a shift. That control content is real engineering, and it is part of what separates the two.
The question to bring to a quote is not 'which is better' but 'how many shifts, how many operators, how tight does my portioning need to be'. Those answers point cleanly at one machine or the other.
Line length, station count, and cooling-tunnel length
A production line is a sequence of stations, and every station you add is capacity and cost. The verified chocolate sequence runs fat melting, sugar milling, pre-mixing, ball-mill refining, storage, one-shot moulding, cooling, and handling. A producer who already has refining in place buys fewer stations than one starting from raw fat and sugar.
Cooling-tunnel length is its own driver and worth calling out. Our cooling tunnel M-590 delivers 5,000-9,000 kcal/h over a 20-metre tunnel, and tunnel length is configured to line output — a faster line needs more cooling length to set product properly before handling. A longer tunnel is more steel, more refrigeration, and more floor space. See /machines/cooling-tunnels/ for how tunnel length ties to throughput.
Handling adds stations too. A feeding conveyor M-100 moves 1,000 pcs/min from tunnel exit toward sorting or packaging. Whether you need it, and how long it runs, depends on your downstream layout. Every one of these decisions is a line-length decision, and line length is cost.
Options, heads, moulds, and pumps
Beyond the core stations, the options list is where a specification is fine-tuned — and where cost accumulates quietly if you add without a reason. On the M-560, inclusion units for hazelnut, granule, or biscuit expand what the line can make; each is added engineering.
On the cup and container filling machine NZ-8 — 2,280 kg/h across configurations of 1, 2, 4, or 8 heads for spreads, sauces, powders, jam, and honey — the number of heads is a direct throughput and cost decision. More heads is more output and more machine. Specify the head count to the product volume you actually run, not the maximum available.
Chocolate moulds are supplied with the moulding line, and the mould set you need depends on your product range — bars, pralines, tablets, figures. A wider product range means more mould tooling. Product transfer adds another choice: our fat and chocolate pumps come as internal gear, helical gear, lobe, and stainless or bronze types, jacketed where the mass must stay tempered. Each option earns its place only if your product needs it.
Customization and capacity staging
Degree of customization is the last major driver. A catalog machine configured to standard options is one thing; a machine modified to a plant constraint, an unusual product, or an integration with equipment you already own is bespoke engineering. Tempering and enrobing, for example, are engineered to order rather than sold as fixed models. The further a build moves from catalog, the more design time it carries — and that is reflected in the quotation.
Capacity staging is how a growing producer manages this. You do not have to buy your five-year line on day one. Many producers start with a semi-automatic core sized to current demand, then add stations, heads, or move to an automatic line as volume grows. Where a step sits outside our catalog — say, a process we do not build as a standard machine — we scope it as custom or tell you plainly it is out of scope, so your plan is built on real equipment.
Think about total cost of ownership, not just the line price. Throughput headroom, automation that reduces operator hours, and standard component brands — Siemens, Schneider, Festo, FAG — that keep spare parts and support straightforward all shape the cost of running the line over years, not just buying it. We install, commission, and train in English, French, and Arabic, with installations across Africa.
When you are ready, bring your target throughput, product mix, shift plan, and plant constraints to /request-quote/. Those are the inputs that turn drivers into a specification, and a specification into a quotation. Delivery and lead time are confirmed with each quotation, and destination-market requirements (CE for the EU, SASO/SFDA for Saudi Arabia, and others) are reviewed as part of every quotation.