Development of a Pasting and Garnishing Machine for Manufacturing Kimbugak

Purpose: Kimbugak is one of Korea's traditional snack foods made of laver. Mechanization of the manufacturing process is necessary to produce kimbugak in large quantities and standardize the products for industrialization. This study was conducted to develop a machine that can simultaneously accomplish the two processes of pasting and garnishing for manufacturing kimbugak, and test its performance. Methods: A pasting and garnishing machine was designed, and its target work efficiency was set at 720 sheets/h. The performance was tested based on the physical characteristics such as work efficiency, pasting uniformity, and garnishing uniformity. Results: With the developed technology, kimbugak could be produced up to a productive rate of 840 sheets/h on a single machine. The pasting uniformity ranged from 91.5% to 96.8%, and a garnishing uniformity of more than 90% could be obtained. Conclusions: It is expected that this approach to developing a machine with the functions of pasting and garnishing can contribute to the mechanization of the manufacturing process to produce Korean traditional foods including kimbugak in large quantities and standardize the products for industrialization.