Vitamin gummies are lining store shelves with an enthusiastic consumer base ready to purchase. Pharmaceutical manufacturers should not overlook integrating this product into their offerings.
Why Are Vitamin Gummies So Popular?
At a glance, one can quickly infer why vitamins in gummy form are experiencing exceptional success in the consumer market. First, they taste better than any other vitamin product. You can add a variety of delicious flavors that are just as good as their candy counterparts.
Second, they are easy to consume. They are soft, chewy, and enjoyable. The customer does not have to think about swallowing a pill or dealing with any foul taste in the product.
Gummy Vitamin Popularity by the Numbers
Now, let’s examine some of the numbers that back up this product’s popularity. Here are some stats about them that will intrigue you:
- The global gummy vitamin industry is currently valued at more than $5 billion. By 2026, that number is projected to exceed $9 billion.
- The gummy vitamin market is expected to grow at a rate of over 12.5% between 2020 and 2027 due in large part to vitamin gummies’ popularity in North America’s increasingly health-conscious culture.
- Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing and second-largest consumer market for gummy vitamins with a particular preference for immunity-boosting products.
Consumers are taking an active role in researching and seeking out gummy vitamins and supplements that can help meet their nutritional needs. Looking at the numbers above, one can infer that the demand will only scale upward.
The Gummy Manufacturing Process
Gummy manufacturing follows a rather standard and straightforward process. Depending on the ingredients in the gummies, this may require some modifications, but it mostly involves three primary phases:
- Cooking
- Depositing and Cooling
- Coating and Quality Control
The most common process modifications that may appear during the manufacturing process involve temperature adjustments to compensate for certain ingredients. For example, if you are making a vegan gummy product, you will not be using gelatin as a base. This means that the substitute ingredient might require a different temperature to melt.
What You Need to Manufacture Gummies at Scale
The internet hosts many articles centered around manufacturing your own small-batch gummies at home. As you can imagine, this process does not transfer to the commercial sector. Instead, you should be using high-quality gummy production equipment.
Here are the primary tools that you need to add to your facility to manufacture vitamin gummies:
Molds
The mold determines the shape of the gummy mixture when it dries. This also keeps the mixture from losing form and mixing in with other gummies during the cooling process.
If you would like to order a custom gummy mold for your machine, you can do so through us. Just follow our simple four-step process:
- Send us a drawing or sample of the gummy shape you want to produce. Include the desired weight and let us know the make and model of the machinery you will be using (depending on the machine, we may request that you send us a sample mold).
- We will then create a visual mockup of your product mold and submit it to you for approval.
- Once approved, our team will provide you a quote on the price it would cost to produce this mold.
- After the pricing has been finalized, we require a 50% deposit. From there, the manufacturing process will take 4-6 weeks. Please pay the remaining 50% before we ship the molds to you.
Gummy Vitamin Production Machine
Using the right machine for your manufacturing needs will play the most critical role in your production cycle. At CapPlus, we manufacture a variety of machines with a diverse range of features and capabilities. Some of our models include:
- M300 – This machine is designed for true performance-driving manufacturers that need a system to handle large batches or a continuous production flow of gummies each day. The M300 can operate smoothly at speeds of up to 120,000 gummies per hour and can work at a variable speed of 80-120 trays in the same timespan.
- M80 – The M80 is perfect for mid-sized manufacturing companies looking for a standalone system. It can produce up to 30,000 gummies per hour.
Gummy Counter
Gummy machines produce thousands of gummies throughout the day. Gummies have traditionally been packaged by a pack weigher, but many manufacturers require counting gummies to ensure accurate quantities. Traditional channel counters that aren’t designed for gummies are inefficient. So what should you do? You should use a rapid gummy channel counter. Our RC90.18.2G can help keep your production running smoothly and is specifically designed to meet all the challenges that gummies present.
Water Activity Meter
The water activity in a gummy can affect its shelf-life, taste, and texture. During quality control, this should be the first aspect of the finished product that is examined.
This can be done using a high-quality water activity meter. These are portable devices that can quickly measure the water activity in minutes and inform quality control team members of any potential issues with the batch.
Once you have all of your necessary equipment ready, you can begin the manufacturing process!
Vitamin Gummy Manufacturing Process Step 1: Cooking
The first step of the gummy manufacturing process is called “cooking.” Ingredients are preheated in a kettle and mixed into a slurry. Once it reaches the desired temperature and solids percentage, it is transferred from the kettle to a storage mixing tank. From there, the final ingredients are added, such as colors, flavors, active ingredients, and citric acid to adjust the slurry’s pH to create a “gel” texture.
Step 2: Depositing and Cooling
Once finished with the cooking phase, the slurry is transferred through heated pipes where it will arrive at a hopper on the depositor. Once in position, a precise amount of the mixture will be deposited into the teflon-coated molds, which have been chilled and sprayed with oil. This helps with cooling and prevents from sticking to the mold itself.
After this, cooling begins. The molds travel through a chilling tunnel to cool the slurry and allow it to take a more solid shape in the molds. Once ready, the gummies are then released from their molds and conveyed to drying trays.
Step 3: Coating & Quality Control
The final step splits into two stages. These are coating and quality control.
Gummy manufacturers can opt to coat their gummy products to help enhance the flavor, appearance, or to prevent sticking in the packaging. This step is entirely optional, but it can help make a large difference when packaging as well as appeal more to the consumer.
After this, the quality control team can begin analyzing the water activity and other verification processes that your company and government regulations require. Once the quality has been verified, it is ready to package and ship!
Ready to Get Started on Manufacturing Vitamin Gummies?
If you are ready to start manufacturing vitamin gummies at your own facility, we are here to help connect you with the best equipment for your operational needs. To speak with one of our team members, contact us anytime to learn more about our machines, molds, tooling, and quality control products.
[…] are added to the gummy mixture (called a “slurry”) during the latter half of the first phase of the gummy manufacturing process: […]