The project at Mars Cleveland began as an asset-health initiative. Existing equipment was approaching the end of its operational lifetime and needed to be replaced. Orangeworks was selected to engineer and deliver new colour-mixing skids, initially based on the existing recipes using synthetic liquid colours.

While engineering was underway, the requirements changed. The US food industry was accelerating its transition away from petroleum-based synthetic colours towards alternatives derived from natural sources. The new installation therefore needed to support not only today’s process, but also Mars’ future natural-colour formulations.

A fundamentally different mixing challenge

Moving from synthetic to naturally derived colours is not simply a matter of replacing one ingredient with another.

The original colours were supplied as liquids. The new colours are powders that must be added in significantly higher proportions relative to the sugar syrup. This changes the behaviour of the ingredients and creates an entirely different mixing challenge.

Achieving a consistent, homogeneous blend required careful consideration of the tank geometry and the complete process around it. The transition also affected the selection of pumps, valves and other components throughout the skid.

Combining Mars R&D with process engineering

Mars had already conducted extensive research and testing at several of its US facilities. Orangeworks used the resulting process information as the basis for the equipment design.

Our role was to translate Mars’ R&D findings into a robust industrial solution. We optimized the tank dimensions and designed the system with future flexibility in mind. A removable tank top allows the agitation system to be replaced or adapted relatively easily should future formulations require a different mixing principle.

In this way, the installation was designed not only for the original liquid colours, but also for the more demanding natural-colour process.

Proving the process in Oss

Before implementation, the concept had to be validated with the actual ingredients and process conditions.

Within a short timeframe, Orangeworks created a dedicated test setup at its Technology Center in Oss. Additional units and equipment were sourced and temporarily integrated to reproduce the required process conditions.

Together with the Mars team, we conducted trials using four natural colours. The tests demonstrated that the colours could be mixed successfully within the required specifications.

The result

The new mixing skids are ready to support Mars’ transition from synthetic liquid colours to naturally derived powder-based alternatives.

The project demonstrates what can be achieved when Mars’ product and formulation expertise is combined with Orangeworks’ process-engineering capabilities. It also highlights our ability to respond quickly, build flexible test environments and turn developing R&D insights into production-ready equipment.

What started as an asset-replacement project became a future-focused process solution—engineered, tested and proven in close cooperation with Mars.