A biscuit production line is one of the most requested — and most misunderstood — machines we export. Buyers often ask for a price before they have answered the three questions that actually determine the cost: how much do you want to produce per hour, what kind of biscuit, and how automated do you want the line to be. This guide walks through each of them the way we do on a factory-floor visit.
1. Start with capacity, not with price
Line capacity is expressed in kilograms of dough per hour (kg/h) or in pieces per minute. As a rule of thumb for a 400 mm line:
- 300–500 kg/h — entry level, serves a local bakery or one retail region
- 500–800 kg/h — mid-size regional producer, 2–3 SKU families
- 800–1200 kg/h — industrial line running multiple shifts
A common mistake is buying capacity for the market you hope for instead of the market you have. A line running at 40% utilization wastes energy, labor and floor space; a line at 100% from day one cannot accept new orders. We usually recommend sizing for roughly 70% utilization in year one.
2. Hard biscuits, soft biscuits or cookies?
Three different doughs, three different machines:
- Hard (cracker-type) dough needs laminating and gauging stations — a hard biscuit line with sheeter, laminer and rotary moulder.
- Soft / deposited dough is handled by a wire-cut or depositor head instead of a moulder.
- Cookie dough with inclusions (chocolate chips, nuts) requires a gentle wire-cut machine and a shorter mixing time.
If you plan to produce more than one family, discuss a combined line with swappable forming heads. Changing heads takes one shift of work, so plan it between production runs.
3. The line, section by section
A typical setup, in processing order:
- Dough mixer — horizontal or vertical, sized 1.5× the oven throughput so mixing never becomes the bottleneck.
- Sheeter / gauging / laminer — for layered or cracker doughs only.
- Rotary moulder / depositor — defines biscuit shape; molds are changeable per SKU.
- Tunnel oven — gas or electric, 3–5 temperature zones; this is the heart of the line and the biggest energy consumer.
- Cooling conveyor — at least 1.5× oven length, or biscuits will crack when packed warm.
- Packing table / packing machine — on-edge stacking, pile packing or tray-free flow pack.
4. What a realistic budget looks like
Indicative EXW price ranges from Chinese manufacturers (2026): a compact 400 mm line starts around US$45,000–60,000; a full mid-size line with oven and packing lands between US$80,000 and 150,000; industrial 1000+ mm lines are quoted per project. Our price guide explains why two quotes for the "same" line can differ by 40%.
5. Layout questions buyers forget
- Ceiling height: oven and cooling conveyor may need 4 m clear height.
- Power: a gas oven needs a gas supply line and proper ventilation approval.
- Drainage: washing and dough areas need floor drains — easier to plan before the floor is poured.
- Expansion: leave 6–8 m at the line's end for a second cooling tower or freezer.
Next step
Send us your target capacity, biscuit type and workshop dimensions — we will return a line drawing, a capacity calculation and a quotation within 12 hours. Start from our automatic biscuit production line page or send an inquiry directly.