Automation Makes Inroads into Baking

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Bakery & Baked Goods Despite its batch-oriented, craftsman-like nature, baking is ripe for automation in many aspects. Baking and automation just don’t seem like they would go together. Baking is usually a batch process, often with significant time lags between steps like proofing and the oven. Most dough is too viscous to flow easily. And many higher-end baked goods have an artisan cachet that may seem incompatible with automation. But automation has made steady inroads into many phases of industrial baking. And, as in all product segments, advances in aspects like robotics and digital technology have the potential to intensify the degree of automation. “This is a great time to be in the baking industry,” says John Giacoio, vice president of sales for Rheon USA , which makes a range of dough forming and handling equipment. “Bakers are demanding better products, and this pushes equipment manufacturers to offer better equipment even before the customer knows it can be done. It is exciting to be able to provide a solution to a customer when they have all but given up on improvement.” This system from Rheon uses a vision system to identify the tails of croissants coming from the sheeter and make adjustments. Unsurprisingly, automation is more prevalent in larger, high-volume baking operations. But smaller ones are starting to see the advantages, says Gary Seiffer, sales specialist with EnSight Solutions , which makes a variety of processing and material handling equipment for bakeries and other sectors. “There still are a lot of small bakers out there that want to grow, and if they’re smart, they’ll grow with machinery,” Seiffer says. This applies even to artisan bakers, some of whom continue to resist the idea of automation on the grounds of integrity, he says. “There are artisan bakers who say, ‘I’m […]