The baking industry is mainly relying on automation. That's because automation isn't just about increasing output; it's also about improving consistency.
Fremont, CA: Individual variances in baked goods can occur when baked goods are made by hand. To maintain these products' handmade quality and appearance, substantial handwork is required. As a result, an extensive range of bakery items is now manufactured using fully automated procedures. Aside from that, a growing number of bakeries are implementing warehouse automation. This helps businesses manage the limited shelf life of fresh bakery products, labor expenses, product damage, inventory accuracy, and warehouse capacity more efficiently.
Automation attempts to help bakeries cut overhead expenses while improving sales by ensuring that each item hits shop shelves well before its expiration date and allowing bakers to organize and enhance resources for a better product flow. In summary, bakeries can have better visibility and control of inventory with real-time data using an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) and warehouse execution system (WES), which improves operational efficiency. Manufacturers can also use real-time data to plan future production and supply chains.
Impact of automation in the baking industry:
Increased throughput
It goes without saying that humans cannot work at the same speed as machines. They can't work nonstop and need energic breaks to perform appropriately. Machines, on the other hand, are incredibly efficient. This is one of the main reasons why automating bakery processes increases bakery throughput.
Fewer equipment
Many processors are attempting to reduce their equipment footprint in order to fit more equipment into their current facilities. And that is how companies may increase throughput without needing to enlarge their facilities.
Food safety
Cross-contamination in food processing industries is primarily caused by people. Workers can readily transfer microbes and allergies to food if they do not follow CGMPs (current good manufacturing procedures). Workers are still likely to transfer bacteria into the air by kicking up dirt as they walk or push containers around, even if they observe CGMPs. This is all the more motivation for the bakery business to embrace automation.
Worker safety
Any job that has even the tiniest possibility of hurting workers, such as heavy lifting and other physically demanding duties, is replaced by automation.