How Can Bakers Achieve Process Efficiency?

Bakers will have to change in tandem with consumer needs in order to remain profitable. This has far-reaching impacts on the efficiency of the bakery process.

Fremont, CA: Oven and proofer demand is strong, surpassing the GDP growth. Baking is an energy-intensive activity, which contributes to this rapid rise. Ovens are at the center of every baking operation, and because they consume vast amounts of energy, they account for a significant portion of the baking industry's cost structure. Replacing aging ovens with newer, more energy-efficient models is a cost-cutting technique. However, a shift in demand toward different sorts of pieces of bread is also driving this need, since some oven technologies fit better to items like artisan bread, which require a distinct crust and inner texture.

The researchers discuss the essential balance between baking process efficiency and product quality in a fascinating paper on Industrial Oven Improvement for Energy Reduction and Enhanced Process Performance. Producing product rejects not only wastes the raw materials and work that went into the product, but also wastes the energy consumed, which can be a substantial hidden cost if not carefully accounted for.

More than just increasing baking oven efficiency and the packaging line, bakers can increase bakery process efficiency through:

Lean Manufacturing.

Lean Manufacturing is a tried-and-true strategy for reducing waste and increasing process efficiency. There are numerous sites that advocate or demonstrate the benefits of applying a lean manufacturing strategy for baking process efficiency.

Documentation and planning

Implementing Lean Manufacturing approaches such as Just in Time inventory management can increase bakery process efficiency. Each product has a well-documented production process that includes an ingredients plan for each production run. Bakers can compare overall production costs to planned production costs, as well as actual yield against the intended yield for each set of ingredients.

Benchmarking

Bakers may now set a benchmark for their existing bakery production after they've developed their documented process and production plan. According to the Snack and Bakery article Improving Snack and Bakery Operational Efficiency, while many larger bakeries will look to automation to improve efficiency, it's better to establish a baseline of the current performance, implement a lean methodology, and then look to automate the optimal process, leaving some process steps to workers while automating others.

Optimization and testing

After a baker has benchmarked its current baking operations, it may start testing and optimizing alternative situations.