Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - September 2008 - (Page 30)

2 0 0 8 W h o l e s a l e Ba k e r o f t h e Y e a r Continued from page 27 Unconventional Packaging After cooling for 1.5 hours, which lowers the loaves’ temperature to about 100°F, the items are sliced and bagged and pass through metal detection before they’re placed in baskets. The bakery has two packaging lines for bread and one for buns and rolls. Now here’s where the bakery goes unconventional again. Because it freezes products, which are thawed and placed on bread shelves by store employees, the bakery needs to take the packaged loaves out of the baskets and place them eight to a case, on average. To minimize labor, the bakery uses a robot with a basket unstacker to automatically unload the loaves and place them on a conveyor. An automatic case erector builds the cases, which are manually loaded with bread before being automatically sealed, then manually palletized and shrinkwrapped. Figuring out how to robotically unload the baskets took a little reverse engineering since normally robotics are used to load — and not unload — baskets in the baking industry. “That posed some unique challenges in trying to get the right robotic arm that would function properly,” Snell says. “We still have people putting the loaves in the case manually, but emptying the baskets has been automated, which has really improved the efficiencies back there.” The pallets are stored in the plant’s 20,000-sq.-ft. freezer, which holds 500 pallets or about 12 days of products. The bakery also uses offsite cold storage for products. For quality control, Snell and his supervisory staff hold daily scorings the day after each production run. In addition to checking for flavor, color, texture, cell structure and other attributes for the 95% organic products, the quality assurance department checks moisture, pH and total titratable acidity (TTA). The products are scored throughout their shelf life to monitor quality because the organic products contain no mold inhibitors, shelf extenders, softeners or other preservatives. “On the organic and natural side, you have to control your processes more tightly Production supervisors and the quality control staff at Rudi’s Organic Bakery hold daily scorings after each production run. than in the conventional bakers’ world,” Snell notes. “You don’t have the ability to use many ingredients that are available in the conventional world.” Because chemical cleaners are not allowed in certified-organic operations, the bakery for the most part uses vinegar for cleaning. Daily swabbing is used to confirm sanitation procedures. To further control the process and prevent premature molding, the bakery filters air, even house air, down to the one micron level. A lot traceability system provides additional food safety features. Although Snell and his staff of supervisors search for new ways to improve productivity through automation, there are some things they will never do. “No matter whatever changes we maintain from an efficiency standpoint or capital investment perspective, the fermentation or the final proofing process will never be addressed as an opportunity for improvement,” Snell says. Life in the fast lane apparently is overrated. SF&WB 30 Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - SEPTEMBER 2008 5/28/08 11:57:06 AM SFWB0608CSB.indd 1 http://www.csb-system.com http://www.csb-system.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - September 2008

Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - September 2008 Contents Editor’s Note For Goodness Sakes Better Than the Rest Unconventional Thinking Easy Does It New Products In the Comfort Zone Engineering Management The ASB Column Printer Keeps Production Running Equipment Briefs Better Than the Rest The Final Word

Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery - September 2008

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