Baking & Snack - December 2015 - 71

EQUIPMENT
Dessert Decorating

BEYOND

the
SQUIGGLE

There's more to decorating baked desserts than mechanizing the nozzle.
Bakers should consider their systems as a whole.
by Laurie Gorton

When production lines run 12 double-layer cakes, 300
cupcakes or 600 cookies per minute or faster, you don't
have the time - or the manpower - for manual decorating methods. And with bakery customers wanting
more customization, more signature product impact,
what you do need are automated decorating systems.
Mechanized decorating lines have been around for
a while. Now, new design, layout and engineering approaches are making them more capable, more flexible,
more robotic and more holistic than earlier systems.
Two aspects count the most, according to Alex
Kuperman, president, ABI Ltd., Concord, ON. "The first
is the ability to create customized and more complex designs. The second is to provide a system that can meet
high throughput requirements."
What's also involved is a new way of looking at dessert
decorating as practiced by commercial wholesale bakers. It's no longer enough to install unit machines. Today
demands more. "Customers are looking toward 'a complete solution' - a solution to the overall problem," said
Neil Anderson, director of business development, Axis
Automation, Hartland, WI. That's not just a decorator or
topper, but a system that can handle the product up to the
applicator and after it, one that can correctly position the
product and make smooth transitions between stages.
Lance Aasness, vice-president, Hinds-Bock, Bothell,
WA, confirmed the holistic trend and added, "Quick

changeover of multiple pan configurations and multiple
products require thoughtful engineering of both the
mechanical components and PLC/HMI controls.
"There is no concrete rule," he added, "however, with the
wages rising, labor issues and the focus on hygiene, food
producers are very focused on automation. We work with
our customers to help them with their ROI calculations."

Improvements in temperature control for string icers
mean the squiggles stand up
properly and don't melt into the
other icing layers.
Adobe Stock

More capability, more speed
Every baking company that supplies cakes and desserts
to in-store, c-store, foodservice and contract markets
faces rising demand for custom products at a reasonable
price. Multi-element, multi-colored, readily personalized styles shove aside the relatively simple designs of
yesterday, such as flat sheet cakes with piped scallops
along the edges.
"For years, systems have been available that achieved
high throughput of more basic cake designs," Mr.
Kuperman explained. "Similarly, cake decorating artists
are not hard to find and are only limited by their own creativity in the complexity of designs. Where decorating [efforts] are limited is in how many cakes they can physically
decorate in a working day, as well as to how uniform the
finished products are that they are able to produce."
Where Mr. Kuperman and other equipment manufacturers enter the picture is with fully automated systems capable of achieving quality, consistency and high

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