Baking & Snack - April 2009 - 66

TUNNEL OVENS

Rekindling
EFFICIENCY
Despite the downturn in the economy, now could be a favorable time
to invest in a new tunnel oven.
BY SHANE WHITAKER
ith the slumping economy, most bakeries
probably are not thinking about purchasing new ovens, especially a tunnel or tray
oven, which could cost as much as seven figures. However, now may be an opportune time to make
this investment, whether you operate a growing bakery
looking to replace deck or rack ovens to go to a more
automated process or an older bakery and want to replace a less efficient oven.
Over the past several years, costs for materials such
as stainless steel and components to build ovens rose
sharply, but the economic downturn has decreased prices
for raw materials and components, according to Joe Zaleski, executive vice-president, Reading Bakery Systems,
Robesonia, PA. "We can lower our prices on the equipment we manufacture," he explained.
Additionally, Mr. Zaleski said that the company has
more time to devote to projects because the overall industry is down. "We maintained much of our experienced
staff because it is not easy to replace that experience in six
to 12 months when we get busy again," he added. "Order
now, and the most experienced people will work on these
projects. The result will be a new line tailored to the customer's needs with the greatest attention to detail."
Dieter Knost, managing director of Werner & Pfleiderer
Industrial, Tamm, Germany, noted also that lower material
prices would translate to less expensive ovens. "If someone
has the money, it is a good time to invest," he said.
Larry Gore, director of product marketing, AMF Bakery Systems, Richmond, VA, said new ovens are highly
efficient compared with ovens of even 10 years ago, thus
it would be an ideal time to replace 30- to 40-year-old
ovens from both an energy perspective and maintenance
costs. "Capital investment with a measurable efficiency increase that can be tied to a top project ranking in regards
to return on investment would still make this a good time
to invest in new oven technology," he explained.

"An oven is always an investment in the future," noted
Malene Pedersen, marketing manager, DFE Meincke,
Copenhagen, Denmark. "An old oven may be able to last
through financially rough times before replacement, but
a new oven can easily be more economical to run, which
improves the attractiveness of the investment."
Bill Foran, vice-president, C.H. Babb Co., Raynham,
MA, noted that if most every company is being conservative and not investing in the future, then a company that
has a good business plan and invests in an oven to move
forward with that production line would have a leg up
when the economy turns around.
GOING AUTOMATED. Bakeries generally switch from
rack, deck or revolving tray ovens to automated or continuous tunnel ovens for capacity and efficiency reasons. A
general rule of thumb used in Europe is that when a bakery
produces more than 5,000 pieces of bread (typically 1 kg,
or 2.2 lb, each) per day, then an investment in a multilayer
tunnel oven is the right choice, according to Mr. Knost.
When outputs are high, the batch baking process can
be expensive, according to Mr. Zaleski. "Loading, unloading, heating and reheating the oven are a waste of time and

ᮣ This 3-tiered multi-pass oven/dryer uses forced convection through the
product bed to ensure even drying across the belt.
READING BAKERY SYSTEMS

April 2009 / BAKING & SNACK

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Baking & Snack - April 2009

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