Baking&Snack - June 2013 - 36

BAKER’S PRIDE

Line worker Megan Coffey helps remove scrap
dough after it has been sheeted, sliced and docked.
Next, a guillotine cutter will create the final piece
sizes for these long johns.
Baker’s Pride, donut business is
bustling on Mt. Pleasant Street.

Oz in Iowa
Entering the newly designed production floor is like walking through
the doors of the Emerald City, Mr.
Brookhart said, describing its “hitech” donut line. The bright lights,
white walls and floors as well as sweet
smells prompt a feeling of magic.
During the past three years,
Baker’s Pride assembled this line, but not on its own. “In
our opinion, we have some of the best equipment available,” he said. “We worked with a lot of the name-brand
suppliers who have good reputations in the industry.”
When selecting equipment vendors for the new donut
line, Mr. Brookhart pointed out that in many instances
the company’s choices were based upon relationships
developed through the years. “We’ve dealt with most
all of the suppliers we purchased equipment from, and
we had knowledge of them from working with them
directly over the years,” he added. “But not to this magnitude by any means.”
Baker’s Pride also looked for equipment that would be
easy to maintain.

“One of the biggest areas of importance was the
willingness of those suppliers to work with us,” Mr.
Brookhart continued. “This was a new project for us,
and we had to rely heavily upon their expertise.”
While the equipment vendors offered assistance with
installation and training, the relationships did not end
there. “We still call them up and say, ‘Hey, something is
not quite right here,’ ” he said. “They will suggest do this
or make this adjustment, and sometimes it helps, and
sometimes it doesn’t, but they are always there.”
The line features more automation than what Mr.
Brookhart was accustomed, as PLCs tie together all of
its operations. “Everything automatically adjusts itself
when you have to make minor changes here and there,”
he said. “We have preset programs
that we have determined give us
the best results to start with, and we
From his days at an Aldi supermarket bread plant to today’s Baker’s Pride
work from there.”
donut operation, Robert Brookhart, president of the Burlington, IA-based
While employees can make micompany, has been the bakery’s centrifugal force.
nor tweaks along the line, if taken
Mr. Brookhart began in bakery by bagging bread at age 19 in Burlington’s
too far out of spec, the line autoAldi facility, and he worked for the company until it was sold in 2007.
matically goes back to its original
However, he never truly left the facility, and in some ways, he’s never left
settings, he explained.
the line at all.
“I came from production, so I sometimes have a difficult time staying out
Time to make donuts
of production, he said. “I like to be involved, even though I try to step back
”
The hi-tech donut line produces
and give people the reins and responsibility.
”
both yeast-raised and cake donuts,
Mr. Brookhart looks for employees with a work ethic as strong as his, and
depending on how it is set up. The
he rewards it. This is what he saw in Jacob Quinn, whom he promoted from
bakery was making yeast-raised
the production line to assistant foreman and, eventually, QA manager.
long johns, which it can produce
But he also strikes a balance between empowerment and involvement.
at approximately 10,000 pieces per
In fact, it’s not uncommon to see Mr. Brookhart on the production floor of
hour, when Baking & Snack editors
the Jefferson Street facility, conducting impromptu quality control on his
toured the facility in April.
products, inspecting bags on the AMF bagger and pulling a loaf right off
Two Topos/Redco remanufacthe line and checking it, slice by slice.
tured 1,000-lb horizontal mixers
After all, an AMF bagger was where he got his start, and he hasn’t forgotwith PLC controls prepare dough
ten — and he hasn’t left — where he came from.
for yeast-raised donuts. The bakery

Once on the line, always on the line

/ Baking & Snack / June 2013

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Baking&Snack - June 2013

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