Baking & Snack - May 2024 - 87

EQUIPMENT
Sliced Bread Packaging
SUCCESS
measuring
Calculating the capacity of bread packaging lines requires weighing many factors.
by Michelle Smith
B
Bread bakers strive to hone their operations to run the
most efficient facilities possible, which includes a packaging
department that is reliable and can keep up with
line speed. That means determining the ideal capacity to
handle not just a typical run but one that is equipped to
catch up if problems occur upstream.
" The easy answer is to say they need 10% to 15% over
oven capacity, but it's really much more complicated
than that, " said Dennis Gunnell, president, Formost Fuji.
" They need to look at more than loaves per minute, sizes
and changeovers. They need to look at what they're going
to bake. Is it white bread? Wheat bread? Or are they
going to do specialty breads that may take longer? "
Bakers must consider what they are planning to use
their packaging equipment for and if they will need to
go up in speed.
" Even though the oven capacity may be X, they may
plan to run products that are only half of X in speed
because they need a longer bake, " Gunnell explained.
" They have to look at what it is going to be doing and
what their plans are for the next few years because a lot
of lines are scalable. "
Figuring out capacity
Estimating the proper amount of bread packaging
needed on a line depends on several factors, but most
agree that bakeries should avoid running at full capacity
in case they need to temporarily increase speed or need
more volume down the line.
" You want your normal running speed to be about 10%
faster than what you're sending to it to account for bag
changes and double loaf elimination, " said Justin Atkins,
director of sales, Bettendorf Stanford. " The normal running
speed should never be the system's max operating
speed. We recommend leaving a buffer of at least 10% to
20% of ramp-up capability before you hit max speed. "
To maximize output, bakers should evaluate oven production
capacity by establishing an efficiency factor to reduce
downtime and optimize equipment use, said Bernardo
Zermeno, customer development director, Rexfab.
" For high-speed production lines exceeding 7,200
loaves per hour, a redundancy factor of up to 30% is
employed, whereas smaller volume lines require less redundancy, "
he added.
Figuring out capacity means comparing throughput
with the maximum efficient operating speed of each primary
packaging machine, said Josh Becker, bakery and
confection segment manager, Harpak-Ulma.
" If two machines are required for maximum oven
throughput, then either a third machine should be added
or the ability to accumulate automatically or manually
rack off product before slicing should be considered, "
he said. " If three machines are required for output, then
a fourth primary packaging machine should be added
for redundancy. "
For de-coupled lines, the answer might be accumulating
bread by keeping your product in the cooling racks
a little bit longer while your primary packaging machine
is down, Becker added.
" You cannot extend proofing time or baking
time to accommodate packaging machine
downtime, but you can extend cooling
time or floor time of finished
product to an extent, " he said.
The issue of capacity comes
down to redundancy vs. accumulation,
depending on
which the baker prefers,
said Bill Kehrli, vice president,
sales and marketing,
Cavanna Packaging.
" The limiting factors on
accumulation have to do
with the baked good, whether
it's bread or another product, it
doesn't really matter. How long can
www.bakingbusiness.com / May 2024 Baking & Snack 87
Some equipment
can be managed
with a tablet or
smartphone, helping
bakeries struggling
to fill jobs.
Kwik Lok
http://www.bakingbusiness.com
Baking & Snack - May 2024

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