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systems to handle fresh bakery products. Here, the return on investment can get tricky, but Mr. Sayegh says
the company finds it a worthwhile investment because,
again, it eliminates labor for a repetitive and ergonomically risky task. "We make those decisions regardless of
the returns," he said.
When total automation does become cost-prohibitive
- which it can - Mr. Kline said bakeries should analyze the automation's components and determine which
presents the greatest opportunity for savings. "One
needs to consider the alternatives," he explained. "The
alternatives may not maximize possible savings, but they
may provide the greatest value to the baker."
Bakers need to know their real efficiency, the tasks
workers are actually doing and the time those tasks require. What are the sources of and the duration of operational and mechanical downtime? "This analysis can
be used to evaluate the process, warehousing activities,
sanitation and maintenance," Mr. Kline said. "What are
the components of time and cost? This is easier said than
done, but with good data, the questions on what can be
done start to answer themselves."

Implications of automation
Automation can be a testy subject in regard to labor issues, however, because no one wants to be replaced with
a machine. That doesn't have to be reality though. Often,
automation doesn't eliminate jobs; it only changes the
need. "Never in 32 years of business have we fired someone because of business reasons," Mr. Sayegh said. "With
all the automation, we've never had to do that. In fact,
we feel that without the automation we couldn't have
grown and provided more jobs."
While automation may eliminate jobs that require
unskilled workers, sophisticated equipment requires sophisticated mechanics, engineers and, in some cases, programmers. "Even though we may be able to do away with
a position or two that we were doing manually, in our
automated fermentation room or tray washing, we would
need engineering personnel or mechanics to operate that
equipment," Mr. Somoza said. "We can't look at labor in a
vacuum of personnel efficiencies but more about what set
of skills are you going to need from here on."
Mr. Sayegh echoed that sentiment, saying that automation can't replace the need for that baker knowledge.
"You still need people who understand the product," he
said. "The operators we need have to be more educated
because now they need to understand the products and
the equipment they're using to process them."
Bakeries aren't necessarily relying on sophisticated
controls to address this issue either. Pan Pepin educates
its employees to develop its own workforce. "Here we're
dealing with the island context," Mr. Somoza explained.

"We can't recruit employees from a neighboring state
within a 200-mile radius, so we have to do in-house
training so our employees can impact the process."
Automation may resolve some issues such as accuracy, consistency and efficiencies, but it brings its own
challenges. "Automation brings a different type of stress,"
Mr. Sayegh explained. "The more automation you have,
the more you count on it, so now the problem becomes if
the production line doesn't work, then you're shut down.
That becomes a different problem than not having workers with the right skills or those who don't show up."
To ensure growth, the baking industry cannot rely on
automation alone to solve the issues of a dwindling labor pool. It will take a combination of automation and
developing the right workforce to work alongside sophisticated equipment to spur industry growth. The two
are parallel solutions. "You need automation to grow,
but you also need the right people with the right skills,"
Mr. Sayegh said. "Both of them are definitely needed, the
automation as well as the right labor."

To ensure growth, the baking
industry cannot rely on automation alone but automation
and labor together.
Donnelly Marks

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