Milling & Baking News - October 31, 2023 - 19

Bimbo Santa María is nestled into a Mexico
City neighborhood, and the outside of the
facility is mostly unchanged from its opening
in 1945.
Santa María aren't the newest, featuring
equipment in certain instances installed
decades ago.
Mr. Zarate attributed the longevity of
the equipment, the bakery and its stellar
efficiency record to both the team onsite
as well as Grupo Bimbo's culture around
asset management and capital investment.
While capital investment is always an
important part of the company's growth,
maintenance, quality and productivity
are also critical to ensure those assets last
as long as possible.
" Capital investment is necessary for
growth, but it has to be needed; if you're
maintaining equipment and processes
the way that you should, it will help delay
capital investment, " Mr. Zarate explained.
" This is ultimately good for the company
and the market, and that's something
we learned at Santa María that we try to
spread around the world. "
While much of the plant's equipment
has been updated over time, maintenance
allows Grupo Bimbo to focus its capital
spending on projects that support growth
rather than simply replacing lines that
are no longer functioning optimally.
" We don't tell the team that a new piece
of equipment is only supposed to last for
X amount of time, " he said. " Equipment
can last as long as you want it to while
remaining profitable and producing
high quality. It's a matter of culture and
mindset that we instill in our people and
that we teach the rest of the company and
other bakeries. "
That culture of asset management
elicits Grupo Bimbo's philosophy of being
highly productive and the beliefs of
remaining competitive and being sharp
operators. The company uses technology
and systems to track components on the
line for predictive maintenance, but it's
also about the attitude of the teams.
" The key has been to remain close to the
process and have our asset management
team communicating closely with our
production teams, " Mr. Zarate said.
The team at Santa María throughout
the years has been diligent at maintaining
its efficiency record, which is dependent
bakingbusiness.com
on operating at full capacity and averting
breakdowns.
" Everyone who goes to work at Santa
María understands that it's the very first
bakery, and that it operates in a very efficient
way, " Mr. Zarate said. " Of course, the
bakery has changed over the years. We've
done some renovations to the building
and the equipment has been changed
for better quality and efficiency. But the
building is the same, and it still gives you
that same feeling. "
Today Bimbo Santa María's highly automated
lines are dedicated to producing a
handful of high-demand products. The efficiency
of the bread lines and the new tortilla
lines allow the operation to meet capacity
demands at a high level of product quality.
A WALK THROUGH SANTA MARÍA
Bimbo Santa María is a cross-dock
bakery. The area that once stored finished
product and served as distribution was
converted into production space. Finished
product is now transferred to other bakeries
in the Mexico City area to be picked
up for distribution throughout the region.
With this shift, Santa María became a bakery
dedicated to high-volume production at
a high level of efficiency. The investments
and line designs reflect that purpose. The
bakery may be significantly smaller than
its sister plant across town, Bimbo Azcapotzalco,
but Bimbo Santa María still turns out
6,000 tonnes of product per month compared
to Azcapotzalco's 10,000 tonnes.
Bimbo Santa María encompasses two
bakeries. One facility bakes bread while
the other focuses on tortillas. The bread
facility houses two automated production
lines that produce small loaves and large
loaves in both white and whole grain
varieties.
Between the two bread and two tortilla
lines, each runs three shifts, six days a
week. The seventh day is saved for sanitation
and maintenance. Ingredients are
delivered every day by truck, and production
is scheduled based on order forecasting,
market demand and purchase orders
from the sales team.
Back inside the bakery, Line No. 1 produces
smaller loaves, both white bread
and whole grain, using a liquid ferment.
One mixer feeds the divider and makeup
line. Line No. 2 produces Bimbo's larger
bread loaves, both in white and whole
grain varieties. Two mixers supply dough
to one divider that then feeds dough balls
to two makeup lines. After proofing,
the bread is baked in a tunnel oven and
then cooled on ambient spiral coolers.
Once cooled, it is sliced and packaged on
packaging lines that serve both Line Nos.
1 and 2. Until palletizing, both lines are
automated, a testament to the investments
Bimbo has made over the years to ensure
the facility is as efficient as possible.
Across a narrow street in the other
building is the company's latest investment
in Bimbo Santa María, two tortilla
lines. When Bimbo moved the plant's
sweet baked goods production to its facility
in Toluca, Mexico, it created the opportunity
to invest in new equipment to
meet rising demand for flour tortillas in
Mexico City. The equipment was installed
five years ago.
" We needed to produce tortillas in a
faster way with more competitive pricing
(From left) Lorenzo Servitje, José T. Mata, Jaime Sendra, Jaime Jorba and Roberto Servitje stand
outside Panificación Bimbo, the original bakery they founded that would grow to be Grupo Bimbo.
This baking facility still operates today as Bimbo Santa María.
MILLING & BAKING NEWS 19
GRUPO BIMBO

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Milling & Baking News - October 31, 2023

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