Should You Automate Your Bakery Production Lines in 2023?

Whether you’re a small bakery or a large-scale food production facility, automating can streamline your processes and maximize production efficiency.

 As a full-service integrator of process control systems, EZSoft understands the importance of having reliable, automated systems in place to ensure maximum product consistency and accuracy.

In this post, we will explore some of the advantages of automating your bakery processing lines now as opposed to waiting. From improved food safety and cost savings to increased production capacity and improved traceability, modern automation technology promotes long-term business growth and success.

Now, let’s take a look at the top reasons why you should consider automating your bakery production lines in 2023:

Increasing production capacity at your bakery

Automating production lines in industrial bakeries can increase production capacity significantly while optimizing the overall production process. Industrial automation and tools for bakeries eliminate the reliance on human intervention, allowing for more efficient processes, saving you on time, energy, and increasingly steep labor costs.

Automated baking equipment can be programmed to produce specific products at predetermined intervals, permitting greater control over the production process. The latest machine-learning technology also allows for more precise measurements and higher quality control, resulting in more consistent outcomes and less waste.

Automating your production also reduces a considerable amount of ingredients waste attributable to human error. By eliminating manual intervention along your lines, less mistakes are made, leading to fewer product defects. Since automated production lines are programmed to use the exact amount of ingredients necessary for your recipes, industrial automation software solutions ensure that you store only the raw materials you need.

When you make the switch to an automated bakery, you lower energy and water consumption, both of which can amount to excessive costs for bakers that don’t carefully regulate and monitor their use. Production line automation in bakeries protects against accidents in freezers and on the plant floor that are common in bakeries that still rely on manual procedures.

Well-automated production lines are engineered to be more efficient and to adhere to all the safety protocols of the modern baking industry. The level of precision you gain means that you’ll need fewer workers on the floor during production. Automation will, similarly, increase accuracy and consistency, as your production lines are programmed to follow precise instructions to render the same outcome at every run.

The advanced system monitoring solutions that come with automating lower the risk of critical equipment malfunctions. The manufacturing software helps you stay on top of your required maintenance, informing you of any abnormalities before a catastrophic failure leads to expensive unplanned production downtime.

Waste reduction and conserving expensive ingredients

Automating your production lines is an effective way to reduce materials waste and thereby lower ingredient costs in businesses. Machine-learning technology enables businesses to reduce manual labor costs and increase production efficiency, resulting in fewer wasted materials.

Since automation reduces the risk of human error, fewer materials are wasted in the production process. Automation also lets your businesses track and control their inventory with greater precision, ensuring that your operators use only the precise supply of ingredients needed during production.

You’ll also eliminate several unnecessary production costs after automating. The manufacturing software improves product quality after lowering your human intervention requirements and eliminating many of the associated errors that lead to ingredients waste.

These tools similarly enable you to reduce the amount of energy used in the production process and substantially lower your current operating costs. Likewise, automation eliminates a strict reliance on manual operators in an historically challenged labor market.

Automating helps businesses like yours lower their expensive materials requirements. Our industrial automation software fosters more consistent and accurate production, allowing for highly precise measurements. As a result, you will end up discarding fewer defective products that don’t contain the right mixtures and avoid spillages that can occur when manually introducing the ingredients.

One of the main reasons bakers are keen on automating now is that the technology allows them to reduce the time and resources required to produce their products and introduces more efficient processes with fewer wasted materials. In turn, well-automated bakeries find it easier to focus on increasing their throughput and expanding their brand’s footprint.

Improving food safety and preventing expensive recalls

An automated bakery production line will only improve food safety by simplifying equipment cleaning and sanitizing at your facility. Modern AI-based bakery equipment significantly lowers the risk of contamination, as the process is more consistent than manual cleaning.

This is especially critical when dealing with high-risk food items such as raw dough. Automating the process of sanitizing and cleaning equipment also increases efficiency, as it reduces the amount of time it takes to prepare for production.

Industrial automation software also makes it easier to verify that your equipment is properly sanitized and cleaned. These systems monitor the cleaning process and alert workers if an element of your facility is functioning as it should.

The simplified cleaning procedures give bakery owners peace of mind in knowing the equipment is properly sanitized and cleaned before use and the risk of contamination is minimal. Since the process completes so quickly and efficiently, automated manufacturing systems for bakeries also allow for more frequent, simplified cleaning.

Automated systems can be programmed to automatically sanitize and clean equipment at specific intervals, reducing the amount of time your plant operators need to spend sanitizing your facility.

Streamlining your cleaning processes in this way can significantly lower your overall costs to operate and makes it easier to comply with regulatory bodies. A well-automated cleaning process requires fewer human resources, and it virtually guarantees that all the equipment is properly cleaned and thoroughly sanitized before every daily production run.

Ready to automate your bakery production?

If you’re ready to start exploring your options for automating your production lines and asking yourself where to source reliable industrial automation companies near me, EZSoft can help. We are an experienced full-service integrator of process control systems that writes software controlling the equipment in complex manufacturing settings.

For more information on how to start automating your bakery in stages, fill out our request for contact form online or call EZSoft now at (484) 568-5040.