Ingredients coming into a bakery can range from a 100,000-pound rail car of flour, to use of some ingredients at the part-per-million level. All these must be handled and metered precisely for ultimate quality, regulatory and weight compliance, and functional performance of the ingredients in the formula.

Unlike many other manufacturing industries, the baking process not only merely blends materials together, but the very nature of the process is to regulate and control a living, metabolic system -- fermentation. The are several biochemical reactions occurring, at different rates and in overlapping sequences. They are often very time, temperature, and pH dependent. Also, a typical production rate on a single bread or roll line may be from 6-10,000 pounds per hour or more. How one stores and conveys the ingredients to the mixing station and the rest of the up-line processes, is critical to the process.

Many bakeries in this country have very sizable scrap losses every day by not accomplishing these steps properly. The newer systems -- many are from European manufacturers -- use very sophisticated computerized process control systems today to handle the production and to remove the human error element. Bulk flour and sugar storage silos can now be temperature and humidity controlled, are stationed outside on load cells, and amounts delivered from the 100,000 pound silos are accurately weighed, delivered, and real-time inventory records kept. The numerous, and varied, other minor and micro ingredients must likewise be stored, handled and delivered dependent upon the physical and chemical properties of each ingredient.

Various new mass flow devices are beginning to appear on the market -- but many more are needed. Some ingredients, such as shortening, may be aerated in nature, but must be precisely metered according to the formula or recipe. Handling yeast alone, can be a unique challenge since one is dealing with living cells requiring strict environmental conditions and nutrients for the correct growth cycle prior to use in the fermentation process.

In pneumatic conveying of sugar, for example, there are other factors to consider. As the sugar is blown through stainless steel lines, from the storage silo to the mixing station, the number and types of bends and elbows may have an effect on changing the critical particle size requirements. If too much damage is done in this step, the specific coarseness (granulation) requirement for the finished product may be compromised. If the granulated sugar comes to the mixer as a fine powdered sugar, a number of severe quality and production problems will occur.

Technologies to store and move critical ingredients continue to be, or need to be, improved. Bulk storage of particulate materials also have another adverse effect if not properly considered. Due to the normal distribution of particle size in any powdered material, striation can occur as a function of the size and mass of the particles, where all the fine material, through stratification as bins are emptied, may be a major problem for several reasons. Some unique solutions have been developed to solve this problem, but others are needed.

As an industry, American bakeries are for the most part highly mechanized, but not often very automated. European bakeries, including the mom-and-pop facilities, are far more sophisticated than most in the U.S. As we continue to expand our business in the world marketplace, American bakeries are at a disadvantage in many respects, and are less competitive on a labor, quality and efficiency basis.

Most U.S. bakeries were built just after the second World War, and many are still using the equipment put in during that time. Over the years, refurbishing has occurred, but not replacement or modernization as seen in the rest of the world. The argument was that since the margins were so low on a loaf of bread, companies were not able to reinvest dollars to improve to the degree necessary. As a result, they became more inefficient and labor intensive, and the cycle continued. Only in the past 5-8 years have companies begun to make more sizable investments and incorporate more computerization. But, the number who have done this is still very small on a national basis. There is still much room for improvement.

We also must increase our fundamental understanding of the science and engineering of our processes before some of the processes can be controlled more effectively by sensors and control systems. And, as the world of manufacturing is rapidly moving to flexible, on-demand production, versus the older ways of long production runs for any one product, automation efficiency must be matched. There are great opportunities in this one food sector alone for manufacturers of process and information technologies. Understanding the uniqueness of any industry is critical before the market can be addressed.