Baking & Snack - March 2018 - 46

MORE THAN A BAKERY

through the chunker, and the pieces then go through
a Mettler Toledo metal detector and upward where it
either turns toward the full sheeting line or continues to
the rotary moulder, as it did for graham cracker makeup
during Baking & Snack's visit. If the dough pieces bypass the sheeting line, they fall into the rotary's hopper,
which is equipped with five "eyes," or level sensors, to
ensure the pieces are evenly distributed before breaking
them into crumbles for the rotary die.
When designing the line, flexibility was top of
mind, not only for the variety of cookies and crackers
the bakery currently makes but also to accommodate
the potential for new opportunities in the future. This
was the intent behind incorporating sheeted and rotary cut technology into one line, which was ultimately
an investment in the bakery's future. "For our contract
manufacturing, we needed the ability to quickly switch
back and forth," Mr. Quigg said. "It was obviously an additional expense, but we needed to have that flexibility at
the drop of a hat."
To address challenges around changeovers from one
process to another or changing out the die, the rotary
piece can be rolled out of place via crane on a track that
spans the width of the room. "We can move it out for
cleaning every day, and when we need to use the sheeting line, we simply roll in a transfer conveyor to go in its
place," Mr. Quigg added.
When cookies and crackers leave the makeup line, they
head into a Franz Haas hybrid oven that uses a combination of direct-gas fire and convection to easily bake a wide
variety of cookies and crackers - or any number of baked
products - with a single-digit bake time.

User-friendly packaging
In the post-bake zone, finished graham crackers leave
the oven and cruise on an elevated cooling conveyor at
ambient temperature for about 330 ft as they head to
the packaging area, passing through the second Mettler
Toledo metal detector.
In a bakery operation that focuses on flexibility, the
human element becomes critical at the packaging stage.
This is not only for quality control, where people can
keep a watchful eye for damaged or out-of-spec product,
but it's also because of the inverse relationship between
automation and flexibility in packaging.
"If we need to change sizes or shapes for different customers," Mr. Quigg observed, "people can do that very
easily; machines can't." Because of this, More Than A
Bakery placed a heavy emphasis on worker comfort and
ergonomics on the packaging line. For example, the stations are equipped with stands that can be raised or lowered up to 10 in. with the push of a button.
The Benchmark Automation transport system was also

46 Baking & Snack March 2018 / www.bakingandsnack.com

A new 'reality' for facility design
When Bill Quigg, More Than A Bakery's
president, and Felicia Quigg, vicepresident, Family Pride, embarked on
the journey to build this new facility in
Versailles, KY, they had some specific
ideas in mind, especially for the bakery's workplace culture.
In fact, the vision was so clear in
their minds that they went through two
design-build firms before landing with
Gray Construction in nearby Lexington.
However, the Quiggs realized that
bringing their ideas to life was more
challenging than they'd anticipated.
"We were constantly wrestling with
whether we should make the Family
Space feel industrial or warm and
where we should draw the line," Ms.
Quigg recalled. "We wanted people to
come into the space and have it feel
warm and comfortable, but it also had
to be very clean with wipeable, bleachcleanable surfaces. But how do you do
that without making it hard or sterile?"
To help walk the Quiggs through
the process, Gray found a way to put
them "inside" the renderings through
virtual reality (VR) technology. "They
were able to put us into different
areas to understand how things like
ceiling heights looked, and we could
stand right here in our building while
we were actually in their office," Mr.
Quigg said.
While in the VR version of the
new building, Mr. Quigg noticed the
west-facing exterior wall in the family
space. "I said, 'That's not supposed to
be a wall. We want light and space ...
it needs to be an outside window,' "
he recalled.
VR technology is still a new tool
for architects and engineers, but it
provided an opportunity to see the
building concept from a much more
realistic perspective. "It challenged
our thought process," Ms. Quigg said.
"What came naturally to them was
hard for us to visualize, but this gave
us a new resource."

http://www.bakingandsnack.com

Baking & Snack - March 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking & Snack - March 2018