Baking & Snack - June 2022 - 72

DONUT PROCESSING
to makeup, makeup to proofer or proofer to fryer. With
today's Internet of Things, even transitions between
equipment from different vendors can go smoothly.
" The integration of the controls from sheeting to
Linear space
becomes
critical as donut
manufacturers
move from a
semi-automated
to an automated
production line,
and even more so if
adding in modular
equipment for
flexibility.
Rademaker USA
" Our lines are designed to be the same operating
width as the fryer from start to finish, " Mr. Weekes said.
" This means that we produce the products in the makeup
line so that they utilize as much of the frying width
as possible, which ensures a high level of productivity. "
After the fryer and proofer, baking companies typically
invest in bigger mixers to supply the line, then sheeting
and makeup with automatic transfers. This keeps every
part of the process at a similar scale throughout. This
is critical for consistency, which is automation's strength.
" You have to have the right mixing capacity, proofing
capacity and frying capacity so there aren't any jams between
the individual processes where the product could
be negatively influenced, " Mr. Weissbach said. " For example,
if you would like to increase the capacity on our
Rondo sheeting line, the operator has to double-check if
the proofer and fryer can follow. "
Then there are the transfers to consider. This can be a
major bonus for automating the process and a last holdout
for semi-automated operations. It also requires significant
controls between processes, whether from mixer
proofing to frying on the ethernet allows us to mix and
match brands, " Mr. Morabito said. " So now our proofer
can talk to any sheeter from any supplier, and everything
is coordinated. "
When it comes to equipment reliability, Mr.
Magistrelli said every fresh donut producer must have
a plan in place in case equipment goes down, because it
will. Fresh daily donut production cannot stop and won't
have time to wait for a supplier to send a part or technician,
no matter how supportive the supplier.
" They have to build an infrastructure into their bakery
to get back into production on their own, " he said.
" That can mean having the right parts on hand for the
equipment as well as having onsite expertise with mechanics
and electricians because a service engineer won't
be able to get there quick enough. "
Another strategy is to have a second or alternative
production line that can step up if a piece of equipment
or production line has unexpected downtime.
" A lot of these bakers will have duplicates of the same
equipment just in case equipment goes down, or they
Donut producers adapt
scrap to longer runs
Scrap is inevitable when producing
yeast-raised donuts. There will
always be a net of unused dough
as donuts are removed after cutting.
Most donut manufacturers
simply rework that dough into the
next batch. It can even improve
flavor.
" Trim dough isn't a bad thing
by any means, " said David Moline,
vice president of sales and marketing,
Moline Machinery. " It's one of
the key ingredients for premium
donuts. "
However, as bakers automate,
a few things around trim dough
can come into play. First things
first: The amount of dough leftover
72 Baking & Snack June 2022 / www.bakingbusiness.com
might change, and this can change
the formulation and parameters of
the dough, causing inconsistency.
" Certain products, when you
automate, you may have to deal
with a trim dough percentage that
you may not be used to, so there
may be formulating challenges
when you grow into automation, "
Mr. Moline said.
Getting around this simply requires
testing, testing, testing.
Moving to a longer production
run can also change the way bakers
use their rework dough. When
working with a 40-lb dough batch,
they may have been able to get
three or five different products
out of the whole batch with an
efficient rework handling process,
explained Alex Weissbach, head of
technology and product management,
Rondo, but that changes on
longer runs. This goes back to the
issue of consistency.
" To run an automated process,
you have to keep the parameters
as constant as possible, " he said.
" You have to rework the same
amount of fresh dough, the mixing
times must be the same, the
dough temperature must be the
same and so on. "
This can be limiting on the
amount of rework that can be
used, but there are ways to use
the leftovers that don't get immediately
put back into the line. That
dough can be brought back to the
mixing area to use as pre-dough
for the next batch, developing flavor
for a premium batch of donuts.
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Baking & Snack - June 2022

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