Baking & Snack - February 2022 - 30

CAPITAL SPENDING STUDY
US COMMERCIAL BAKING
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
REMAINS POSITIVE
2022 OUTLOOK
Very positive: 22%
Somewhat positive: 68%
Somewhat negative: 9%
Very negative: 1%
2021 OUTLOOK
Very positive: 37%
Somewhat positive: 56%
Somewhat negative: 7%
Very negative: 0%
" PACKAGING IS PRIORITIZED
THE HIGHEST BECAUSE
IT CHANGES THE MOST
FREQUENTLY AND IT'S THE MOST
LABOR-INTENSIVE PROCESS. "
Tim Cook, BEMA and Linxis Group
IN 2022, DOES YOUR
COMPANY PLAN TO
SPEND ON CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
FOLLOWING AREAS?
Maintenance & repair parts 95%
Systems improvement 88%
Upgrade existing facilities 63%
Facility expansion 58%
New buildings 23%
30 Baking & Snack February 2022 / www.bakingbusiness.com
BEMA Intel's member pulse surveys, which take the
temperature of bakery equipment suppliers' outlook every
quarter.
" We're happy to see a continued level of positivity
throughout the industry overall, " said Tim Cook, BEMA
chairman and chief executive officer of Linxis Group.
" BEMA Intel quarterly numbers show the same 90%plus
positive sentiment. Drilling down to the company
level in the Capital Spending Study,
higher optimistic outlook concerning one's own company
in comparison to the overall industry. This slight
variance could be attributed to supply chain concerns
and labor force issues. "
Positivity isn't a new thing for the baking industry.
Bakers have always been an optimistic group, Ms.
Hellmer pointed out.
" Looking back at industry outlook trends from this
capital spending benchmarking study, even in 2012, 93%
of baking professionals reported a positive outlook for
the commercial baking industry, " she said.
This optimism isn't blind, however. Digging deeper
into the data, it's clear that the challenges bakers are facing
- supply chain and labor issues - are having an
impact. Only 22% of bakery manufacturers reported
feeling very positive about the industry's 2022 outlook,
down from 37% in 2021. For the global baking industry,
optimism still reigns with 85% reporting feeling somewhat
or very positive about the industry, but again, digging
deeper into that number, only 12% reported feeling
very positive for 2022 compared to 25% in 2021.
" This is presumably due to concerns related to labor,
supply chain disruptions and high raw material costs,
and the industry is also going to peak at some point, "
Ms. Hellmer said. " 2021 was just such an overwhelmingly
positive year for the baking industry, it's going to have
to correct a bit, and I think we're seeing that in some of
these sentiments. But it's still overall incredibly positive. "
Investing in the right tools
This sustained positivity and challenges the industry
faces are culminating into one hot investment market.
Fifty-seven percent of bakery professionals plan to increase
their capital investments in 2022, and 56% expect
to increase their equipment purchases.
One of the most significant findings is that capital
spending budgets themselves are projected to increase
in 2022. In 2021, bakers designated an average of 8.5% of
their company's revenue to capital projects. In 2022, they
have earmarked an average of 11.3% of company revenue
for capital investments. And 36% of bakers indicated that
the pandemic itself is the reason they plan to spend more.
" Only 14% of bakers reported that their companies
are planning to spend less on capital improvements in
there's a slightly
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