Baking has been around for centuries, and it’s one of the oldest professions. No doubt, making bread and pastries is something done with human hands. There’s a lot of thought and consideration when it comes to decorating a cake, choosing the right ingredients, kneading dough, and maintenance. It was during the industrial time that bread and other primary sources of food could be produced in mass numbers through automated industrial equipment. Of course, there were forms of food needed to have professional supervision, especially those that are catered towards the ruling elite.
But in this age, the majority of businesses are migrating from manual labor towards a more automated form. Gone are the days where you would have to phone someone for a food delivery when you can just press on a button on your mobile device. In the same way, almost every manufacturing business has moved to a more mechanical and efficient workforce.
But is automating your business a better choice than having a manual workforce? Here are some factors that you might have to weigh in.
Automating Your Business
First and foremost, you’ll need to acquire the equipment for your bakery. While there might be some suppliers who are willing to sell budget-friendly automated industrial machinery, it’s essential to look for quality products. Quality usually dictates the longevity and lifespan of the product.
Whether you’re looking for liquid-filling equipment to make beverages or a batter depositor to make some cookies quickly, the majority of what you’ll be working with will be industrial capital.
Automation Plan
Right before transitioning towards automation, it’s imperative to outline a plan. Remember that the vital function of automating is to remove any process that might cause stress and impede the production of your products. As such, you can ask your employees on which part of the process takes the most amount of time and energy.
At the same time, handling equipment can sometimes be dangerous, and accidents might happen if workers commit mistakes. Thus, it’s essential to know which process is also the most prone to accidents. Almost every goal of an automation plan is removing the cost of labor while improving productivity and accidents are counter-intuitive to your business.
Next, we have to make sure that the equipment in question will be able to deliver the target quota that you have set. It is wise to invest in a unit that’s efficient but also has a good lifespan that it won’t break when under constant stress.
Lastly, if you’re investing in a unit that will cost you $5,000, then you will have to weigh in on the cost of the ingredients, the labor cost of your remaining workers, and the components that you have. If you’re making $500 in a day and each cake costs $5, you might have to create more than 100 pieces in a day as you will have to weigh in on ingredients.
Levels Of Automation
Even when we are using automated equipment to do some work for us, nothing can beat the manual supervision and intuition of humans. As such, it’s imperative to have a balance of both automation while also having an employee who can supervise the production process.
Basic level
The first level of automation means that there is a minimal amount of influence of the automated equipment on the production of goods. Most of the time, it will be workers interacting with this equipment.
Higher Level
At higher levels of automation, employee interaction is minimal and is either limited to quality control and supervision. These types of systems will reduce the amount of energy that’s spent by manual labor in doing time-consuming work.
Advanced Level
In most cases, an advanced automated system will utilize a conveyor belt to move products to maximize time and efficiency. Some of the most advanced levels of automation take little to no human supervision. In some cases, especially in the baking industry, the only activity that does need supervision is quality control and dressing pastry.
There’s no doubt in anyone mind that automation is the key to a better business. When your competitors are shifting towards more modern solutions, it’s only appropriate to respond by upgrading your facilities and your capital for better profit.
Getting automated equipment might be a bit hefty on the monetary side, but it’s an investment that can pay off. Not only will these lower your monthly expenses on labor costs, but it will be able to maximize the production of goods, which can help boost the sales of your product.
