Ben MorrisExpertise of Enterprise Editor
A stream of sizzling caramel runs by way of the Thomas Tunnock manufacturing unit simply outdoors Glasgow.
From the second ground the place it’s made, it runs alongside conveyor belts all the way down to the primary ground, bringing a a candy, heat aroma to the constructing.
However working with caramel just isn’t simple. Skilled employees should test that it’s on the proper consistency, and it takes a crew of 12 to unfold the caramel in 5 layers that make up the Tunnock’s wafer biscuit.
“We’re making roughly 20 tonnes of caramel a day,” says Stuart Louden, the agency’s engineering and transport supervisor, and the fifth technology of the Tunnock household to work on the enterprise.
“Operators do a variety of caramel testing, simply on sight and on really feel. So mainly, they stroll as much as the caramel and simply give it a squeeze.”
As soon as made, a conveyor belt takes the caramel all the way down to the ground under, the place the spreading crew works.
“Spreading caramel onto wafers may be very, very troublesome as a result of it is so sticky,” says Mr Louden.
Whereas it is a labour intensive a part of the Tunnock’s operation, a lot of the remainder of the manufacturing unit is automated.
The corporate has all the time tried to make use of the newest expertise to assist sustain with the competitors. In contrast with the snack giants like McVitie’s or Fox’s, Tunnock’s is a small participant.
“We’re a small fish in an enormous pond, and to attempt to sustain with a few of these larger firms that we’re competing in opposition to, you have to have the nice machines there to get the output,” says Mr Louden.
They do have machines to unfold the caramel, which work at evening, however the human workforce is extra versatile and takes up much less house.
Between them, the machines and people end up round seven million wafer bars and 4.5 million tea truffles a 12 months.
Elevating output generally is a balancing act for the agency, between sustaining their traditions and rising output.
For instance, like their caramel manufacturing, Tunnock’s marshmallow is made underneath shut human supervision.
In the meantime, the wrapping of the wafer bar is folded across the product, fairly than sealed on the ends. If Tunnock’s switched to sealing then the manufacturing line might run extra shortly.
“It is a good factor. In the event you give folks a caramel wafer, and someone’s not had one for 20 or 30, years, they go, ‘I keep in mind having one in all these after I was a child’.”
The makers of a brand new robotic arm for the cake trade are hoping to bridge that hole between velocity and custom.
Canada’s Unifiller, a part of Coperion an enormous maker of kit for meals manufacturing, spent years creating a robotic arm, referred to as HIRO.
It is designed to embellish truffles and might deal with all types of toppings, together with caramel.
“In the event you can squeeze it by way of a pastry bag… then it’s going to undergo our tools and the the adorning suggestions,” says Derek Lanoville, the analysis and improvement supervisor at Coperion.
However making tools for the meals trade includes additional challenges – maybe the most important being hygiene.
“You must make issues simple to take aside, so that individuals clear them. The underside line is, if it is not simple to take aside, you do not clear it.”
Unifiller’s robotic arm comes from Swiss robotics agency Stäubli, which might provide an arm that is simple to scrub.
One other complication is the variability of meals merchandise like truffles.
On manufacturing strains in most industries parts would be the identical measurement, usually to inside fractions of a millimetre. That is not the case in baking, the place the truffles rolling down a line will probably be totally different – not by a lot – however sufficient,maybe, to upset a robotic.
“The cake will not be completely centred on the cardboard it is sitting on. It could be just a little bit oval, could also be just a little bit increased or barely domed. So, our answer has to accommodate that,” says Mr Lanoville.
For Anomarel Ogen, human arms are nonetheless important to the baking course of.
Mr Ogen is head baker at The Bread Manufacturing facility, which is the place merchandise for the café chain Gail’s are baked.
Their bakery in northwest London runs 24 hours a day and one year a 12 months, supplying sourdough loaves to Gail’s, in addition to supermarkets, retailers and eating places.
It makes use of round 16 tonnes of flour to supply as much as 40,000 loaves a day, which appears like loads however, in contrast with the large bakers, continues to be a medium-sized enterprise.
Machines combine the dough and divide it into into smaller, loaf-sized portions.
They use a spread of flours which can be farmed utilizing sustainable strategies that prioritise soil well being.
Mr Ogen says which means their dough is delicate. We watch one in all their employees forming loaves from the dough.
“Take a look at his arms, and look how mild he really is with the motion, how little strain he’s really placing in. That requires years of ability. This isn’t absolutely replaceable by machines simply but,” says Mr Ogen.
Having workers within the manufacturing unit additionally provides flexibility to the manufacturing course of. If the recipe is tweaked, they will monitor the influence that has on the dough and alter the baking course of, if essential.
“You may automate extra, however you continue to have to put in gatekeeping proper alongside the trail, to just be sure you can safeguard the method,” says Mr Ogen.
Introducing new tech to a manufacturing line is all the time a stability, says Craig Le Clair, principal analyst on the analysis agency Forrester, and likewise the creator of Random Acts of Automation: Struggle Again When Automation Threatens Your Work, Your Life, and Every thing You Do.
“The important thing in meals in addition to different industries is creating a hybrid mannequin that integrates automation with out shedding the “soul” of a handcrafted product, like a adorned cake.
“Course of transformation should apply automation solely to areas that profit from consistency, velocity, and quantity, whereas protecting core value-add components strictly human,” he says.
Again at tools maker Coperion, Mr Lanoville has plans to develop the robotic arm additional.
“What we’re centered on this 12 months is de facto nailing down our scanning, imaginative and prescient and and security techniques in order that, in order that our our clients can work the best way that they work, with out the robotic being intrusive.”
In the meantime in Glasgow, Mr Louden has plans to improve his manufacturing line, however a lot hinges on the monetary setting. Cocoa costs have been unstable over the previous two years, which has a huge impact on his agency.
“In the case of investing one other two-and-a-half million kilos in tools, we simply want to attend, as a result of the final couple of years simply haven’t been the fitting time, and we do not need to put ourselves financially ready that it might damage us.”
