Boosting overall operational efficiency often means automating more downstream operations, such as case packing, warehousing and related systems once dependent on manual labor. To a large degree, palletizing, transferring and conveying products are now robotic and automated, and development in these areas continues.
Automation helps bakers and snack producers quickly respond to fast-changing market demands and ever-shifting consumer tastes. “Flexibility once meant leaving the end of the line as a manual operation,” says Rob Thompson, southeast regional sales manager, BluePrint Automation, South Chesterfield, VA. “Now-—and going forward—new automation technologies allow for high speeds and quick changeover, all while reducing costs and meeting demanding ROI.”