Snack food and wholesale bakery companies in the market for machines that help prepare, store, transport, and otherwise handle ingredients are most focused on qualities like automation, ease of maintenance, and the ability to deliver higher performance in throughput and accuracy.
Customers of Key Technology, Inc., Walla Walla, WA, want automated inspection systems that enable the sorter to share intelligent information about the product, including report generation, according to Marco Azzaretti, director of marketing. “They want not just its function as a sorter but also want it to act as a smart information analytics tool,” he says. “At the same time, and this is true with any type of equipment, we’re seeing certainly trends toward ease of use, and ease of maintenance for the equipment. Those two attributes have always been desirable when it comes to food technology, and automation.”