Sanitation, automation, efficiency, speed, ease of cleaning, the ability to handle larger capacities, and the ability to produce clean label-foods are among the top priorities for snack food and baked goods makers seeking to purchase dividers, depositors and rounders.

Customers of machines that handle puffing and extruding of snack and bakery products are focused on accommodating protein- and plant-based inclusions, hygienic design and rapid cleaning, speed and quick changeovers, better integrated controls, easy data extraction, and smaller machines that can produce specialized batches.

To address ever-present and continuously growing sanitation-related concerns across the snack and bakery industry, equipment manufacturers are working to provide machinery that's easy to wipe down, doesn’t provide harborage for moisture or stray ingredients, and is simple, ideally tool-less, to disassemble and reassemble as needed.

Quick changeovers, smaller products, sanitation needs, oil quality and temperature control are all top-of-mind for customers of griddle and fryer equipment used for key snack and bakery applications, including doughnuts and frozen breakfast products like waffles and pancakes, as well as fried snack items, like chips.

Ingredient-handling equipment used by snack producers and bakeries ranges from automated batching and dosing machines to pneumatic conveyors, as well as equipment like sifters to prepare ingredients for addition to batches of dough.

Snack food and bakery companies looking to purchase belts and conveyors are asking for larger capacity, quieter machinery, improved safety, greater energy efficiency the ability to reduce manpower, and, thus, costs.

Snack and bakery facilities need to control and prevent pests such as rodents and insects in and around their facilities to help ensure the integrity of their products.

Dough comes in many styles, and today's laminators and sheeters need to accommodate an increasing range of requirements.

Customers of cutting, slicing and portioning equipment for snack and bakery products consider a wide range of parameters: They're hoping to find machinery that offers greater use of robots and automation, better sanitation, higher safety standards, faster speeds, wider and easier-to-clean blades, and reliable and flexible systems that can handle different sizes and shapes.

The right oven is the heart of any baked snack or bakery facility, and suppliers continue to make improvements to their equipment. Aspects like smaller footprints, lower costs, more hygienic design, greater energy efficiency, better control, remote monitoring and an ability to handle a wider range of ingredients are all facing scrutiny.