The buns and rolls category has enjoyed a prosperous past 12 months, sparked in particular by the popularity of products like Hawaiian rolls.

Snack and bakery customers in the market for dough-handling equipment like dividers, depositors, and rounders are looking for versatility, greater precision, higher capacity, longer maintenance intervals, adjustability of qualities like width and weight, and machines that can handle natural, clean-label, and gluten-free products.

Flexibility, greater sanitation, gentle handling of ingredients, quicker changeovers, more precise weight control, and the ability to make products with healthier ingredients are top of mind features and benefits for snack and bakery customers of extrusion equipment and technology.

Companies that make pans for the baking industry, whether for breads, baguettes, muffins, cookies, cakes, pies, etc., are focused on issues like larger sizes, a desire for energy and material efficiency, stick resistance, and the ability to help produce specialty and artisanal products.

Customers of ingredient handling equipment are focused on a wide mix of factors to come up with their optimal formulation. These include accuracy, traceability, food safety, automation, cleanability, efficiency, flexibility, batch quality and fire safety, manufacturers say.

Snack and bakery industry customers want belts and conveyors that are fast and easy to clean, maximize energy efficiency, offer strength and durability, require as few tools as possible, and provide flexibility to either switch out products and/or run multiple products at once.

Effectively and efficiently handling dough is integral to many snack and bakery operations. And the needs producers have today are diverse.

The internet of things (IoT) refers to interconnected devices embedded in everyday objects that provide the ability for people to remotely connect with those devices, or for those devices to remotely connect with one another.

Achieving greater efficiency in snack food and bakery plants can come from a variety of different initiatives. The initial design and construction of facilities can be thoughtfully laid out and executed with efficiency in mind.

Different shapes, quicker changeovers, better sanitation, a smaller footprint, more automation, and a balance of speed and safety are among the top-of-mind criteria for customers of slicing and cutting machines in the snack and bakery industry, according to machine manufacturers.