KANSAS CITY — The American Society of Baking has named its 2012 honorees for the Baking Hall of Fame: Adam Boren, Adamatic, Inc.; Morris Cohen, Interstate Bakeries Corp.; Joseph E. Franz, Franz Bakery; and William Edwin Lanham, Lanham Machinery Co. The baking industry leaders will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony on March 7 during the A.S.B.’s BakingTech 2012 annual technical conference in Chicago. Each year, the A.S.B. honors individuals who have been leaders in the baking industry and have demonstrated industry innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.

Many of the individuals selected into the Hall of Fame are recognized for their achievements in organizational growth and development, equipment design and innovation, advancements in ingredient technology and processing or related service to the commercial baking industry. A.S.B. members and non-members may make nominations for the Hall of Fame.

The Baking Hall of Fame has a total of 43 members, all of whom have influenced the baking industry.

The inductees for 2012 include: 

• Adam Boren. He founded Adamatic, Inc. His baking career started with a business supplying refrigeration to supermarkets. In 1961, with partners Gil Shapiro and Herb Freedman, he established Adam Equipment Co. to manufacture make-up equipment and ovens enabling American wholesale bakers to prepare European-style bread and rolls. He developed one of the first bakery-cafe concepts, promoted computerized proofers/retarders and advocated automated spiral mixing systems now standard for large artisan bakeries.

• Morris Cohen. Mr. Cohen worked at Interstate Bakeries Corp. for more than 40 years until he retired in 1963 as vice-president of engineering. He invented the Wendway conveyor, direct expansion cooling of mixing bowls and the Tender Kurl process for moulding bread and helped develop the ponytail tying system for bagging bread. He also helped launch BISSC and chaired the committee that wrote the first sanitation standard for flour equipment.

• Joseph Franz. Mr. Franz began working in his family’s Portland, Ore., bakery when he was 14, eventually progressing from the bake shop to the sales department to production superintendent. When his father, company founder Engelbert Franz, died in 1954, Joseph took over and ran Franz Bakery for more than 33 years, creating the largest family-owned baking company in the West.

• William Edwin Lanham. Mr. Lanham joined the baking industry at Southern Bakeries in Tampa and Miami, Fla., and Atlanta before launching Lanham Machinery and Service in 1947. He and partner Gene Miller restructured in 1952 as Lanham Machinery Co., and Mr. Lanham was president and chief executive officer until his retirement in 1989. He introduced the first conveyorized proofing and baking system in 1967 and is named in more than 26 patents on baking equipment.