Pro Tip: Equip your technicians with a video camera so they can safely identify any issues with ovens.

Back in the late 1970s when I started in this industry as a mechanic, if something had to be done, you just did it.

If it meant entering a confined space, you made sure that there was a way to escape, but once you were ready, you just did it. When it came to climbing around overheads or maybe the framing of an overhead racetrack cooler system, you checked your footing, then you just did it. When you had to go into the top of a flour silo to clean or maintain it, you tied off with a strong rope, then you just did it.

There were a couple of factors that caused things to just happen. One was youth; another was a Superman complex. Last, you just did it because somebody had to get the job done.

The timeframe I am talking about came just eight years after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was enacted and started to roll out in American industries. The initial list focused on chemical, construction, steel production and underground mining sectors.

Bakery was not on the initial concern list, but word was out that OSHA would be headed our way. This alert began to drive bakeries to think about and act on practices that had become standard activity in a lot of the big commercial operations as they were becoming larger and more automated.

The baking industry took this focus on worker safety very seriously. Companies began assembling safety teams, holding safety talks and creating new practices using tools that might not have been thought about previously.

One example of a common practice in bakeries in the 1960s and 1970s was what we called “riding the oven.” Traveling tray and tunnel ovens were taking over for the rack, deck and rotating carousel-type units. 

The issue with the newer types of ovens was that access was very limited. It was difficult to inspect tracks, burners and other internal components from the outside of the oven. Therefore, the practice of cooling down the oven, laying down some slip sheets on the tray and lying on your belly with a flashlight was the way to get the information needed while the oven was in motion.

As safety requirements got stronger and companies built their safety programs, however, this practice was eliminated. Ovens could not get the same deep dive inspection that they once could.

Fast forward to the early 2000s. Some new, relatively inexpensive tools came into play and bakeries found ways to best use these newfound technological devices.

One of these tools? Video cameras. This became possible when the units became smaller as clearances were minimal. This was a step in the right direction because you could document the condition of the oven components without sending in workers. In the early days, it gave you a history on which you could later act.

A newer tool that further transformed this practice was the GoPro camera. Because this technology can be connected by Bluetooth to a phone or iPad, you get a firsthand, real-time view of what is going on. This allows you to stop the oven and zoom in on areas of issue while you monitor from outside the oven.

A very effective assembly can be built where you have the camera and a strong LED lighting system mounted to a baking pan. This can be very low profile so it fits through the space and can be adjusted for different views on different passes.

Every bakery maintenance department needs a GoPro or two. It can be used for many other applications, including inspecting tanks and silos, or high places where lifts can’t get to.

One of my favorite things is to mount the camera on a plate that can be put on a conveyor to get a real-time view of how products get through a system, including how it goes across transfers and other transitions. This tool is priceless and should be made available to all technicians.

Jeff Dearduff is owner of JED Manufacturing Services who provides “Bakery Guy Tips” to those everyday people working in production, maintenance and engineering. Connect with him on LinkedIn.