Bakers are feeling the pain of a real brain drain throughout their production. Experienced doughheads are retiring or leaving the industry, and of the workers bakers can find to replace them, many are increasingly inexperienced and lacking in key baking skills.

“Many entry-level bakers may not fully understand the nuances of dough handling, ingredient measurements and mixing techniques,” said John Price, sales director, Spooner Vicars, a Middleby Bakery company. “Additionally, high turnover rates in the foodservice industry can exacerbate the issue, causing bakeries to continuously train new staff on critical processes.”

An inexperienced workforce isn’t ideal at any stage of production, but at the mixer, it can spell disaster. An error here will carry down the rest of the line, potentially resulting in an unacceptable finished product that often isn’t caught until it’s too late.

“Mixing is where ingredients first become an inseparable product,” said Andrew Adreani, business development manager, USA and Canada, Escher Mixers, a Middleby Bakery company. “There is no redo and very little chance of correction after this stage. Any mistakes here must be discarded, or they become more expensive mistakes with every subsequent processing stage.” 

To avoid these costly mishaps, today’s mixers are being made with a less experienced labor force in mind.

“We are designing our mixers with a focus on making them more user-friendly and foolproof, especially to support bakers who may have a newer, less experienced workforce,” said Jim Warren, vice president of Exact Mixing, Reading Bakery Systems. “Our controls packages are continually developed to be intuitive and easy to use, ensuring operators can quickly learn to manage the equipment.”

Mixer design simplified 

There can be a lot to manage at the mixer. Many bakeries are running numerous dough recipes, and understanding the needs of each mix can be difficult for an operator new to the job, opening the door to error. Thankfully, mixers made with intuitive features such as touchscreen controls allow even the newest employees to run a variety of doughs with ease, managing different mixing times, speeds and temperatures.

“These interfaces allow operators to choose from multiple modes, including manual or programmed recipes,” said Mélanie Gay, marketing manager, VMI, a technology brand of Coperion. “By selecting a recipe, the mixer automatically adjusts the speed and mixing time for each phase as programmed by the head of production. This not only enhances operational flexibility but also provides clear guidance for inexperienced staff, helping them achieve consistent results.”

The latest mixers from Diosna, for example, feature an HMI panel with up to 99 preprogrammed recipe settings. 

“The operator just needs to choose the right program, for example ‘ciabatta,’ and to push the start button,” said Ronald Falkenberg, regional sales director USA and Canada, Diosna, a Coperion technology brand. “It’s flexible but easy to use and operate.”

Terry Bartsch, executive product manager, dough systems at AMF Bakery Systems, said the company uses a simplified and standardized HMI across its machines to reduce errors and increase the ease of onboarding employees. 

“To achieve better dough consistency, Dough Guardian technology is integrated as a standard on all AMF mixers to monitor mixer parameters, including energy output of the motor, glycol temperatures and flow rates to ensure consistent bowl cooling, as well as indexing real-time data for easy process adjustments to ensure consistency batch to batch for repeatable dough quality,” he said.

In addition to simplified recipe management, Gay noted the importance of visual cues on a mixer, whether it be lights or a sound alarm that indicates when to add ingredients, clear labels such as numbered bowls both on site and on screen, pictograms and more.

“These strategies serve as effective tools to assist inexperienced operators, allowing them to feel more comfortable using the machines and understand their responsibilities without resorting to bad practices due to misunderstanding or lack of training,” she said.

Safety is always a big concern on the bakery floor, especially with new employees who aren’t as familiar with the equipment they’re operating. To help keep these workers safe, mixers from Peerless, a technology brand of Coperion, include features such as automatic shutoff when guards are open, overload protection and emergency stop buttons.

“We pride ourselves on offering robust and durable designs that can withstand heavy use and potential mishandling by inexperienced workers,” said Doug Thomas, mechanical engineering manager, Coperion. “Our ultimate goal is to create a mixer that is as foolproof, intuitive and safe as possible, thereby reducing the potential for user error or injury.”

Automating laborious tasks such as loading and unloading the mixer bowl can further boost safety and product quality, reducing worker fatigue that often leads to injuries and mistakes, Adreani said.

A well-run mixer requires regular maintenance and quick detection of potential problems, which may often be overlooked by an inexperienced workforce. To combat this, Shaffer, a technology brand of Coperion, has integrated automated maintenance reminders onto its mixers. 

“This feature helps ensure that crucial upkeep tasks are not overlooked, thereby ensuring the optimal performance and increasing the lifespan of our mixers,” said Marc Ferree, global accounts manager, Shaffer.

This article is an excerpt from the December 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Mixing, click here.