Baking & Snack - December 2007 - 48

nies to gain third-party certification, not just validation,
of its HACCP program with both University of Guelph
and AIB. Within McDonald's corporate, East Balt's Korea
bakery is the target product for all of its bakeries around
the world for all three main bun products. In addition,
East Balt's Japan plant is the benchmark for English muffins for the world. East Balt's China plant is the target
bakery for KFC products.
"Our fastest growing country is China - Beijing and
Shanghai," Mr. Brodsky said. "Japan is a mega bakery -
modern, automated and lots of bells and whistles. Korea is a smaller but target bakery, and it is the only plant
I know of that has received a perfect 1,000 score on its
AIB inspection. It also has the lowest waste factor and
has taught us and other plants ways to improve quality
and sanitation."
Top management at East Balt had a meeting recently
to forecast spending as far out as possible. Mr. Kuchuris wanted to know estimated expenses of everything
that was in progress, approved projects that hadn't
started yet and future projects anticipated for the next
three years. "We looked at possible projects in the next
two years, and we made a list of projects, territories
that are all on the possible horizon out to three years,"
Mr. Brodsky said. "When we put all those together, we
easily could spend more than $200 million on capital
projects during the next few years - very aggressive
growth to be sure."
He noted that China will someday be the company's
biggest market. Plants have to leapfrog expansions
from the normal capacity increments of 1,000-doz
per hour to 2,000- or 3,000-doz per hour because by
the time they expand by 1,000, the plants will already
be out of capacity. "China is a huge potential market
for bakers," he stated. "Bimbo and
Mission have both set up operations there in the past few years,
and more are coming."
This capital forecast equals actual
spending during the past decade,
according to Mr. Brodsky. And the
current figure does not account for
capital needed for maintenance and
best practices within the increased
number of plants.

Brodsky said. "The downside of supplier consolidation is
the outsourcing of fabrication to other countries and the
influx of overseas equipment.
"I think bakers' needs will continue toward multipurpose equipment, reduced changeover and simpler production lines at higher throughputs," he continued. "The
more a line can do, the more diversified a baker can be.
SKUs will increase.
"Also, bakers will have to think outside the box for cost
savings and new products, although they will need to be
careful not to lose sight of their core expertise, and they
will need to look at cost versus savings.
"Another very worthy element of the industry is the
associations," Mr. Brodsky said. He was chairman of
ASB two years ago, and is a true believer in association
involvement. "What happens, as an individual going to
the meetings, listening to papers and getting to know
people, is a more well-rounded education. It is all part
of the dedication. But that philosophy has to start at the
top of your organization and work its way through the
ranks. It is another way for employees to gain a passion
for the industry as well as a way to network and gain
business. I feel my involvement has helped give me the
opportunities I have today and made me a better person, personally and professionally."
INSIGHTFUL OUTLOOK. What does the future hold
for the industry? According to our Operations Executive of the Year, there are many growth opportunities
overseas for individual baking companies as well as suppliers. "Companies will have to start producing overᮢ (right) Erika Cullen, quality assurance manager, discusses the performance
of the production line's automated vision system with Gary Brodsky.

EXECUTIVE REFLECTIONS. Consolidation within the baking industry has gone on for a while and will
continue with bakers and suppliers.
"The good side of consolidation is
you know who you are dealing with,
and you usually get what you want,
depending on how big you are," Mr.

December 2007 / BAKING & SNACK / 51

Baking & Snack - December 2007

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