Baking & Snack - March 2015 - 79

EQUIPMENT
Pan Handling

STABILITY STRENGTH
Today's pan designs and automated
handling systems help maintain the
structural integrity of a bakery's pans.
by Charlotte Atchley

Pans are the basic must-have in a bakery. They're like
the flour of equipment. Pans are such a ubiquitous part
of the production line that sometimes they seem to get
lost in the noise of everything that needs automation
and attention. However, ignore them in a bakery, and
bakers run the risks of incurring a lot of unnecessary
costs replacing damaged pans prematurely.
"As pans and lids age, or get seasoned, through
thousands of passes in a bakery line circuit, they can
get warped, bent or otherwise drift out of original
dimensional specifications," said Jerry Barnes, vicepresident of business development and marketing,
Baker Thermal Solutions and Stewart Systems, subsidiaries of the Middleby Corp., Elgin, IL. "Glazing wears
off, and oils bake on the surface." And that's just typical wear and tear pans incur from normal use.
Two types of damage endanger pans. The structure
of the pan can be bent or bowed from running through
equipment and conveyors. The second is damage to
the glaze or coating on the surface that provides nonstick properties. To protect their pans and make them

last longer, bakers have turned to automated pan handling and innovative pan design. Robots provide gentler handling and smoother transitions than manual
methods. New stacking strategies built into pan design
now improve the stability of pans for storage, and the
materials and coatings used to build pans are getting
stronger and more scratch-resistant.
"Bakers realize that pans are an investment, and
the better you take care of your pans, the better your
return on investment," said Steve Schwartz, president, Bakeware Coating Systems, Camden, NJ, and
Anaheim, CA.

Stacking and unstacking multiple pans at a time matches
today's higher production
speeds without sacrificing
gentle movements.
AMF Bakery Systems

Smooth transitions
How pans move through the plant and are handled
throughout often put them in the danger zone. These
days with production moving faster and faster, human
operators can't always keep up with older systems without being rough on the pans. "Pan handling systems
of today are far easier on the pan than the old stackers
from 15 to 20 years ago," Mr. Schwartz said. "People realize you're not just dropping them anymore."
That's in part thanks to robotics that mimic the gentle
touch of human hands but can move much faster. "We
grip that pan with fingers that emulate a person's, but the
robot clips onto the pan and sets it down in the stack,"
explained Bob Harringon, vice-president, sales, Capway
Systems, Inc., York, PA. "The movement is a smooth
transition. You don't have to worry about the system
keeping up like with manual systems where the pans can

www.bakingandsnack.com / March 2015 Baking & Snack 79

http://www.bakingandsnack.com

Baking & Snack - March 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking & Snack - March 2015