Improving the Bottom Line in Bakery Production
With high competition and profit margins under intense pressure in the food industry, bakery manufacturers are constantly looking for opportunities to reduce costs and improve their bottom line.
One of the most effective ways to improve profits and lower costs in food manufacturing is to reduce waste. That’s why many manufacturers of bakery and other food products are committed to eliminating as much waste as possible throughout their production processes.
From higher value ingredients such as fillings, toppings and icings to bakery fats, butter and flavourings, pipeline product recovery (“pigging”) systems are being widely adopted by bakery manufacturers as a strategy to cut waste and improve the profitability of their operations.
*Please note, pigging systems are used mainly with more intensively processed or higher value bakery ingredients. They are not normally used with dough. If they are, it’s only because of special circumstances such as long pipe runs. Please get in touch with HPS for more information.
Wastage in the Bakery Ingredients Manufacturing Process
Product being wasted during the manufacturing process is a major problem for bakery manufacturers.
In bakery production, ingredients such as icings, toppings, and creams along with many other products are pumped through a process pipe.
When these liquid or wet products are transferred through a pipeline, there’s nearly always product residue remaining in the pipe that needs removing before the next product can be processed.
And the higher the viscosity of a liquid, the thicker it is, the more residue there is and the more difficult it is to remove.
What Happens During the Bakery Changeover Process?
When it comes to cleaning the pipeline for hygiene reasons, large volumes of water and cleaning chemicals are used which flushes most of the product residue to drain (with some products such as chocolate, water isn’t suitable for flushing so alternative products or a different process may be used).
Manufacturers with shared pipelines also face high wastage during the changeover process. Changeovers (which includes cleaning) represents the time and process of changing a line from processing one product to another product.
During this process, bakery manufacturers will clean the line vigorously before the next product can be processed. This is to ensure they remove all traces of the previous product, as well as to remove flavourings, water and other possible contaminants that remain in the pipeline.
Changeovers usually take a long time and can range anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours and sometimes even longer.
Not only does the changeover and cleaning process result in high wastage and significant product loss, but it also hinders productivity and efficiency. After all, changeovers cause downtime in which production comes to a complete halt.
In addition, changeovers often require large amounts of water, cleaning chemicals and energy, making them resource, time and labour-intensive.
Pigging Systems Widely Used with Bakery Ingredients
With raw material prices shooting up and margins tighter than ever, no bakery manufacturer wants to flush perfectly usable product down the drain.
That’s why many bakery product manufacturers are implementing hygienic (also known as sanitary) pigging systems into their processes to reclaim usable product, rather than sending it to waste.
Download Our Free Guide to Hygienic Product Recovery (“Pigging”) for Bakery Products
Pigging systems are an effective way for manufacturers of bakery and other food products to increase yields and cut waste in bakery processing and production.
Reclaiming Product, Instead of Wasting it
HPS custom pigging systems help manufacturers of bakery and similar type products to reduce waste, lower their costs and improve profitability by:
• Reclaiming the majority of product residue remaining in pipelines.
• Reducing the volume of waste generated during changeovers.
• Decreasing wastewater treatment and disposal costs.
• Lowering the amount of cleaning chemicals, energy, and resources.
• Reducing cleaning and labour costs as there’s less product to remove and dispose of.
• Improving production efficiency and productivity through increased yields, improved capacity, quicker changeovers, less waste, reduced flushing and so on.
How Pigging Technology Works
Pigging systems use a specialist device (the “pig”) to recover residual product from the pipeline. Specially designed for hygienic, sanitary and process applications, the fully detectable HPS pig reclaims up to 99.5% of product from full pipelines.
The pig has a full contact design which creates a strong seal with the inside of the pipe. This ensures no propellant or product bypass. So, as the pig travels through the pipeline, propelled by compressed air, CO2, nitrogen, water, or even the next product being processed, it forces the residual liquid out with it (or in front of it).
The product recovered is perfectly usable and can then be transferred to its destination tank or onto the next stage of the process.
Importantly, because the pigging process reclaims the product, there’s less product to send to waste. So, this means faster changeovers and cleaning, less cleaning chemicals, energy, and resources, reduced wastewater treatment and disposal costs plus much more.
Savings in Energy and Waste Treatment and Disposal
Because pigging reclaims product and recovers waste, manufacturers of bakery ingredients spend far less money on energy along with waste treatment and disposal, which greatly boosts their bottom line.
Pigging systems also help manufacturers decrease water consumption by reducing lengthy water flush outs. With a pigging process in place, the cleaning and changeover process is much faster. The pipelines no longer need lengthy clean-in-place (CIP) and water flushes. In some cases, the need to flush the line can be eliminated completely.
And in cases where water flushing and CIP are still required, their length and intensity (and the amount of water used) are far less with a pigging system.
So, pigging saves water, while cleaning the pipeline of residual liquid product, making the cleaning and changeover process faster and more cost-effective.
Take a look at our pipeline pigging case studies >>
Additional Benefits of Pigging for Bakery Processing and Production
The benefits of pigging for bakery processing and production are significant.
As well as the benefits associated with waste reduction, pigging offers additional benefits to bakery production. With a pigging system, the chances of product contamination and cross-contamination are greatly reduced. Pigging also improves product quality, prevents settling and freeze-ups and improves lot control.
HPS pigging systems also improve production flexibility and capacity by enabling the same line to be used for different bakery products ranging from cream to jam.
And by reducing waste and saving water, energy, chemicals, and resources, pigging systems have a positive impact on the environment. Here’s an infographic on how pigging helps the environment.
Find Out More
If you manufacture intensively processed or higher value bakery ingredients and are not pigging, you could be wasting product, time, and money.
So, get started with your pigging system journey today and contact HPS – the world’s leading experts in pigging systems for liquids and wet products.