A new wave of automation opportunities is emerging for UK bakeries, with industry experts highlighting significant potential in supporting processes that complement existing production lines.
As bakeries face growing cost inflation and seek to boost productivity, automation experts are identifying valuable applications beyond traditional core production – from material handling to quality control – that can deliver strong returns with manageable investments.
“Many bakeries have already automated their core production processes and often only see marginal improvements when updating or replacing that equipment,” says Mikkel Viager, Principal Advisor at automation advisory HowToRobot.
“However, we see tremendous untapped opportunities in the supporting processes such as material handling, preparation steps, packaging transitions, and quality control points – where targeted automation often delivers significant impact with relatively short payback times.”
Growing need for automation as costs accelerate
The need to automate has become more pressing for the UK’s baked goods manufacturers, which are impacted by growing food inflation reaching 3.3% in January this year, according to the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).
Facing rising costs of energy, ingredients, and labour, plant bakers are increasingly in need of automation to increase competitiveness levels. Indeed, 64% of UK food manufacturers report that their main motivation for investment is workforce efficiency and increasing productivity of their current employees rather than expanding headcount, according to the FDF.
Despite having automated core baking processes, the UK’s manufacturing sector is still relatively under-invested in automation. The UK ranks 24th globally for robot density in manufacturing, with 111 robots per 10,000 employees in 2023 – well below comparable economies like Germany (415 robots), Japan (397), or even the global average of 151 robots per 10,000 workers, according to the International Federation of Robotics. This leaves significant potential for further automation.
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Joseph Clarke
Editor, International Bakery
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