Whether bakers are looking to run a more sustainable facility or they’re considering designing a new eco-friendly plant, there are many aspects to the projects that must be considered.

A discussion at the International Baking Industry Exposition, held Sept. 17-21 in Las Vegas, will provide some answers. Adam Walker, senior manager of sustainability at CRB, and Renee Benson, senior packaging engineer at CRB, will present their talk, Baking in Sustainability Practices: A Guide in order to a Sustainable Manufacturing Facility, in 9: 45 a. m. Saturday, Sept. 17.  

Adam Master, senior supervisor of durability, CRB.

  Mr. Walker oversees corporate efforts to make his client’s production facilities and their products more sustainable. Ms. Benson has more than 25 years of packaging design and development experience plus has managed projects for several snack food companies. Both answered a few questions to provide a preview of their talk.

What changes can bakeries make that have the biggest impact on sustainability?

AW:   Designing for flexibility in how the equipment is used significantly impacts sustainability. Instead of having dedicated lines with regard to special occasions, upsize the capacity associated with standard lines to absorb the uptick in production during these busy seasons. This reduces overall power usage and square footage required.

RB:   Implementing the total productive maintenance program, even at the most basic level, and a continuous cleaning regimen, where you clean throughout the particular day/shift/batch vs. waiting until the end of the day/shift/batch exactly where debris or waste has piled up offer a significant impact toward sustainability efforts.

Renee Benson, senior packaging engineer, CRB.

 

How can regular maintenance, scheduling and operational practices lead in order to more lasting bakeries?  

AW:   Scheduling regular servicing prevents longer shutdowns plus the need for more costly maintenance inside the future. Reducing the particular amount of downtime and the amount of product waste due to faulty gear is inevitably more environmentally friendly for the bakery.  

RB:   When you manage your facility’s resources effectively, you are upon your way to meeting your sustainability goals. For instance, scheduled upkeep keeps ranges running from their planned rate with fewer rejects, which reduces waste. Solid production plans and material scheduling keeps staff effective, materials arriving on time and finished goods out the door on planned full truckloads. Your energy consumption is optimal because your equipment isn’t overworked in order to compensate regarding unscheduled downtime.  

Whenever you run equipment to critical failure, the equipment uses more energy in an effort to keep up. Additionally , you have a lot more rejects going to waste, more resources standing around not being successful as they wait for materials and parts to arrive, plus you have LTL (less than truckload) deliveries associated with critical replacement parts or even finished goods. Not to mention, a person miss manufacturing goals and impact customer satisfaction when your products are not on the particular shelf.  

How can bakeries balance the needs for eco friendly packaging against the need to protect their own products?

RE::   Evaluate the life cycle benefit of the particular packaging items. Some products may be a lot more sustainable in the materials properties or carbon footprint but may create consequential effects if the product is not preserved as well, or even for as long. By evaluating the product holistically, and not just for its material properties, bakeries can balance which products are truly the right ecological option intended for their business needs.

RB:   Balance is achieved through testing, data collection and analysis. By field testing all sustainable product packaging changes, you verify that will you possess not negatively impacted creation, barrier qualities or product protection. If you lose shelf life, increase item damage or create production inefficiencies, your own net gain by running sustainable components will be lost.