Case Study

How to Increase Efficiency and Reduce

Human Workload by Automating the Pound

Cake Filling Process for the Talerico-Martin

Bakery

Pound Cake Filling Automation

INTRODUCTION

The filling process for pound cakes at the Talerico-Martin Bakery was daunting, time consuming,

and had many imperfections. Consumer demand for the product was also continuing to rise. This

caused a problem for the bakery that needed to be solved. The options were to increase the

operations up to 24 hour shifts for the pound cake lines instead of the 8 or 16 hour shifts the

bakery currently used, or find a way to help automate the process so that it could be done more

efficiently with fewer imperfections.

The Talerico-Martin Bakery opted to find a way to help automate the process, reducing the

human workforce required to do the job, and reducing the imperfections that cost the company

some of their goods. This allowed the company to save money or increase their supply by putting

the same amount of pay towards workers over different shifts, thus increasing the supply they

had to meet the increase in demand.

The Issues

Even with 8-hour shifts during most of the year, and 16-hour shifts during the peak buying season,

the Talerico-Martin Bakery was facing a struggle to keep up with demand. When human error is

included, more issues would come up that would impact the supply. The occasional dropped pan

or the spraying process missing a part of the pan would leave occasional pound cakes unable to

be packaged and sold to consumers. This would impact the supply that could be sent out, and

put more pressure on the human aspect of the process.

Since the entire process was done by hand, there were numerous chances that problems could arise.

First, an employee would put the pan on the line and spray each of the four loaf areas of the pan by

hand. Then, the pan would get pushed manually down the line and be filled, also by hand. Finally,

the pan would be lifted to the racks that would go into the over to bake. None of this process was

able to be automated. This led to

the potential of a lot of mistakes. First, pans were left unsprayed occasionally, which left the

pound cake stuck to the pan. Second, pans were unevenly filled, leaving some of the cakes unable

to be sold due to them being smaller than the packages guaranteed weight.

Humans are not able to see every corner of the pound cake pans to ensure there are no dry spots

as quickly as the pan had to be shifted down the line to be filled. Also, humans would do their

best to keep each pan uniformly filled, but there were times where pans wound up somewhat

short or somewhat over the standard weight, leaving an imperfect product as the result.

The Solutions

For the Talerico-Martin Bakery, the solution was simple. They needed to expand their operations

and include an automated filling station for the pound cake pans. However, there was no such

machine anywhere that could do what they needed. Talerico-Martin turned to three different

companies to fix their automation issues. The first part of the solution was getting an automated

sprayer that could guarantee that each pan would be completely and evenly coated with a non[1]stick spray. They opted to get a Mallet & Company sprayer installed along the line. Next, they

wanted a way to deposit the right amount of pound cake batter into each pan to give them the

right sized pound cake each and every time. Reiser had the perfect deposition machine to make

this job much easier.

However, the final solution to this problem didnt exist. No one had a conveyer that would allow these

machines to work together, turn the pans, and return them to the single operator who would be used on this

line. That is when Talerico-Martin approached Shuttleworth since they specialize in uniquely specialized

conveyor systems. After a bit of ingenuity, a conveyor system was created that allowed one person to

run the entire pound cake filling line where three used to be required, and removed nearly every

aspect of human error from the equation.

Automating the pound cake filling process reduced how much manual labor each person on the

pound cake filling line had to do, and saved the Talerico-Martin Bakery money. It allowed them

to keep up with the demand by increasing the supply as necessary without going beyond their

previously established budget for employee wages. Automation can help improve numerous

aspects of the manufacturing business, so long as it is used properly.

Questions:

Review the Case Study Pound Cake Filling Automation.

Respond to the following questions:

1) What are the most critical issue(s) within the case study?

2) Do you believe the proposed solution(s) within the case addresses the critical issue(s)?

Why or why not? Explain.

3) If you were hired on as a Consultant for Talerico-Martin Bakery and had to recommend

the most effective materials handling equipment as a solution, which one would you

select of the following:

Mechanized system, semi-automated system, or an automated system. Elaborate and

provide evidence for your recommendation.

4) What basic handling considerations should Talerico-Martin Bakery consider? Why?