COVER STORY
where much of the complexity lies. Rademaker’s System Integration team
takes responsibility for designing, integrating and commissioning complete, turn-key bakery solutions, whether a customer is expanding an existing facility or developing a new one. Its scope can encompass ingredient handling and mixing through dough make-up, proofing, baking, cooling or freezing and packaging. The approach combines Rademaker’s
sheeting technology with carefully selected Tier-1 equipment from established partners, creating a solution tailored to the customer’s product, facility and production objectives. For the customer, having a single point of responsibility can mean clearer communication, faster decisions and fewer interfaces to manage, while flexible layouts can help accommodate future changes. But Doug’s definition of integration
extends beyond the physical connection of equipment. For him, knowledge is becoming just as important. “The baking industry as a whole hasn’t
duplicated the knowledge that we had years ago,” he told me. “So there’s a big void of both system knowledge and probably product knowledge inside, whether it be commercial or even retail bakeries.” That knowledge gap becomes increasingly
significant as automation develops. Rademaker’s role can begin long before equipment arrives on site, helping customers take a product from bench scale to industrial production, plan the technology required and troubleshoot product or equipment issues. “The need to increase the bandwidth of
knowledge within an industry is desperately needed,” Doug said. “That’s a niche that companies like ours fit.” Labour availability is one of the clearest
forces driving this shift. Doug described encountering bakeries where contract labour represents around 30% of the workforce, creating a challenge beyond simply filling vacancies. “When you do contract labour, you don’t have system knowledge that stays in the building,” he explained. “It goes away every time that contract’s up, whether it be a week or a month or a year.” Automation therefore changes the question being asked of a production line. It is no longer simply about how many workers a machine can replace, but whether an increasingly automated system can allow a bakery to continue operating effectively with a smaller workforce. “As we become more automated, it’s not now anymore about baking,” Doug said. “It’s about how do I make a system automated to replace maybe a team of people and make it more singular in nature.”
That is also changing the traditional return-
on-investment calculation. “The industry is starting to recognise that it’s just not going to happen for free,” he said. “To really plan for the future and plan for a continued reduction of labour availability, they’re going to have to make that investment.” As Doug sees it, the question is becoming less about headcount savings and more fundamental. “It’s no longer about how many people am I able to replace to get my return of investment; it’s really about, can I even run the plant?”
to familiar processes. “Many times we find that employees will actually just shut the automation off and return to what they know is normal,” he said. “So we have to come back and reintroduce them as to why this is important.” The skills required on the factory floor
are changing too. An employee previously carrying out a repetitive manual task may now need to understand programmable logic and troubleshoot cause and effect. “I think there’s probably a pay-scale change coming,” Doug said. “It takes more skilled labour.” That additional skill requirement, he
believes, could also contribute to retention if the industry recognises and rewards the changing nature of these roles. Integration can also provide a deeper
understanding of how a production line is performing. Not every machine necessarily needs to communicate directly with another, Doug explained, but connecting systems can give operators and managers information about product and environmental temperature, electrical loads and potential mechanical problems. “Is the equipment running at the right amperage all the time?” he asked. “Or do we have a problem with a potential bearing failure coming?” Rademaker is seeing increasing requests for
THE NEED TO INCREASE THE BANDWIDTH OF KNOWLEDGE WITHIN AN INDUSTRY IS DESPERATELY NEEDED
Yet automation does not remove the human element. In fact, Doug believes one of the greatest challenges in implementing an integrated system is getting employees to take ownership of the technology. “One of the greatest challenges we have as a team is getting a facility that we just worked with to embrace the new technology that they just put in,” he said. Rademaker therefore treats implementation as an ongoing teaching process, supporting training and returning to facilities where employees need further help. Without that engagement, Doug says, workers can simply switch automation off and return
12 • KENNEDY’S BAKERY PRODUCTION • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2026
systems to communicate with one another and feed information into management systems, although Doug estimates fewer than 10% of the company’s products currently require this level of connectivity. “It’s certainly a nice tool to have, but it does add cost,” he said. The value becomes clearer when data can be connected directly to financial performance. A customer who understands the impact of yield and waste can more easily see the benefit of better production information. “If you manage this system really, really well, you might be able to improve your yields by 5%,” Doug said. “They know that immediately equates.” Overall cost and yield are therefore key
drivers for integrated systems, with capacity close behind. The ability to produce more without proportionally increasing resources is particularly important when both labour and factory space are under pressure. Space was another theme Doug returned to during our discussion. Technology is allowing bakeries to make increasingly creative use of vertical space, while newer equipment can lift and return product without requiring the same multi-level production flows traditionally used in bakeries. “We’ve got more creative on how to utilise our vertical space,” he said, noting that customers can find themselves with 30,000 square feet when they might ideally need 100,000. “Compact doesn’t necessarily mean more expensive,” he added.
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