Balancing Tradition and Automation: Insights from Tunnock's and The Bread Factory
Tunnock's near Glasgow incorporates automation in much of its production while maintaining a 12-person team dedicated to caramel-spreading. The company produces about 20 tonnes of caramel daily with an annual output of around 7 million wafer bars and 4.5 million tea cakes. It aims to balance tradition with higher output, relying on modern machines to remain competitive with larger snack firms. Caramel quality is tested by operators through sight and feel, and certain production steps remain human-led to ensure flexibility and quality control. Notably, the wafer bar wrapping method involves folding the wrap around the product rather than sealing the ends, a choice that can limit production speed.
Innovations such as the Unifiller HIRO robot arm for cake decorating, developed with Coperion and Stäubli, target the handling of toppings like caramel while adhering to strict hygiene and cleaning standards. Coperion plans to further enhance robot-arm technology with improved scanning, vision, and safety features to facilitate better collaboration with human workflows.
Meanwhile, The Bread Factory in northwest London, a supplier to Gail's, bakes sourdough around the clock, using 16 tonnes of flour daily to produce up to 40,000 loaves. Although machines mix the dough, skilled bakers maintain essential flexibility in the process. Head baker Anomarel Ogen emphasizes that automation cannot yet fully replace skilled baking and advocates for human oversight to safeguard quality along production paths.
Forrester analyst Craig Le Clair supports a hybrid model that combines automation's consistency, speed, and volume with human value-add to maintain product quality. However, investment decisions, such as the potential £2.5 million planned by Tunnock's, have been affected by cocoa price volatility over the past two years, causing some delays until the financial climate improves.
