When Robots Meet Baker’s Hands

You can almost smell the caramel at Tunnock’s factory outside Glasgow — a warm ribbon of toffee runs from the second floor down to the production line below. Yet that very aroma comes from a process still rooted in human touch. Tunnock’s makes about 20 tonnes of caramel every day. A dozen skilled workers still spread that sticky mixture into the five thin layers that make its signature wafer, a task machines struggle with. The firm combines people and machines: automated lines churn out roughly seven million wafer bars and 4.5 million tea cakes each week, while some tricky tasks are left to operators who can adapt quickly and take up less space than extra kit. Small choices preserve the product’s character. Tunnock’s wraps its wafers by folding the foil rather than heat-sealing the ends — a slower method, but one that keeps the product familiar to customers who remember it from childhood. The company has night-time machines to help with spreading, but managers say full automation would change the product and the way they work. Equipment makers are trying to bridge the gap. Unifiller, part of Coperion, spent years developing a robot arm called HIRO to decorate cakes and apply toppings — even viscous caramel — by mimicking the action of a pastry bag. But designing robots for food is not the same as for cars or electronics: machinery must be simple to dismantle for hygiene, and it needs to cope with cakes and loaves that aren’t perfectly uniform. At The Bread Factory — which supplies the Gail’s café chain — human bakers are indispensable. The bakery runs around the clock, uses about 16 tonnes of flour and can produce up to 40,000 loaves a day. Machines mix and portion the dough, but shaping relies on years of practiced gentleness. Bakers can sense subtle changes in dough and tweak the process on the spot — a kind of “gatekeeping” that technology has yet to replicate. Industry analysts say the smart move is a mix of both. Forrester’s Craig Le Clair argues businesses should automate where it delivers consistency and volume, while preserving the human elements that give a product its soul. Equipment firms are already working on better vision, scanning and safety systems so robots can do more without getting in the way. For smaller brands, the decision to invest isn’t just technological. Tunnock’s has considered a multimillion-pound production upgrade but is holding off amid volatile cocoa prices and financial uncertainty. So for now, the sweet spot remains a hybrid: clever machines where they help, and human hands where they matter most. --- Managing your business finances? TaxAce provides smart online accountancy services for UK businesses with flexible monthly plans. Image and reporting: https://www.bbc.co.uk | Read original article