Industry associations
Jorge de Saja serves as the General Secretary and Director General of ASEMAC (Asociación Española de la Industria de Panadería, Bollería y Pastelería), the Spanish Association of the Bakery, Pastry, and Confectionery Industry. In an interview, he offers the insider’s view on an exciting, diverse and strong industry.
Events
The 39th AIBI Congress explored the baking industry at the crossroads between tradition and innovation, aiming to discover opportunities in reinventing bakery for the future, while preserving values that are part of our identity.
Women in leadership roles
Cordia Harrington, the founder of Crown Bakeries, is one of the most successful self-made women in America. The key to her success? Passion and perseverance. With that, and “a dab of luck”,
you can do anything, she believes.
Bakeries
For the first time, Bimbo Portugal successfully baked bread using a hydrogen-powered oven.
Fried pastries
At first glance it seems simple, yet the Berliner is one of the most challenging pastries to make: the collar formation, striking a balance between fat absorption and airiness, achieving a soft and moist crumb texture, as well as the filling and decoration – all these require experience in preparation.
Science
Why does bread go stale even in airtight packaging? Why do some margarines crack during lamination while others fold like silk? And why does a perfectly good frozen dough sometimes collapse the moment it hits the oven? These three questions seem to belong to entirely different corners of the bakery, spanning texture science, fat technology and frozen logistics, yet they share a single, surprisingly elegant root cause: crystallization.
Artificial Intelligence
The next step in vision inspection systems is a leap: smart systems can offer comprehensive product readings and can continuously learn how to improve products they ‘see’. Yuegang Zhao, Chief Commercial Officer and President of KPM Laboratory Solutions, offers a glimpse into how the company approaches AI.
Markets
A baking culture has taken root in Finland – one that is deeply ingrained in regional traditions while being equally diverse and innovative. The market is characterized by traditional artisanal bakeries, a small number of large-scale industrial bakeries, and young start-ups.
Handling
The automation of packaging lines has greatly increased production speeds. Products used to be placed into trays or boxes manually, but, for decades, agile robots have been performing this task (and many others). As a result, pick & place processes have become not only more versatile but also more challenging. Not every tool is suitable for every product. Product structure, the line environment itself and process speed all play a part in determining which tool should be selected.
