Cutting straight to the chase

Perfecting the recipe and baking are prerequisites for successful products. Next, it is the cutting that adds the final touch to ensure a successful delivery and customer experience, for bakeries of all sizes.

For smaller and medium-sized operations and their footprint challenges, BAKON recently added a new solution to its portfolio of cutting equipment: the Pico ultrasonic cutting machine. The Dutch specialist introduced this solution in 2022 to bring an additional choice to its range of cutters. An entry-level machine, the Pico was designed to provide the balance between costs and benefits for smaller operations, since it is more cost-effective for smaller production volumes, BAKON details the development thought process. “Within the Slicer range, the investment bar is way lower for customers with the Pico,” explains Halilcan Durgun, Order Manager, BAKON.

Key features

All the necessary features for a clean-cut, accurate process, are featured: in a standard configuration, the Pico is equipped with a cutting board, a knife washing installation and a Full Wave Titanium cutting blade (180 mm), which can cut products of up to 100 mm in height. The blade is programmed to be able to move over the product following both x- and y- axis movements. It can also rotate to cut triangles and round cakes, without having to reposition the product. In addition to automating the cutting process, it can cut cakes of up to 300 mm in diameter into same-size portions, according to how they are defined in the set recipe. Ultrasonic technology makes the process highly accurate, as it performs cuts fiber by fiber, which results in perfectly clean cuts – particularly beneficial for delicate and premium products such as cakes. For rectangular products, it can work with trays sized 600x400 mm and 660x440 mm (i.e., American sheet pan size).

The Pico is standardly delivered with one cutting board, but it has a dedicated storage space in its undercarriage, where different cutting boards can be placed, for ease of access. The PICO is fixed into its dedicated place in the bakery during the installation but the machine remains mobile if movement is required., thanks to its heavy-duty wheels.

The PICO is a semi-industrial, manually operated solution with a wide range of functions designed for ease of operation. Recipes can be created, adjusted and saved in the menus, via the touchscreen. They are set up into the system with preset parameters, which can be adjusted to optimize results. The cutting process itself is automated, following these recipes. “Every product behaves differently when being cut. Some products go really well with fast settings, whereas other products need to be cut more slowly to get the best end result. This is why we always say that the capacity of a machine is entirely customer-specific,” Durgun points out. BAKON can program any requested languages for the touchscreen menus, which are also set up with different levels of access, to further ease operating the Pico. For example, production managers can access more settings than the operating staff. This also ensures the machine is correctly used, which safeguards it, the products and the employees working with it.

Maxed-out benefits

A fixed production process is required to achieve maximum benefits during the cutting process. This means that all products must be produced on the same baking plate and will have to undergo the same production process.

To determine how to best match the options with the product, BAKON evaluated how different products behave. The cutting speed for deep-frozen products should be lower, for example, to prevent them from breaking, BAKON illustrates. Alternatively, when cutting products such as round red velvet cakes, the speed can be increased, as this product is relatively soft, the specialist recommends.

Depending on the products and individual preferences, the blade can be cleaned automatically during production. Cutting residues are removed from the blade with air before entering the washing unit with fresh water nozzles and air nozzles for drying. For more thorough blade cleaning, “We do advise cleaning the knife by hand during breaks, for best results,” Durgun suggests.

The Pico ultrasonic cutting machine joins BAKON’s Nano, Compact XL and Inline Ultrasonic slicers. +++