AU TOM AT I O N
Industry 4.0 has the answers to fast industry transformation The pace of change has only become faster over the past years, and its rippling effect is also felt in the baking industry. How do industrial players ride the changes while also increasing efficiency? The first change is in the mindset, and then in finding the right solutions. The key word is agility.
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The changes in the industrial bakery market have not escaped anyone’s notice. Trends in consumption are evolving rapidly and, in many places, what is massively popular one day is no longer so the next. This inconstancy, for an industrialist, could easily be considered as instability as it is not part of the industry’s DNA to offer custom-made products. By definition, the industry seeks to massify production to make economies of scale and benefit from the experience curve acquired through repetition. However, consumers, and therefore industrial bakers, are increasingly demanding products that are differentiated according to location, time, special occasions, etc. To equip oneself intelligently, it is essential to take a step back and understand the issues at stake in this paradox that is currently affecting the bakery industry. Indeed, Aristotle stated that it is not because humans have hands that they are intelligent, but because they are intelligent that they have hands. Applied to industry, this premise indicates that thought and strategy must always precede equipment. For a worker, the tool is only an extension of their hand, which is itself an extension of their vision. This is how Mecatherm’s vision is at the origin of the equipment it develops.
www.bakingbiscuit.com 06/2021
© Mecatherm
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This tension between the necessary consistency of the industry and diversification exists within companies themselves. Numerous businesses sometimes observe this opposition between a marketing department that would like to develop its commercial offer by diversifying continuously and the production staff who know the human, technical and financial cost of such variations. However, the market is always right, consumers have the last word. The reality is imposed on manufacturers and the question is no longer whether to integrate flexibility into its production, the question is how. It is possible, however, to consider this challenge not as a leak to be permanently plugged but as an opportunity for differentiation and growth. There are conditions, though. First of all, agility must be thought of as a way of listening to the customer, and this must permeate the entire company, from the manager to the operator, including engineers and sales staff. From a management point of view, this has its own challenges. Managers have the challenge of always focusing on one thing, which is to lower costs, whilst listening attentively to the customer. More than 40% of Mecatherm’s work is carried out on the customer’s premises, from installation to after-sales
