American Pan Europe: Alexandria – a growing hub for pans and trays

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A growing hub for pans and trays

American Pan’s facility in Alexandria, Romania, is the company’s main European operation headquarters for bakeware, with investments worth EUR 10 million planned over the next five years.

+In Europe, American Pan works with a staff of 520, out of which close to 400 people are employed at the factory in Alexandria alone, with plans to increase their ranks by an additional 50 before the end of the year. The Group’s sixth pan manufacturing center, in addition to its three facilities in the U.S., one in Brazil, one in Sweden, has ambitious plans, all on-trend with the dynamics in its surrounding markets. The industrial pans made in Romania are mainly specialized for the production of buns and rolls, the company’s core segment in Europe, and breads – which has been a growing market over the past few years. Baguette trays are being added to the product portfolio at the facility in Alexandria.

Bakeware has been the growth driver for American Pan’s facility in Romania, which was first established by the acquisition of FBS Prestige just outside Bucharest. Together with it, came its promising market share, valuable know-how, ideas and people. The facility managed to triple its market share in Europe in its first year alone and it is looking at a multiple of that for the following years, anticipates Thanos Rizoglou, American Pan’s Vice President of Operations for Romania. Operations maintained a steady level throughout various restrictions caused by the pandemic, with some segments even enjoying growth, such as the DuraShield coating, which is a non-stick fluoropolymer coating that helps bread and rolls easily release from pans, including gluten-free products. The coating’s productivity and longevity proved to be convincing arguments everywhere in Europe. Moreover, the plant even made significant strides into mainland Europe’s highly competitive markets. As its own operations expand, American Pan Europe observes, in parallel, the growth trend among the region’s bakeries and their increasing needs for bakeware: while they might be

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somewhat decreasing in numbers, they are becoming more centralized and are expanding with distribution centers in different countries.

The COVID-19 measures did bring changes in the products in demand, more than anything: requests for pans for buns and rolls stayed low, in line with the fluctuating operations of the QSR bakeries using them. Products for bread markets and all confectioneries commonly sold in supermarkets, however, experienced massive growth for over a year, Rizoglou shared; “A rush of inquiries that we have not seen for a very long time.” The level of demand now hovers above that recorded before the pandemic.

The facility also launched a new service this summer, a stock bakeware program with online ordering. Bakeware in standard sizes such as 400x600mm and 600x800mm can be shipped from Romania, options including bread tins and lids, baking trays, baguette trays, bun trays, muffin trays and pizza trays. Refurbishment services are increasingly being requested as well, a possible consequence of the pandemic.

Sound investments

All signs seem to indicate a strong year and that demand will remain high and to support this the company has invested in developing its existing lines and equipment lineup, to increase its flexibility. Since the pans are vastly different in sizes, shapes and designs, they are hand-made, for the most part (and made by a staff comprising women, in the majority – an HR strategy both notable and laudable). A certain type of product may be produced in the hundreds, for example, after which the line would need to be set up again, meaning all new tools, dies and presses would be needed. The company also aims to increase its automation levels. Projects that are already on the drawing board in this regard will upgrade the spraying process and robotic welding. In line with the spike in orders, increasing production speed and capacity is also in the works, with investments into newer equipment. The way the internal engineering and design departments work contributes to speeding up work, as the NPD process can be time-consuming: “Our engineering teams work as a group, internationally. We do compare notes regularly to see if new ideas have come to fruition for projects such as new designs for dies, for example, and if so, whether they can be implemented in all production sites. This is the beauty of being part of a big group, being able to continuously learn from each other,” Rizoglou underlines. Entire lines and workflows that were proven to perform well in a certain setup in the U.S. were entirely replicated in Romania and Brazil, for instance. Having lines dedicated to producing a certain type of bakeware is the goal, but built as flexibly as possible since all the resulting pans need to be essentially custom-made.

Safety is also among priorities and it dictates replacing most of the equipment that can pose any risk in operation. This has been an ongoing process, for the past three years. The factory has also been working on expanding its capabilities in the dimensions of the pans it can manufacture, due to incoming requests for bigger pan sizes, in line with the market trends in the design of new production lines. To meet such requests, the company invested in presses; mechanical limitations aside, variations that were hard to conceive not long ago are now being produced – with the presses to support it. As bakery lines grow in size, so do pan production lines, to match corresponding bakeware. One of the recent impressive projects, in this regard, was a tray measuring 1.3x1.2m. This is a huge undertaking to produce a single pan that is fully closed without external welding, certainly a seamless pan in the superlative. The design and supporting software helped achieve a sturdy tray, that maintains its shape and integrity over time. The only challenge is in handling a tray of such a size (exclusively automated with either mechanical grippers

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SERBIA ROMANIA

Alexandria Bucharest

BULGARIA The facility in Alexandria, Teleorman county, was recently expanded by 3,000sqm

GREECE

or magnets, conveyor lines, etc.), and not necessarily in manufacturing it, the specialist concludes. One handling recommendation American Pan offers when using heavy pans is not to stack more than 60, and to stack them on the strongest part of the design.

Employees also represent an important investment, not just in their numbers, although a considerable team of 50 is now being added, but in attracting, training and keeping them. Specialization is gained in-house to provide the quality and services needed on the job. New facilities for the workers are also among priorities, including new lunch and break areas. Training and promotion opportunities are showing results: employees are staying with the company for the long run. Safety measures were put in place for the teams during the pandemic, and investments were also made for remote work, wherever possible. The company also organized several vaccination campaigns, and booster shot support will follow.

The facilities will also be expanded by an additional 2,500sqm, following another recent expansion of 3,000sqm, bringing the production site to a total of approximately 16,000sqm (working space).

Calculated risks

Geography, labor force, existing market share, networks, growth potential - these are some of the arguments making Alexandria, a town just outside Bucharest, a strategic pin on American Pan’s map to conveniently serve Europe and the MENA region. One of the challenges that also comes with the location is the infrastructure. Highways linking the plant with the capital and with Europe’s major transportation routes are scheduled to be finalized in the next years. In the meantime, logistics take into consideration up to two extra days for deliveries, until the products reach the borders. However, during various pandemic measures, the infrastructure hasn’t been a problem at all, as the roads remained mostly clear of traffic. On-time delivery is successful up to 95% of the time, the rest being the effect of unexpected events that can occur anywhere in the world (late deliveries, supply chain bottlenecks, driver-related, etc.).

And thorough research

To maintain and grow the business, American Pan Europe is looking beyond simply pan designs and is aiming to ultimately simplify processes for bakeries. Continuous support with customers’ everyday operations to identify improvements is also a priority. Sustainability and the longevity of the products are key for manufacturers, the specialist summarizes. Various solutions can provide answers to these goals, the use of hightensile strength steel being one of them. Helpful features include the ease of stacking and handling.

Samples are built to develop special solutions, including molds and designs solving specific manufacturing problems. New designs are conceived for specific requests, which are made into samples when approved. The samples undergo lab testing, then live samples are prepared for trial runs on the production lines. Once the specifics are agreed upon (e.g. pan height, width, radius, indentations, materials, the shape and the way it travels through the conveyor, etc.), the company begins building the dies it will need for production. This process varies; it is simplified if a similar solution is already in American Pan’s database somewhere in the world. But, given the product variety in certain markets and even regions in those markets, development can start from scratch. One such example is a Romanian specialty – the cozonac, a type of cake traditionally baked around holidays, somewhat similar to the panettone. There are countless variations of the cozonac. American Pan developed a type of tin specifically for its industrial production, after extensive market research, testing various coatings and finishes to test product characteristics

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including color and release. After the sampling, a larger trial was performed by a bakery, using about 100 tins. The bakery now has several thousands of this type of tins, to use for seasonal sales. The top three bakeries in Romania are now all using them. “The most difficult part is to thoroughly understand what the customer needs, and crystalize that on a piece of paper with everyone agreeing. After that, a drawing and a sample take around two-four weeks to be produced,” Rizoglou outlines the R&D steps. Depending on the product, projects can take up to a few months to develop. A thorough understanding of the bakery machinery is a given, to optimize the use of pans, the specialist shares. In this regard, European markets have not yet reached full maturity.

A special project

The local manufacturers that source their pans from American Pan include one of the Romanian leaders for packaged bread. It operates a manual production line in its facility located just outside Bucharest. In recent months, the bakeware specialist designed a lighter-weight pan for the bakery, which also helps achieve a better product color and save energy in the oven. The pan needed to be as light as possible, as it is manually handled by an operator, and extra weight means more and faster damage inflicted on the pans. In addition to the design, the materials also played an important part, needing to be sturdy enough to preserve the integrity of the pan.

Reaching the optimum solution meant going through the R&D steps, with trust and reliability also contributing to the collaborative workflow, from the bakery's perspective. The collaboration succeeded because the information was shared both ways, a process in which he saw a partnership rather than simply a sale, the plant manager recalled. Three standard sizes were sampled to achieve better baking results in a lighter configuration. The new pan, the first of its kind in Europe, features additional holes, making it also cheaper and providing better air circulation. As the input and output are manual operations, it is more likely to have problems with the pans due to nesting, the plant manager explained. The development of the new tins was finalized over approximately two months – and that at a time of a global metal shortage.

Despite a double crisis (COVID-19 and spikes in energy costs) affecting the Romanian market, the bakery business has grown to produce 32% more volume than it did at launch, in 2009. The plant in Romania anticipates high-volume production next year, aiming to have one toast bread in every house.“When we succeed, the market is mature,” anticipated the plant manager. The differentiation point of the breads this bakery makes is that no preservatives are used and the shelf life is extended thanks to pasteurization alone. The bread maker uses double packaging, which also contributes to the product’s shelf life, freshness and safety. +++

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