When asked how B.C. Bundt was able to remove the cakes from the pan at such a high temperature without cracking the cake, McRee replied., “The answer lies in our depositing system.”

Although Bundt originally produced its own cake icing, it found this to be a labor intensive effort prone to inconsistencies. “We asked ingredient suppliers to provide us with ready-to-use and freeze and thaw icing that we could purchase in bulk,” Hokes says. Bundt now uses such icing as another way to insure the consistency of its ring cakes.

From the icing station, the cake moves around the ambient cooling lines before being conveyed to the packaging line. “This is an area that we designed to meet our needs and not anyone else’s.” Hokes says.

There is nothing left to change on the production side of the business. “We are very conscious of how long it takes to cycle the system,” McRee says. For example, it takes 12 minutes from the time the pan leaves the tunnel oven, the cake is removed, the pan is washed, and the pan is greased for another set-up.

“Our oven is not bigger because our makeup line couldn’t handle more,” Hokes says. He adds that efficiencies in equipment also lead to efficiencies in staffing. “Nine to ten people a shift is ideal for our plant,” he adds. There are no large holding freezers at Taylor because the plant wants to keep turnover to daily output.

Automation and quality control go hand-in-hand at Taylor. “Every one of our operators is a quality specialist because they can stop the line for a quality control problem,” Terry Conrad, director of sanitation and quality control, says.

Current and future challenges

Even as B.C. Bundt prepares to build a new facility in Salt Lake City, it faces an enviable problem and an industry-wide challenge. “We have a major customer on the West Coast who will take up to 50 to 60% of our new capacity, but then where do we go?” McRee says. He expects growth to come from existing customers, rather than from new ones.

On the challenge side, B.C. Bundt finds that there is not enough talent to run the equipment. “We are struggling with attracting, training, and keeping qualified personnel, “Hokes says. And this is not a new problem.

For the past three years, the company has focused its resources on this problem. “We’ve increased our production employee wages and benefits cost nearly 60%,” Hokes notes. He adds that the company offers bonuses to plant managers and supervisors, improved employee health benefits, and still finds a lack of talent.

To compensate for this talent-drain, Hokes hopes to improve the infrastructure through automation. “We’re installing automation equipment at Birmingham that will eventually be in all of our operations to help our operators do a better job,” Hokes says. This includes distributed control systems, touch-screen operations, and smart transmitters.

Even as B.C. Bundt strives for consistency throughout its operations, it is constantly asking questions about future growth. Should it expand outside the U.S.? Should it borrow money to grow more rapidly? What type of equipment can it design and install to increase operator productivity?

How can it maximize its manufacturing operations through automation? McRee and Hokes don’t have the answers to all these questions, but in asking them it hopes to raise the standards for productivity, quality and consistence at B.C. Bundt.

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