Trip down memory lane: bakery projects.

Over time, we have developed a wide range of innovative robotic solutions for handling processes in bakeries. What started as a one-off adventure has grown into a fully-fledged specialism in which robotics and traditional craftsmanship go hand in hand.

Our appetite for projects in the bakery sector arose from our collaboration with the RO-groep and our introduction to Bakkerij van der Zee. But our first experience with automation in bakeries goes back even further. "At Landré, we already had a taste of bread bakeries," says Maro Dedel, CEO and founder of DERO GROEP. "Through Meyn, a major poultry processing equipment company, we supplied several robot systems for various tasks at Bakkerij Pater. Robots proved to be ideally suited for handling baking trays, tins, baskets, and of course the bread itself."

Various bakery projects from the past.

With DERO, Maro returned to the bakery sector a few years later through its partner the RO-groep. "We supplied the robot grippers, mainly for buffering baking trays and tins. We also introduced the use of shuttles for transporting stacks of tins and baking trays, a solution that stands out for its simplicity, flexibility, and hygienic applicability."

An important innovation arose from meeting Bakkerij van der Zee, a bakery in Friesland. "We wanted to automate a small bread line in a different way than was traditionally done in bakeries," say Oege and Atze van der Zee, CEOs of Bakkerij van der Zee. "And that’s how we ended up in the cheese industry, and thus at DERO."

The scale, limited space, and desired flexibility called for a completely different solution than what was available on the market. "Inspired by our experience in cheese warehousing – and because trolleys are also used in the preparation and baking of bread – the idea of a box system for the small bread line was born," Maro explains. "We also developed a unique robotic application for removing the bread from the trays: a robot that moves the baking tray at an angle in sync with the scrabble belt. This concept was later rolled out at other bakeries and even copied by others."

There is a lot of heavy work that can be automated in both smaller and large bakeries. 

In addition to the box system and robots for buffering, we also supplied multifunctional solutions, such as at Bakker Ammerlaan in Bleiswijk. "That project is actually an example of how in an artisan bakery, multiple functions can be combined in a single compact robot cell," says Maro.

Later on, robot depanners for bread loaves and solutions for packaging bake-off bread followed. "This allows us as DERO GROEP to deliver solutions for every scale, whether it’s an artisan bakery or a large industrial producer," concludes Maro. "Many of the concepts we came up with back then are still relevant today. Robots take over the heavy work and enable compact, multifunctional solutions. In the future, we will continue to work with our customers to come up with ways in which robots can make a difference in the bakery!"

// P. Mulder - Synergy Food  //