The institute said they have developed a production-line system that automatically inspects the quality of sandwich buns exiting the oven, through the use of an imaging system, which adjusts oven temperatures if it detects unacceptable buns.
According to the research team, by creating a more accurate, uniform and faster assessment process, the system is able to minimize waste and lost product.
GTRI research scientist Colin Usher said that the project began in 2007 with the need to improve quality control processes for large-volume sandwich bun producers.
He said that while the system does not allow bakers to bake buns faster, it does ensure that all of the product baked is within the colour specification.
Out of spec product detection
But Usher said that the window for correction is short. An entire batch may only take 12 minutes to bake and the buns stay in the oven for eight minutes. This provides a four-minute window to correct the temperature of the batch once the first buns come out to guarantee that the rest of the buns in the batch are an acceptable colour when they come out of the oven.
And, speaking to this publication, the researcher said the new system: "Allows the bakers to keep all of the product, as product that is out of spec is typically thrown out (or used for animal feed).
Typical high volume operations are 1000+ buns per minute. For each minute buns are out of spec, the baker loses 1000 buns. If problems are not identified quickly enough, thousands of buns could be thrown out."
The technology also automatically records data including shape, seed distribution, size and contamination to generate production reports that are immediately available for statistical process control.
Usher explained that the project was funded under a State of Georgia programme (FoodPAC), where GTRI worked with a local equipment provider, BakeTech, to develop the system in conjunction with a local processor, Flowers Foods.
Made of stainless steel, the equipment is dust and water resistant, and it mounts to a wide range of existing conveyor belts, claims the institute.
Testing phase
Flower Foods tested an industrial-quality prototype system for over a 12 month period. During this testing phase, a variety of buns, including seeded buns, unseeded buns, different size buns and different top-bun shapes were successfully inspected, said GTRI.
"The system has been operating full-time in the plant since early 2010. And under an existing support contract with BakeTech, we have made tweaks to the oven controller to improve operation and make the system easier to use," continued Usher, who added that the institute is still working with the processor and equipment supplier to help transition the technology.
The GTRI researcher said that Flowers Foods has provided substantial feedback, "mostly related to what data to log to help the plant in their auditing and statistical process control. The bakers have also suggested interface adjustments to make the system easier to operate."
Wider applications
And the new system potenially could be adapted to control the quality of other bakery products, such as biscuits, cookies, crackers, bread and pies.
"There is not a current project to adapt the system to other baked goods, however, discussions for such developments have taken place," revealed Usher.
However, he said that GTRI has developed several over-line and on-line vision inspection systems for many different types of products, primarily in the protein sector including chicken, pork, patties: "These systems could be easily modified to perform inspection tasks required for other baked goods, such as cookies and candies."