Dough processing technologies stand out as an area where more intense change and development are seen compared to kneading. Since the technologies that require mastery of production and offer solutions to the dough processing stage, provide enterprises with ease of production, capacity and continuity in quality, while contributing to the profitability of the company with low costs, the manufacturers are heading towards automation solutions day by day.

Ali Can Üresin Foreign Trade Engineer Ekmak Makine

Although the dough kneading process, which is one of the first and significant stages of bakery production, has reached today without major changes for thousands of years, many innovations have been executed especially in recent years to ensure the production of high quality final product on time and with accurate quantity. Fork armed dough boilers, which have been widely used for many years, are being replaced by spiral dough mixers with spiral arms and adjustable time and direction. The equipment and mixing method used in dough kneading make many details such as production processes and timings, dough content, resting & processing phases, environment, and water and dough temperature important. Ensuring the standards of the final product and continuity in quality forces today's efficient businesses to control the conditions at every stage of production. Many innovations such as dough mixers with cooling systems, mixer models that knead without blades, models with bowl elevator systems, models that monitor and control temperature were offered to the industry in relation to the pressure to deliver more products to customers at the right time.

In recent years, Turkish bakery and production systems have been changing, particularly with the increasing awareness about healthful nutrition. Both high-capacity convenience bakery shops that turn a blind eye to quality, hygiene and process control and also dough production houses, which serve the industry with the claim of meticulous production and good quality products, demand innovations in dough kneading technologies. These types of businesses, which are attractive with their boutique production and flamboyant presentation, come to the fore with their showcase arrangement and the visuality of the space. In addition, continuous production lines using highly automated systems capable of producing high volumes enable the production of many zero-touch bread and bakery products, and contribute to the sector and society with its ever-developing technology and engineering skills.

High-capacity production enterprises search for different markets to find customers, and they may cause unfair competition conditions by interfering with the markets of producers in other regions with their wide marketing and sales networks. Here, I want to share an analogy that I love. If you are going to manufacture a product, either produce one million units and sell them for one dollar, or produce one and sell it for one million dollars. Never, ever stay in limbo. Based on this metaphor, and based on bakery production technologies, the ideal bread and bakery production system means the retail sale of high-profit products by using high-quality equipment and machines in boutique production of various products or the production of low-cost production machines with high automation and capacity.

In contemporary bread and bakery production, monitoring and control of processes and conditions seem to have become particularly vital. At Ekmak Makina, we take sides with the businesses that produce bread ovens and bakery products by offering production equipment that provides profit to its business, low maintenance costs and durable structural design. The whole process will increase the quality of the final product. We offer oven machine solutions that take all design, mechanical and functional details into consideration.

OUR CUSTOMERS BRING US NEW CUSTOMERS THANKS TO OUR HIGH-QUALITY

At Ekmak Makina, we contribute to the industry in all machine solutions that will add value to production, increase production quality and reduce the production costs of the enterprise, contributing to its profitability and indirectly to business success. We provide services in many markets ranging from European countries to Australia, Turkic republics and Africa in order to reach the production of bread, which is the most basic consumer product, to certain hygiene and quality standards in the world and to deliver it to the consumer under the correct conditions. We keep durable and easy-to-use machines at the center of our business, which we believe are necessary due to the way the industry works. We bring the right equipment to the customers with our experience, quality parts and experienced staff. Our basic principle is to create happy customers. With this strategy, every happy customer that creates value with its production brings us new ones.

I think that there are developments in two areas in the bread and bakery machinery sector. These are high-capacity production lines that offer flexible production and workstations that serve a certain function. The main reason why the companies active in these areas make progress is the high profitability of the customer model they serve and the high profit margin of the product they produce. It shows improvement potential at every point where it adds value and benefits to businesses that use equipment that adds value by helping production or reduces production costs by enabling the entire production process without relying on labor.

QUALITY MACHINE, QUALITY PRODUCT

On the other hand, production machines, which we define as the main stream production group, where there is fierce price competition with numerous operating companies, and which form the basis of the sector, have not shown a substantial development in terms of technology for quite a long time. What determines the success of companies in this competitive field is their ability to provide services to the sector with quality products and successful after-sales service by reducing production costs with factory investments and supporting this with sales and marketing activities. The culture of throwaway, consume more, and consume more quickly, which is shaped by our consumption habits in bread and bakery production machines, as in many other sectors, seems to have increased the demand for low-priced products in production machines. We see that many low-priced, poor-quality products are widely used in the industry. Reliable products working properly for a long time, producing in line with the needs of the industry, complying with standards, designed in line with mechanical-electrical safety, hygiene and consumption concerns, and that reach the customer with the right pricing pave the way for success for companies. On the user's side, products adding value to the business, supporting production activities or facilitating production, and accessible with low service costs and equipment prices are being preferred. Dough processing technologies stand out as an area where more intense change and development are seen compared to kneading. Since the technologies that require mastery of production and offer solutions to the dough processing stage, provide enterprises with ease of production, capacity and continuity in quality, while contributing to the profitability of the company with low costs, the manufacturers are heading towards automation solutions day by day. At this point, the main factor that enables the transition from traditional production to mass production is the desire of enterprises to increase capacity, the shortage of trained personnel and the continuity of quality level.

In our globalizing world, thanks to the developing mobile technologies, selling the products and reaching the users without a dealer and sales structure has become possible. There are two sides to this situation. On the one hand, well-designed quality products can easily reach the end user, on the other hand, low-priced products that produce low-quality products with low costs and easy access to the market can reach the customer as well. In the field where there are many companies operating without any standard, engineering and business requirements, this may harm companies that operate in the sector correctly, produce with the right quality of materials, parts, staff, technology and machinery investments, and provide services with sales, marketing and after-sales activities. In general, Turkey's problem is that imitation businesses popping up next to a well-doing business in a short time. This creates a bad situation in terms of product quality and innovation, although it seems to be good in terms of open market economy and price competition from consumers' point of view. I believe that this is a problem that can be solved with strategic planning and regulations, a long-term approach and thanks to competent and foresighted decision makers.

I hope that companies operating with an environment- and human-oriented production and business culture and prioritizing R&D and innovation will take a more active role in Turkish machinery. I believe that we need a higher number of small and medium sized companies that have been trained with the right business ethics, are flexible and can react quickly, move away from companies that do not give a place to the environment and people in their "business success-profit maximization" equations with their seasonal targets, sales quotas, and profitability targets. I believe that companies that attach importance to the love of the environment and people, contribute to the solutions of the world's problems with all their activities, take responsibility and directly touch people will be successful in the long run. I wish you healthy and happy days with the hope of a society where partnership and sharing culture increase.