Bakers create an endless variety of traybake products and their creativity doesn’t have to mean portioning bottlenecks, an arsenal of custom knives, or hiring an accomplished cutting expert. Producing, portioning, and distributing sheet products in a pan, bake-in-the-box, siliconized baking box, or tray-bake foil reduces labor costs and processing times and automated traybake cutting machines further increases the savings.
Traybake cutting machines remove the complexity of the portioning process and automate the recipes, minimize changeover, and deliver the same, perfectly sliced pieces every time, no matter who is doing the cutting. Whether you’re cutting your traybakes in or out of the box, as half sheets or full sheets, or fresh or frozen, the FoodTools line of sheet product portioning machines has a solution for you.
For bakeries looking to automate their slicing process we’ve outlined several key things to consider before investing in a traybake cutting machine.
Traybake Cutting Machine Checklist
- Production Level
- Small Production
- Medium Production
- Large Production
- Cutting Technologies
- Mechanical
- Ultrasonic
- Robotic
- Benefits of Automation
- Speed
- Labor & Cost Savings
- Consistency & Accuracy
- Dependability
- Flexibility
Production Level
One of the most important keys to choosing the right traybake cutting machine is matching the equipment to your production needs. This will impact your level of investment, the machine’s ease of use, and your future growth. If you’re currently in the small production category (less than 50 trays, boxes or foils per hour) you don’t need to invest in a fully automated inline system, but it is important to consider your future production goals. We categorize our traybake slicing machines into small, medium, and large production levels.
While our smallest, most economical machine is only big enough to slice half sheets, our full size fully automated machines can be outfitted to cut full sheets as well as multiple half sheets or quarter sheets at a time, streamlining the process and offering complete flexibility to use full, half or quarter sheet trays, UK and European pan sizes, and custom foils or bake-in-boxes for unique products.
Small Production:
Less than 50 trays per hour and portioning may not be a daily activity. Small production machines need to be economical, can be semi-automatic, should be flexible to portion a variety of products, and must be compact and easy to move to accommodate small and cramped bakery spaces. The CS-RS is our most economical sheet portioning machine and can slice up to half sheets while the CS-10TFWA is a semi-automatic full sheet cutting solution.
Medium Production:
Mid-size bakeries slicing 50-150 trays per hour still need economical and flexible machines, but with higher capacities. These machines are designed to slice full sheets, or multiple half sheets, are fully automated, and use optional advanced technologies to streamline mechanical systems including PLC controls for cut patterns and recipes and servo driven indexing for precision portioning.
Large Production:
Large food processing plants often require dedicated custom built traybake lines. High speed portioning machines are custom designed to integrate with production lines and can include auto loading and takeaway conveyors, making transfer to downstream systems seamless.
Some of these inline models come standard with a flat conveyor and accessories to cut a variety of sheet and round products, but for seriously high production facilities our engineering team can design a custom built solution incorporating dedicated conveyors for holding specific boxes, trays, or foils to get the most speed out of the cutting machine.
Cutting Technologies
In addition to production capacity, the product temperature, makeup, and decorations play a big role in determining the right cutting technology. The density of a frozen traybake requires a different cutting system than an ambient or fancy decorated dessert in a box or foil. Portioning machines offer mechanical or ultrasonic systems for small, medium, and large production and even robotic cutting systems for fancy traybake producers needing additional flexibility.
Mechanical:
Stainless steel mechanical blades are the most economical slicing solution and are used for frozen, chilled, or dense products. For cutting inside a box or pan the stainless steel blade is machined to fit perfectly inside the edges, slicing the product from wall to wall. On the smaller, economical machines a narrow section may remain uncut due to the notched blade and will need to be finished by hand. To avoid this some smaller bakeries choose the CS-10E which uses a custom x and y axis bladeset, cutting both directions completely across the tray, box or foil in one pass. The larger CS and ACCUSLICE inline machines also offer x & y axis bladsets on a conveyor system.
Ultrasonic:
For ambient, sticky, or delicate products an ultrasonic system using a vibrating titanium blade is used so that nothing will stick to it, offering a wider temperature range and improved cut quality on various products. Ultrasonic systems are a larger investment than mechanical blades, but if a bakery can’t or doesn’t want to freeze their sheet products, ultrasonic machines in the ACCUSONIC line deliver more temperature flexibility and improved cut quality.
Robotic:
For bakeries needing extreme flexibility to cut a variety of products into various cut patterns a robotic arm with an ultrasonic cutting system is a great solution. For sheer portioning speed, high production facilities are better off using an ACCUSONIC inline machine, but if a bakery is cutting a wide range of products into many custom cut patterns, the RPS line of ultrasonic robotic cutting machines offers the most options.
Benefits of Automation
Speed:
Time is money, and the longer it takes to cut your traybakes the more expensive they become. Automating the portioning process so that slicing products is repeatable, simple, and efficient helps reduce the cost of your products and improves your margins.
Labor & Cost Savings:
While baking, portioning and distributing in a single use siliconized bake-in-the-box or tray bake foil may add slightly to the production cost, the savings in labor, processing time and materials can quickly outweigh the increased investment. The product is deposited, baked (or cold set), decorated, cut, and packaged in the box and the bakery saves time and labor by eliminating the need to clean, prepare, and line reusable baking pans. Handling is also reduced because the sheet is not depanned, repanned, and individually packaged for finished products. The sheet is simply deposited, baked, portioned, packaged and shipped all in the same box or pan.
Consistency & Accuracy:
Cutting by hand can result in angled sides, uneven portions, and worst of all, wasted product that cannot be sold. Eliminating human error means every product is perfectly cut, no matter who is operating the machine, and your waste is reduced to zero.
Dependability:
It probably goes without saying, but utilizing mechanical systems in place of human labor is beneficial because machines don’t get sick, need a break, or talk back. Well, they can get sick, but if your production crew and maintenance staff keep up with the prescribed preventative maintenance schedules, follow proper wash-down and sanitation procedures, and pay attention to the machine talking back (like when it’s alerting them to issues), then a machine is definitely the most dependable option.
Flexibility:
If flexibility across various cut patterns and products, not just traybakes, is important to you, make sure you invest in a cutting machine that can portion your entire product line and even help you grow into new product categories. There are tradeoffs between speed and flexibility, but if flexibility is important, and you don’t want to invest in a machine for each portioned product, be sure to factor flexibility into your decision.
Traybake Cutting Machines Video
An automated traybake cutting machine can streamline your portioning process and this list of key considerations should help you choose the perfect portioning solution for your traybake production line. It’s important to not only pick a machine that can cut and slice all of your existing products, but this checklist is a good reminder to include your future plans in your purchase decision.
And most importantly, before making an investment be sure to talk to the equipment manufacturer and schedule a test cut. Trying out a demonstration unit or production model with your own traybake products will ensure that you are purchasing the right machine for your bakery needs.
Contact FoodTools to schedule a demonstration with your products today!