Major expansion by one of the leading craft bakers in the north of England has been centred on a new production facility – at the heart of which is a six row roll plant from specialist manufacturer Oddy.  The installation is set to produce high quality products extremely efficiently while providing the capacity for further expansion in the future.  The line is at the heart of the new Clayton Park Bakery facility in Huncoat, Lancashire, and reflects the organisation’s ongoing growth – recently averaging 20% a year – supporting its customers across the North West which include some 550 Spar stores.

“The Oddy Novatek 428 facility brings together a roll divider/rounder, proofing station, finishing table and automatic servo panner modules, and is capable of producing some 18,000 rolls per hour in sizes ranging from 10 to 208 grams,” comments John Glover, Oddy Sales Manager.  “The specification of the intermediate proofing facility is seen as particularly significant as it allows products to relax – avoiding the need for a relaxant to be added – in order to produce softer products and high levels of consistency and quality.”

The new site is now focusing on confectionery and bread production allowing Clayton Park Bakery’s original facility in Clayton le Moors, near Accrington, to be dedicated solely to pie production.  “This optimises our production scheduling and capability, and demonstrates our ongoing commitment and confidence about future business success,” comments Barry Thomas, Clayton Park Bakery’s Managing Director.  “In total, we have made a seven figure investment in the new site including the installation of ovens, the Oddy bread plant, a morning goods facility and a wrapping line.”

Operated via a single free-standing remote control panel, the Novatek 428 line receives dough from adjacent mixers which is manually loaded into the roll divider.  The first unit in the line then weighs and rounds dough pieces, forming them into a range of products before discharging them in rows of six onto a conveyor ahead of the proofing facility.  “The output speed of the divider can be adjusted to meet production throughput requirements, while the design needs minimal maintenance through build characteristics such as sealed bearings and long-life, non-stick coatings,” explains John Glover.

Bread rolls are then transferred automatically into the proofer where products can either be directed onto a series of holding stations to rest or, via a bypass option, delivered immediately onto the finishing table.  Here, products are formed before being automatically transferred onto the roll panner, following which they are collated into batches before being transferred onto trays that are taken to cool room retarders, ahead of the final oven baking.

“The new installation is the third Oddy facility that we have used during our 20 year history – the first a two row unit, the second a four row installation which is still operational, and now this larger six row production line,” adds Barry Thomas.

“Our decision was based on our experience of the robust design and quality of the company’s units as well as their long term reliability and versatility.  Add this to the back-up and support which we know is available from Oddy, and we are confident that we have a major facility which is now central to both our current operation, and our plans well into the future,” he concludes.