In the dynamic landscape of the bakery industry efficiency and speed represent a fundamental shift in how bakers approach their production process. To assist customers in overcoming complexities in the installation process, hence reducing downtime, GEAs bakery business unit has been offering the possibility of preassembling modules at the production facility in Verona, Italy. This offer underlines the management's aspiration to create new customer benefits in the service area of the food segment.

“The aim of plug & play ovens is to speed up the installation process, in order to reduce production downtime at the customer facility,” says Mario Da Ros - Senior Director Project Management at GEA. “Preassembled ovens are a great way to ensure a high-quality installation phase of our ovens, given that it is mainly carried out at our own facility,” he continues.

GEA engineers develop time efficient solution 

 At the beginning of the project to create a Plug-and-Play-Service, which delivers a big impact in time efficiency, the GEA engineers carried out a theoretical study about a 65m long oven with a width of 1.2m. Considering that there are many factors in place such as conveyor belt, fuel and heating system used, a good estimation of the time needed to install the disassembled oven is around 45 days. With the Plug-and-Play option it is now possible to reduce the installation up to 20 days. This study concerned the mechanical assembling as well as the electrical connections, while the commissioning phase is not included in this count.

The impressive benefits of this new plug-and-play option were made visible during the installation of a very large oven for a recent overseas customer. Gianluca Dolci - Senior Director Project Execution reports: “In December 2023 we shipped a 124m long oven with a 1.6m width to Indonesia. We managed to display all 58 preassembled modules in five days, which means that the GEA electricians could start working simultaneously with the GEA mechanics on the oven at the customers site, a huge advantage that guarantees a much quicker installation.” In this case, the 124m oven took 4 weeks instead of 8 thanks to preassembled modules.

Modules reduce downtime of production

The preassembled modules not only streamline the installation process but also substantially reduce production downtime for customers. The time efficiency of Plug&Play ovens is illustrated by the remarkable reduction in installation time and the time advantage in electrical work.

Lower cost for the baker

With Plug & Play ovens, personnel costs are significantly decreased: the total number of people working on the line is reduced, both for mechanics and electricians. Above all, the need for highly specialized personnel is no longer fundamental, as the most complex operations are carried out during the preassembly of the modules at GEA's production site.

Increased safety standards

By installing Plug-and-Play ovens, the baker no longer comes into contact with rock wool to insulate the baking chamber. This is a very important aspect in terms of safety for the operators and it also guarantees less costs for the producers because the workers need less personal protection equipment. Furthermore, without rock wool management, it is no longer necessary to isolate the production environment to avoid the risk of contamination with other production lines in operation during the installation process.