BakeryBiz, Mar-Apr, 2021
As a student of the bakery industry for the last 20 years, Yusuf Patanwala share his experiences on how the industry has transformed in terms of automation and what kind of ‘future and fortune’ it upholds. In the first of a series of six articles, he gives an insight into the opportunities in the bakery industry
YUSUF PATANWALA
FOUNDER AND CEO
AUTOBAKE PRODUCTIONS
Bread is one of the oldest known product to mankind and we have come a long way since 8000 years when the first bread was reportedly baked in parts of Middle East, especially Egypt. Hundreds of varieties, relished throughout the world, with each country having its unique speciality in terms of taste, texture, size, shape and aroma – bread is and will remain one of the most intriguing products for a layman to even the most accomplished baker!
As the saying goes, “to each one his or her daily bread” – bread has become an integral part of one’s diet across the world. The vast consumption of bread from soup to salads and sandwiches has led to a tremendous increase in its demand both in terms of volume and variety! Add to this the highly
perishable nature of bread (the freshness factor is the key ingredient in bakery segment) and the varying infrastructure and environmental conditions from one region to another – creates a symphony of challenges that the baker has to constantly endure!
Coming from an engineering and a business management background, bakery was never ever in my radar even in the remotest sense of the word. However, 20 years since I had my first brush with bakery, I truly admit, my fascination has only grown stronger.
Those days are not lost upon me when I saw scores of people making a few thousand “pav” per day to the modern times where 4.0 million “pavs” are produced by a fraction of people in the entire day!! This change on the shop floor is ‘truly transformational’ and it all starts with an ‘entrepreneurial
mindset’ focused on learning and trying new things as a means of growth and development.
As a student of the bakery industry for the last 20 years, it is indeed my pleasure to share my experiences on how the industry has transformed in terms of automation and what kind of ‘future and fortune’ it upholds for all of us. We will attempt to explore this interesting topic in the series of six articles that will be broadly structured in the following manner:
- Introduction: Exploring the Opportunities in Bakery Industry with an Overview and broad Statistics related to the subject
- The Basic Principles of Production Management: The 4Ms of Manufacturing
- The Concept of Quality Management & Productivity
- Case Studies and Best Practices across the Globe
- Innovation: Laying the Foundation for a dream Factory
- Industry 4.0 and Beyond: Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Virtual Reality
Let’s get started with the agenda for our first article right away.
Manufacturing plays an important part in the economic development of any country Manufacturing plays an important part in the economic development of any country or region. Countries like the US, Germany, France, China, Great Britain, Japan and now upcoming India, South Korea,
Brazil consistently feature amongst the top 10 countries in Manufacturing. The United States of America has held the number one position in manufacturing now for almost more than 10 decades. The active synergy between the industry and the world class academic Universities in the field of
Science and Technology have been one of the major factor for the consistently dominant position of US in the world of manufacturing.
Manufacturing is broadly classified in terms of heavy industries on one hand (which is mostly local) to knowledge based industries that are more global in nature. We also find that knowledge based industries employ less labor, are less capital intensive, but at the same time generate faster return on investments. In terms of volume and scale, heavy industries to the list but are more capital intensive and labor dependent.
For India, in their latest report (McKinsey Report), McKinsey has identified manufacturing as a major contributor to our GDP growth and a large share taken up by the 2 main sectors viz: Technology driven knowledge based and the FMCG.
Looking at the trends of the bakery market worldwide and comparing the same with India – it is obvious that India is a country with a huge untapped potential.
To sum up the above data and statistics and the major take away for bakers is the following:
- There is a tremendous potential for increasing consumption of bakery products by means of introducing innovative bakery products and offering more variety.
- Developing products locally but with a global appeal and higher shelf life.
- Extensive use of technology in all areas, right from sourcing, manufacturing to distribution and customer service.
- Developing the right ‘industrial’ mind-set and the ‘discipline’ required for growth in manufacturing.
It looks like a challenging task but a journey of a 1000 miles always starts with the first steps. In the upcoming articles we will explore the concept of
‘automaton’ and ‘industrialisation’ more deeply and hopefully lay the right foundation.
Meanwhile, I look forward to hearing from you what are your major concerns and bottlenecks you face in your quest for growth. Hopefully we can address them in the next articles.
