FAQ

An ingredient handling system manages the complete journey of raw ingredients from delivery and storage through to the mixer, automatically. In an industrial bakery, that means outdoor or indoor silos and tanks for bulk storage, pneumatic or mechanical conveying systems for transport through the plant, and precision dosing equipment that delivers every ingredient at the right moment and in the right quantity.

The goal is to replace manual weighing, scooping and carrying with a controlled, repeatable process. One that runs the same way at 3am on a Sunday as it does on Monday morning.

The most immediate impact of automated ingredient handling systems is on consistency. When a human weighs ingredients multiple times a day, the result varies. When a dosing system does it, the result is the same every time. That consistency carries through to product quality, waste levels and production planning.

Beyond that: automated systems reduce the number of operators needed for ingredient handling, improve traceability (every ingredient movement is logged), and remove people from dusty, physically demanding environments.

Industrial bakeries are the primary market: bread, buns, pizza bases, morning goods, crackers and biscuits. But ingredient handling systems are equally relevant in industrial pastry and confectionery production, breweries (malt, hop dosing), and other food manufacturers where consistent, hygienic dosing of dry or liquid ingredients is critical.

A flour storage system provides controlled bulk storage and supply of flour from delivery to production. In most industrial bakeries, that starts with outdoor or indoor silos that receive bulk flour deliveries by tanker, and ends with a dosing system that feeds the mixer at the right rate. Between those two points, pneumatic conveying systems transport the flour through sealed pipelines.

The system is designed to protect flour quality during storage and to guarantee a reliable, uninterrupted supply to the production process.

GRP (glass-reinforced polyester) silos have a number of properties that make them particularly suited to outdoor flour storage in bakery environments.

Their natural insulation limits the temperature differential between the silo wall and the flour inside. That is the main cause of condensation, which degrades flour quality and can create hygiene problems. GRP silos also resist corrosion, making them low-maintenance over a long service life, and their lighter weight simplifies installation compared to steel alternatives.

The geometry matters too: Spiromatic GRP silos feature a 70° conic funnel, which guarantees first-in-first-out (FIFO) flour flow. This prevents older flour from sitting at the bottom while fresh deliveries are added. Thats is a common problem in flat-bottomed silos that leads to quality variation and, in the worst cases, spoilage.

A practical side effect: because the silo insulates the flour, it reaches the dough room at a lower temperature. In warm months, that reduces or eliminates the need to actively cool flour or dough, which is a meaningful energy saving.

Three factors matter most: temperature control, sealed transport, and FIFO stock rotation.

Temperature swings between the silo and the flour inside cause condensation on silo walls, which affects flour moisture content and can create conditions for microbial growth. A well-insulated silo, GRP is the most common solution, limits this effect significantly. During transport, sealed pneumatic conveying systems prevent contamination and dust exposure. And FIFO flow (guaranteed by a properly designed silo funnel) ensures every batch of flour is used in the order it was delivered.

A pneumatic conveying system transports powdered or granular ingredients through sealed pipelines using air pressure or vacuum. The ingredient is picked up at the source (typically a silo or bag dump station) carried through the pipeline, and discharged at the destination, such as a dosing hopper above the mixer. There are no open conveyors, no manual carrying and no ingredients exposed to the production environment during transport.

The most important benefit is hygiene: ingredients move through a closed system with no contact with the environment or with operators. That eliminates a significant contamination risk compared to manual or open mechanical conveying.

Beyond hygiene, pneumatic systems are flexible. Pipelines can route around obstacles, between floors and across long distances in ways that mechanical conveyors cannot. In retrofit projects especially, this flexibility is often decisive. It allows a conveying system to be added to an existing building without major structural modifications.

Dust in bakery environments is both a quality and a safety issue. The main control measures in a well-designed installation are: enclosed conveying (ingredients never travel in open air), bag dump stations with integrated aspiration and dust collection, proper filtration at discharge points, and dust-tight construction throughout.

In Spiromatic systems, aspiration and filtration are designed as part of the installation from the start, not added as an afterthought. This is particularly relevant in facilities handling multiple fine powders, where dust accumulation can compromise both hygiene and ATEX compliance.

An ingredient dosing system automatically weighs and delivers ingredients to the production process in the correct quantity, at the correct time, according to the recipe. This applies to bulk ingredients like flour and sugar, minor dry ingredients like salt, yeast and improvers, and liquid ingredients like water, oil and liquid yeast.

Dosing systems range from simple single-ingredient hoppers with load cells to complex multi-ingredient platforms that manage an entire recipe automatically, communicate with the production management system, and log every dosing event for traceability.

Recipe accuracy directly affects product quality and raw material cost. A consistent 0.3% overdose of an expensive ingredient across thousands of batches adds up quickly. Underdosing affects product quality, shelf life and potentially compliance with labeling requirements.

Accurate dosing also makes production predictable. When every batch is dosed the same way, quality control becomes a verification process rather than a rescue operation.

Yes. Bulk dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt), minor dry ingredients (yeast, improvers, seeds), liquids (water, oil, liquid yeast, egg, syrups) and viscous ingredients can all be handled within a single integrated installation. The dosing technology differs by ingredient type (flow meters and pumps for liquids, gravimetric weigh hoppers for powders) but the control system manages all of them as part of one recipe.

A dough fermentation system automates the production of pre-ferments such as sourdoughs, sponge doughs, poolishes and similar at industrial volumes. Rather than relying on operators to monitor and manage fermentation manually, the system controls the key parameters (temperature, timing, hydration) automatically and reproducibly.

This allows industrial bakeries to produce fermented doughs with the complexity and quality associated with craft production, but at volumes and consistency levels that manual management cannot achieve.

Fermented doughs are sensitive to process variation. Small changes in temperature or timing produce measurable differences in flavor, crust development and dough behavior. Automated fermentation systems eliminate that variability: every batch runs at the same temperature for the same duration, regardless of season, shift or operator.

The practical result is that bakeries can commit to fermented product lines with confidence, in quality, in output and in scheduling. Sourdough and sponge dough production becomes a predictable production step rather than a craft process that depends on individual expertise.

Dough rework systems collect dough that cannot be used in the current production run (overweight pieces, production line transitions, rejected batches) and reintegrate it into new production in a controlled way, at a defined percentage per batch.

Without a rework system, this dough is discarded. Depending on production volume and product type, unmanaged dough losses can reach values equivalent to up to €175,000 per production line per year. A rework system recovers that material systematically, without affecting product quality when managed correctly.

Automated ingredient handling reduces the number of points where human contact, open containers or manual transfers create contamination risk. Ingredients move through sealed systems from storage to mixer. Bag dump stations are enclosed and aspirated. Equipment surfaces are designed to be cleanable without disassembly where possible.

Traceability also improves: every ingredient batch, dosing event and production order is logged automatically. In the event of a quality issue, the system can trace which batch of which ingredient was used in which production run, information that would otherwise require careful manual record-keeping to reconstruct.

Hygienic design is an engineering standard for equipment used in food production. The core principles: smooth, non-porous surfaces that can be cleaned without residue trapping; no hollow sections or dead spaces where product can accumulate; materials that are food-safe and resistant to cleaning agents; and construction that allows inspection and cleaning of all product-contact areas. In ingredient handling equipment, hygienic design applies to conveying pipelines, dosing hoppers, load cells and all connections between components.

Yes. Spiromatic designs and engineers ingredient handling systems for industrial food production worldwide, including facilities operating under FDA requirements. Equipment is built to hygienic standards appropriate to the production environment, using food-safe materials and construction methods that support FDA-compliant production and cleaning protocols.

Specific FDA validation requirements or documentation needs are addressed as part of the engineering and commissioning process for each project.

Automation removes variability from the parts of production that do not benefit from variability. Ingredient dosing, transport and fermentation control run the same way regardless of time of day, operator experience or production pressure. That consistency carries through to product quality, waste levels and the predictability of the production plan.

The other dimension is labor: automated ingredient handling reduces the number of operators needed for repetitive transport and weighing tasks, and removes people from dusty or physically demanding environments.

Ingredient waste in industrial bakeries has several sources: dosing inaccuracy (over-portioning), conveying losses (residue in transfer lines), and dough that cannot be processed and is discarded. Automated systems address all three.

Precise gravimetric dosing eliminates over-portioning. Enclosed conveying systems with proper purge sequences minimize transfer losses. And dough rework systems recover production dough that would otherwise be discarded, at volumes that, in larger production facilities, can represent savings of up to €175,000 per line per year.

There is no single number, but the main contributors to return on investment are well established: reduced labor in ingredient handling, lower ingredient waste through accurate dosing, recovered dough through rework systems, reduced downtime from consistent supply to the mixer, and lower quality costs from consistent recipe execution.

Spiromatic analyzes these parameters for each customer's specific situation (production volume, ingredient consumption, current waste levels and labor costs) and uses that analysis to build a realistic business case before any investment is made.

A liquid dosing system stores, conditions and delivers liquid ingredients (water, oil, liquid yeast, egg, syrups and similar) to the production process automatically and in precise quantities. Temperature conditioning is often part of the system: water is tempered to a defined temperature before dosing, which is one of the key variables in consistent dough quality.

Spiromatic liquid dosing systems are designed as part of the integrated ingredient handling installation, not as a standalone add-on. That means communication with the recipe management system, synchronized dosing with dry ingredients, and a single point of control for the complete ingredient supply.

The main benefit is accuracy. Liquid ingredients are dosed by flow meter or weighing to a defined quantity, eliminating the variation that comes from manual measurement. For water, where temperature and quantity both affect dough development, the combined effect of automated tempering and dosing can have a significant impact on batch-to-batch consistency.

Traceability also improves: every liquid ingredient dosing event is logged against the production order, which is important for allergen management and quality documentation.

Yes. Liquid dosing is one of the areas where retrofit is particularly straightforward. The existing mixer connections are the integration point; the liquid dosing system feeds into those connections, and the control system links to the existing production environment. In many cases, the mechanical integration requires no changes to the mixing equipment itself.

Yes, and a significant part of Spiromatic's project work involves upgrading or extending existing installations rather than building from scratch. That applies to all parts of the ingredient handling chain: silos, conveying systems, dosing platforms and automation.

The starting point is always a technical assessment of what exists: the structural condition of existing silos, the layout and capacity of current conveying lines, and the automation platform in use. Based on that assessment, Spiromatic determines what can be reused, what needs to be upgraded and what the integration points will be.

The primary benefit is that a significant part of the investment already exists. Structural provisions, existing silos, civil works and production infrastructure represent cost that does not need to be repeated. Retrofitting builds on that foundation.

The other practical consideration is continuity. A well-managed retrofit is staged to minimize production downtime, often with new systems installed and commissioned in parallel with existing production before the switchover.

Often, yes. Steel or GRP silos in good structural condition can frequently be integrated into a new installation, sometimes with modifications to connections or instrumentation. Existing conveying pipelines and mechanical equipment are evaluated for capacity, condition and compatibility with the new system requirements.

The decision is always made based on technical condition and the specific production requirements of the new installation, not on a general rule.

Every Spiromatic installation starts with the production process, not the equipment list. Before any engineering begins, the team works with the customer to understand recipe structures, production volumes, ingredient characteristics and the physical constraints of the building or site.

The process knowledge of what the installation has to achieve, not just what equipment it contains drives every subsequent engineering decision, from silo sizing to control system architecture.

Yes. Spiromatic covers the complete project: engineering design, automation, manufacturing, installation and commissioning. A single point of contact manages the project from initial design through to handover.

That means the customer does not need to coordinate between a mechanical supplier, an automation provider and an installation contractor. All of those disciplines sit within one project team.

The design process starts with the production requirements: what ingredients, in what quantities, at what frequency, with what accuracy. From there, the engineering team determines the storage volumes needed, the conveying capacity, the dosing technology for each ingredient type, the automation architecture and the hygienic requirements.

Future expansion is considered from the start. Silo foundations, pipeline routings and control system architecture can be designed to accommodate additional capacity without requiring major rework later.

Automated ingredient handling changes what production operators do, not whether the bakery needs them. The tasks that automation replaces, such as carrying sacks, manually weighing ingredients and managing silo levels, are physically demanding, repetitive and a source of error. Automation takes these tasks over.

What remains, and becomes more important, is process oversight: monitoring production performance, responding to exceptions, and ensuring that the automated systems are running as intended. That requires skill and attention; it is not work that disappears.

Yes, in specific tasks. The labor reduction in ingredient handling (the transport, weighing and dosing of raw materials) can be significant in larger facilities. That labor can either be reduced or redeployed to other parts of the production operation that still require manual attention.

A secondary effect: automated systems reduce dust exposure and heavy lifting in the ingredient handling area, which has a measurable impact on working conditions and on the ability to attract and retain operators in those roles.

Spiromatic provides technical support throughout the operational life of the installation: remote diagnostics, troubleshooting assistance, software updates for the automation platform, and on-site service visits when needed.

The support structure is built around the reality that in industrial bakery production, downtime is expensive and time-sensitive. The response priority reflects that.

Yes. Approximately 80% of operational issues in Spiromatic ingredient handling and automation systems can be diagnosed and resolved through remote access, without requiring an on-site visit. This includes faults in the automation and control systems, recipe or parameter adjustments, and diagnostics on connected equipment.

Remote resolution is both faster and less disruptive than waiting for a service visit. That is why remote support capability is built into the installation from the start, not offered as an optional extra.

Yes. Spiromatic supports installations throughout their operational life, including planned maintenance, spare parts supply, software updates and upgrade projects as production requirements evolve. The relationship does not end at commissioning.

No. Automation can be implemented in stages, starting with the ingredients or process steps that offer the clearest return and building from there. Many Spiromatic customers have automated flour supply first (because it represents the largest volume and the most labor) and added automation for minor ingredients, liquids or fermentation in subsequent phases.

The decision about where to start is based on a structured analysis of the current process: which ingredients are used in the highest volume, where manual handling creates the most variation, and where the investment will recover fastest.

The main factors are consumption volume, dosing frequency and the consequences of error. High-volume ingredients (flour, water) are almost always automated first because the throughput justifies the investment easily. Minor ingredients may follow because their dosing accuracy has a disproportionate impact on product quality, even if the volume is small.

Labor intensity and hygiene requirements also factor in. Ingredients that require frequent manual handling in difficult conditions (fine powders, allergens) are often strong candidates for early automation even at lower volumes.

Phasing allows each stage of investment to be evaluated before the next is committed. The first phase delivers measurable results in waste reduction, labor cost or product consistency, that provide both the financial justification and the operational learning for the next phase.

It also allows the production team to adapt. An ingredient handling system changes workflows and requires operators to develop new skills. A phased approach gives the team time to absorb those changes before the next layer of automation is added.