A visit to a Biscuit Factory

A Day in a Biscuit Factory


Have you ever wondered what goes inside a biscuit factory and how do you get such delicious biscuit made. A visit to biscuit factory has been detailed below in brief so that ones get s an idea of biscuit manufacturing, process and people. Biscuit factory has it own ways, lingo and people who manage the production. I would tell you more about people who are directly involved in the production process or activities on the shop floor.

Premixing area

Operators checks the variety and weighs ingredient as per the recipes waits for mixers operators signals .Once he gets the signal , starts putting up all ingredients manually or in case system is automated he starts the discharge options. Automated additions could be flour , butter , sugar solution , milk , water etc . Food Additives which are in very small quantities are added manually. Pre mixing area have storage tanks, pumps, votators , sifter and in many cases dough truck tilters . Operators has to get the material arranged from the stores for the days production . In case of cracker varieties the preparation s starts as early as 18 – 20 hrs . Gets stocks for sugar , flour ,hvo and other ingredients .Does cleaning operations at the end of the shift .Sifts Flour , Ammonia and Sugar .

Mixing Area

Mixer Operators gets the Ingredients from pre mixing area, cleans the mixer and checks the timers setting on the mixer for mixing process. Gets following material for addition such as biscuit powder from biscuit grinding room and dough in case of any left out in earlier process . Mixing operators does the mixing in stages . Checks the dough consistency , temperature and forwards the dough in a dough truck to tilting device .Operator has to be careful about the quality of flour take certain corrective measures in case he does under mixing or over mixing .


Forming Area

Operator checks the variety of product whether it is a molding variety or cutting variety . Check the cutter or the molder as per variety of the biscuit. Changes the speed and pressure of the molding or cutting as required .Install accessories like milk spray or salt or sugar spray units if required . Adjust speed of forming units like laminator, gauge rolls . Changes conveyors if required. In case of change over from one variety to other he selects the moulder or the cutter and install it on the biscuit production line .Add flour dust to the flour duster in case of sticky dough . Checks the wetness of the cutting web .Drops deformed biscuits . Return scrap dough to the


Baking Area

Oven operators checks the variety and adjust the oven zones temperature , adjusts the dampers as per the requirement .Adjust burner setting as per temperature requirement .

Increase or decrease speed of the traveling oven band as per the requirement . Simultaneously instruct forming section operator to adjust the speed of the forming unit . Drops burnt biscuits . Checks the tracking of oven band, make a note of damaged band area . Important roles comes into picture in case of power failure when he has to get the biscuit trapped in the oven zone out with help of manual arrangement .This is very important as any delay by him can result in fire in the oven .Checks the safety sheets of the oven .Hence oven operator has big role in baking quality of the product .


Packing Area

Packing area can be most populated in case of semi – automatic packaging but for automated area one or two operators are sufficient per machine .Biscuits are fed into feeding chutes manually by feeder s . Packaging operators checks the date , labels and product setting on the packing machine . Checks the wrapper and adjust the setting of the machine . Adjust the speed of the packing machine as per incoming quantity of biscuit. Checks temperature of sealers to avoid any defective packaging .Does the change over of the packing machine as per the product. Then ensure that cartons are taped and then passed on to the finished good ware house.

All operators has been provided with pre formatted form to be filled in . Each section fills these form s to be submitted to the shift supervisors who then send it to the production manager who checks for the data , outputs , break down , wastage etc and log it on the ERP software .

Other functions

Store – Receives and inspect incoming material . Updates stock position, Store these material at predefined place .

Purchase – They are responsible for arranging material for production On request generated by production planning they release orders for vendors to deliver the material on time .

Production planning- Gets sales requirement from sales deptt . Plan production accordingly with taking view of raw material, plants availability, personnel and packing material .

Dispatch- Co ordinate with sales dept and dispatches material to the destination in time .Has to follow up with transporter for dispatches .

Quality team - Responsible for quality of the ingredients , packing material and standards of the process , product and keep monitoring on critical control points , Maintain documents for

Maintenance team - Responsible for break down maintenance and upkeep of the plant and machinery.

Hygiene team - Maintains the hygienic and cleanliness of the factory .

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Premier Foods and WRAP team up to tackle bread waste

A recent study conducted by UK govt highlights the fact that the major conntributor to food wastage in british household are bakery product . Around 14% of total food wastage has been bread . Reason for this can be attributed to

Pack size - larger pack size results in more wastages
Staling products get staled due to short shelf life
Improper storage practices
Shorter shelf life of the product.







Premier Foods and WRAP team up to tackle bread waste

Alveograph or Extensograph - An Important tool for bakers

Alveograph is an integral part of any bakery or flour miller .Its a must for bakeries and helps in inspecting flour for its strength .Alveograph is also known as extensometer by many . These machine was invented by M .Chopin Hence the name Chopin extensometer. Alveograph uses air pressure to inflate a thin sheet of dough . Simulating carbon dioxide gas which is present in the dough and is the reason for dough to stretch in process.Dough is allowed to inflate till it burst .The point at which the dough sheet burst is recorded and values calculated for the flour . These values are plotted and shown as graph through computer.
Following are the parameter which an Alveograph shows
P- Its the value which shows the amount of pressure withstood by the dough sheet before it burst.
L -Shows the maximum height attained by the bubble befor it collapsed or bursted.This shows the flexibility of the dough
P/L- Its the value obtained by pressure upon the height attained and this shows the strength of the flour.
G- The volume of the air entrapped in the bubble before bubble burst .This shows the flexibility of the dough .
W- Energy required to get the bubble inflated before it collapsed .This shows the strength of the flour .

Once all the parameter s are analysed then bakers selects the suitable product for the flour as per its characteristics . Normally these tests are done prior to production which saves time and energy of the operators with the right selection of flour .This also minimise the chances of the failure of the batch .

IFFCO - Bakery Manufacturer-A profile

International Food Stuff company ( IFFCO ) is one of the largest bakery manufacturer of bakery products in Gulf region . Established in year 1975 –Sharjah ,UAE ,from a food trading company it has become a big food manufacturing company having manufacturing facilities in various countries like Iran , Pakistan , Egypt , Malaysia and UAE . Its product are exported to nearly 70 countries . Major products of IFFCO are Edible oil , Bakery products ( Biscuits , pasta , cakes, frozen bakery ) , Ice creams , Snacks , flour , Poultry and Animal Feed s. Major Brands of IFFCO are Noor , Tiffany , Igloo , London Dairy , Khaleej Tiffany brands of bakery products are popular brand in Middle eastern countries .It has product range from , Plain glucose biscuit , Cream biscuits, Digestive ,Nice ,Cookies .Wafers are also popular category of Tiffany . HO - PO BOX 29220 , Sharjah , UAE .

Britannia Ups Its Stake in SFIC and AL Sallan Foods

Britannia s has taken two companies Strategic Food Intl CO , Dubai , UAE and Al Sallan Foods , Sohar , OMAN under its control. Declaring this MD Ms Vinita Bali told media that both Companies which were JV with Khimji Ramdas are now 100% subsidiary of Britannia Industries Ltd .Earlier it was 70-30% JV with KR group. Ms Bali said that this marked Britannia’s move to consolidate its position in that part of the globe.Both these companies have suffered losses . Already Operations have been consolidated at Sohar for maximum of the production on account of cost benefits having plant in Oman .SFIC ( Strategic Food Intl Co)-Dubai has problem on account of high cost of overhaeads and Ingredients .

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Role of Bakery Ingredients

Various Ingredients are used in Bread and Biscuit manufacturing .Each Ingredients has specific role to play during manufacturing process . Here are few major bakery ingredient and their role Sugar Primary role of sugar in bread and biscuit is provide sweetness( taste) to the product .Color to the product due to carmalisation .Color of the crust in bread loaves is due to the sugar .Basic role of sugar is to activate the yeast to produce carbon dioxide and alochol during bread manufacturing .Note: When preparing for mixing yeast is separately being put into ammonium chloride and sugar solution . Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil -( HVO )Main function of HVO is to retain the moisture inside the dough.Give smoothness to the bite . Salt It provides taste to the product . Salt act as controlling agent against wild yeast activity .Thus controlled yeast activity can provide better texture or network .

GMS ( Glycerol Mono stearate)-Its act as emulsifier which binds together the oil and water molecules and it helps bread to hold moisture .

SSL ( Sodium Stearoyl lactilate)-It is also known as Smoother .It is a compound which retains softness in bread and delays staling of bread .

SMP ( Skimmed Milk Powder) Solution-Main function of Skimmed milk powder is to give flavour to the product and sweetens the product.

Ammonium Chloride-Ammonium chloride provides Nitrogen which used to activate yeast in presence of water and sugar.

Bread Improver-These are used for improving texture of bread and add to the flavour.

Dough Conditioner-These are used to strengthen weak flour and generally enzymes alpha - amylase .Its added to break down the starch into sugar and alcohol. These are prepared from fungal sources .

L - cysteine-L -cysteine acts on sulphide groups and proteins and acts as reducing agent . It mellows the dough .

Ascorbic Acid-Ascorbic acid acts as oxidising agent which acts upon the sulphide bonds of amino acid ( gluten) which results in stronger bonds which increases resistance and reduces extensibility of dough.Ascorbic acid reacts slowly and for longer time and is active even at the baking stage .

Potassium Bromate-Potassium bromate too acts as oxidising agent the difference between ascorbic acid and potassium bromate is that its a strong reagent its activity time is short and reaction is strong.It also helps in increasing resistance of dough and reducing extensibility.Note : It is interesting to know that both oxidising and reducing agents are used in bread. The reason to use both are that we need to get balanced property of dough. We can make bread without L- cysteine or Ascorbic acid

Calcium propianate-Calcium propianate acts as preservative. Its main function is to protect product from any fungal infection .Hence increases shelf life of the product. The quantity of Calcium propianate varies with season.In rainy season quantities are increased.

Acetic Acid-Acetic acid is also used as preservative .It protects products from bacterial infection . As it reduces the pH of the dough and turns the dough towards acidic side .Its quantity also varies as per the season.

Yeast - Previous post on Role and type of yeast

Yeast -Types and Roles in Bakery Industry

Bakery Industry uses Yeast in various types for bread and biscuit production .Yeast acts as leavening agent and it gives puffy structure to bread and Cracker biscuits .Yeast is an unicellular living organism .Its growth is max at higher humidity and temperature 45 deg c .Yeast action on food releases carbon dioxide which gets entrapped in dough and gives puffiness to the product after baking .Yeast are used for sour dough products or Sponge dough products . Sponge are prepared in cracker production yeast is added during mixing are then kept for 18-20 hrs before production.

Commercial yeast are of two types - Compressed yeast and Dry yeast


Compressed yeast - These can be further calssified as

• Breweries yeast - It acts on malt to give alcohol and carbon dioxide.
• Distillers yeast- It acts on molasses to give alcohol and carbon dioxide .
• Bakers yeast - It acts on sugar to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. Carbon dioxide is the main by product.

Other features of compressed yeast

• Its available in cake form
• Its cheaper than dry yeast
• Moisture content is 80%
• Life of compressed yeast is 5 days
• Cell usage is 90-95%

Dry Yeast

• Its costlier than Compressed yeast
• Its is available in powder form
• Moisture is around 5%
• Life of dry yeast is more than one year
• Cell usage around 60%

Cotton Conveyor Manufacturers/Suppliers in India

Bakery Industry in India rely heavily on cotton conveyors for their conveyors in production process . Bread , Biscuit and Cakes manufacturing invariably uses cotton conveyor on their conveyors .Other industry also have wide application of cotton conveyors .
Advantages of cotton conveyor has already been discussed in earlier post on
PU VS COTTON CONVEYORS.

Bakery Industry specially biscuit process industry buy cotton conveyor in bulk with width up to 1.5mtrs and thickness varies from 1.0mm to 3.5 mm . These cotton conveyors are manufactured into rolls .Other varieties of cotton conveyor are Cotton Nylon mix .It could be procured in open lengths and endless forms.Most these cotton conveyors are manufactured in Automated hand looms as per the requirement of manufacturers .

Major suppliers /manufacturers of cotton conveyor are

• G..C. Dutta and Sons,Kolkata
• Scandia Belting, Kolkata
• Dolar gold belts and Fans pvt ltd, Kolkata
• Industrial Filters and Fabrics pvt ltd , Indore
• K. Dharmalingam , Trichy
• Pachiyamman Endless Webs,Trichy
• Madura Coats Pvt Ltd , Banglore
• Khosla Profile Pvt Ltd , Mumbai
• Shri Rajalaxmi Conveyors , Trichy

High Fructose Corn Syrup replaced by sugar in bakery products by manufacturers

Many manufacturers and retail chain groups like Kraft,Starbuck has started replacing High Fructose Corn Syrup from their products as there has been intense campaign against HFCS by consumers and food nutritionist.

High fructose corn syrup ( HFCS) is used by bakery manufacturers to give the product a longer shelf life , Keeps product moist and price of corn syrup is far cheaper than beet or cane sugar .
But now that anti -hfcs has gained a firm footing on consumers mind, manufacturers are now gradually substituting hfcs by sugar . Although scientist have declared both sugar and hfcs are bad for health .
HFCS is thought to depletes the soil quality on land where it is farmed as compare to natural cane sugar and as it is prepared from complex chemical reactions with enzyme people has impression that natural sugar is more Eco- friendly. Researchers have reported detecting traces of mercury in a small sampling of high-fructose corn syrup, though they cautioned that the study was limited.

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Utilities in bakery plants

Bakery plants production related machinery's and process are supported by various utilities equipment and they are as important as bakery equipment and machinery's .Selection of these Utility related equipments are crucial for plant operations as well as energy consumption

Few of the Utilities plants for bakery

• Air conditioning
• Chillers
• Cold storage
• Boilers
• D.G. sets
• Air Compressors
• Pumps
• Fire Hydrants systems
• Hot water generators
• Effluent treatment Plants

Proper maintenance and overhauling has to be scheduled for these equipments for smooth production in bakery plants

Want To Start Bakery Business ?

Bakery products has gained popularity in masses.New products are launched very often with advent of new technologies and packaging bakery products are preferred as any time food. Bakery products are popular among all class ,gender ,age and geography .

Entrepreneurs and business owners are putting up plants , retail chain or even few enthusiast open home bakeries to cater to popular demands for cookies , bread , biscuits , buns , rusk , pastries and cakes .

Here are few bakery businesses plan

• Home made bakery products-The easiest way to do business in bakery products is to start it from home .You can have limited customers and with unique recipes you can supply products like cakes,cookies , biscuits for personal occasions like birthdays , kitty parties,marriages ,meetings ,seminars and official functions of both govt or private firms.

• Automated bakery plants-Here investors can put up big automated plants for wide variety of bakery products. The volumes are very high and caters mass population &of different geography . This models is useful for people with large amount of finances and interested in long term and brand building exercise .Automated plants requires plant and machinery with higher levels of supply chain networks with functions like sales & marketing , procurement , finance and production ,etc .Employee numbers are very high .

• Small Bakeries-When people or entrepreneur has finance constrains then can opt for small bakeries which caters for local and close areas for sales .cost of advertisement are low .Can have direct relationship with customer and can produce tailor made products for customers . Business could be good if products are innovative and quality superior to beat branded products produced by bakery manufacturers .You might have seen people waiting for fresh bakery products outside of bakeries.

• Third party manufacturing/private labels(outsourcing)-It applies for firms with idle capacity to produce ,companies with brand equity ,investors with finances. Many manufacturers are ready to manufacture for third party .Advantage of this model is that one doesn't require plant and machinery ,land and employees liabilities to do business.

• Export/ ImportTrading-This model is the simplest form of doing bakery business with either exporting bakery products to different countries by buying from ones own country or Importing bakery products from other country and distributing to ones own country. Disadvantage is that the margins are limited and doesn' t carry any brand equity.

• Retail chain-This bakery business model is similar to any other food retail chains like Mcdonalds ,Starbucks , Barista ,KFC etc. Entrepreneur has to build one central bakery from where these retails chain would get their supplies or bakery products can be out -sourced from other bakeries.These retail outlets are gaining popularity now days as customers can have their favorite product at one place and enjoy it with great ambiance. This is very good model for doing business as one can charge premium price for the products .Bakery courts in malls/supermarkets/multiplexes.This is similar to retail chain concepts only difference is that bakery court is in rental space but footfalls are very in these kind of food courts as people love to eat their shopping spree. Families come together and enjoy food in these kinds of courts.Bakery Speciality products can be popularised through such bakery retail chains .

• Franchise / Dealership - With numerous top brands and retail chain world wide or national brands one can tie up with these firm and open franchise or become dealers of their products

• Online bakery shops-The net savvy entrepreneur can launch website store and can sell various bakery product. The basic advantage is that investment is low and products are available 24x7x365 days .You can find several online web portals for cakes and other bakery products

• Pet animal food ( DOG BISCUIT )-A very promising business opportunity is available for bakery industry that is of special bakery products for pet animals .These can be tailor made for dogs ,cats and other animal .Even these bakery products can be mixed with animal feeds.The popularity of dog biscuit is a good example.

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Britannia s Treat - A product review

Britannia's Treat is one of the popular brands of Britannia's products. Treat is a flavoured cream variety and have orange , strawberry , pineapple , mango flavours etc . Kids really love this variety as it has jam filled at the centre of the biscuit . Here are some features
Name of the product --- Treat
Taste - Good with different flavours as mentioned above, sweetness on the higher side
Color - Light brown , baking good
Bite- hard bite
Packaging- Good with metalized wrapper , available in 42gms slugpack .
Ingredients-Wheat flour ,Sugar,Edible vegetable oil ,Invert syrup , Dextrose, Cereal products , Milk solid , Starch ,Fruit Products ,Raising agent ,Salt , Emulsifiers ,Gelling Agent ,Acidity regulator and stabilizer.Added flavours ( Butter , Vanilla and Mixed Fruit )
Calories-459kcal per 100gm servings
Price - Rs 5.00 for 42.0 gm s
Competitors --- Parle s Kreames , ITC Dream Cream, Priya Golds Kids Cream, Classic cream

Indian Biscuit Industry Review

India is the third largest biscuit manufacturing country after USA and CHINA .Estimated annual turnover of Indian biscuit industry is around INR 65.0 billion .Biscuit Industry in India is entering into competitive phase from period of two major players dominating the industry to number of player making mark on national scene and getting share of the market which is good for the industry.

Apart from Big 3( Britannia , Parle , ITC ) there are around 150 medium to small biscuit factory in India . These Industry are now facing problem from increase of raw material price. With Govt VAT upto 12.5% has added to their woes .

Biscuit consumption per capita in India has grown to 2.1kg per capita in comparison to 10kg per capita consumption in USA ,UK and Europe . GCC has consumption upto 6 kg per capita .


According to IBMA, the biscuit industry in India witnessed annual growth as 15% in 2003-04, 14% in 2004-05 and 2005-06, 13% in 2006-07, 15% in 2007-08 and 17% in 2008-09. While the growth rate has been stagnating during last 4 years, it has picked up momentum during the 2007-08 and the first quarter of 2008-09 mainly on account of exemption from Central Excise Duty on biscuits with MRP up to INR 100 per kg, as per Union Budget for 2007-08.

The organized biscuit manufacturing industry‘s annual production were around 1.1 million tons in 2003-04, 1.25 million tons in 2004-05, 1.4 million tons in 2005-06, 1.6 million tons in 2006-07 and 1.7 tons in 2007-08.

Rural -Urban market penetration for biscuits has been 75%/85% for urban market and 55% /65% for rural market .

Branded /Organised to Unbranded/Un organised market share of biscuit has been 60% for Organised sector and 40% for Unorganised sector .

Biscuit consumption pattern in the country are Northern India 25%, Western India 23%, Southern India 24% and Eastern India 28%.

Export share is around 15% of total production .

Major types of biscuit popular in Indian market are Glucose , Marie , Cream, Crackers ,Digestive ,Cookies and Milk .

Major manufacturers are Britannia, Parle, ITC , Priyagold, Anmol, Sunfeast, Biskfarm, Dukes, Cremica, Priya, Veeramani, Bonn, Bhagwati, Raja, Champion, Sobisco, Madhabi, Nezone, Windsor, Cookieman, Ankit, Shangrila, Nalanda, Unibic , Cookie Man ,RajaBiscuit

Major  Multinationals  have  started  entering  into these lucrative market   major  names  are  Kraft , United Biscuits , Pepsi , Unibic , GSKB, Ceylon Biscuits  and  other new domestic  entrant  has been  Shakti  Bhog, Amul, Mother dairy 

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