Bakkerij Pater pioneered in bakery automation.

Bakkerij Pater was an early adopter of automation. Bakkerij Pater was an early adopter of automation. Almost 35 years ago, the first robots were installed there, making them frontrunners in the Netherlands. This also marked the introduction of DERO GROEP in the bakery sector. Since then, our relationship with Bakkerij Pater has always been maintained. 

The first robot projects at Bakkerij Pater date back to the time when DERO GROEP founder Maro Dedel was still working at Landré Robotics. At the time, Meyn in Oostzaan decided to expand its operations into the bakery sector and brought in Landré Robotics because of the knowledge and experience available there. "I think these were the first robots in a bakery in the Netherlands," says Paul Hermans, founder of Alpha Robotica and former Landré colleague. "A very different industry than what we had worked in until then.

Automation in the new bakery

Bakkerij Pater produces both bread loaves and small bread. For their new bakery in Avenhorn, they wanted to reduce staff workload by automating heavy work. Therefore, multiple GMFanuc robots were installed for tray storage, tin storage, crate storage and crate loading. "Different forms of warehouse management were desired," Paul explains. "Think of driving robots between fixed stacks of baking trays or tins. As well as stationary robots, where stacks of bread crates moved to and from the robots with conveyors. In addition, two robots were used to load elevators with filled bread crates, creating stacks that could go directly to distribution." 

All these different robotic solutions were a deliberate choice, in order to gain experience. Although moving robots look impressive, in practice a stationary solution is often the most efficient. Paul: "Of the different solutions, you really only see the version where the robot is stationary and the products, such as baking tins, trays and bread crates, move back and forth on conveyors anymore."

The robots at Bakkerij Pater over the years.

Learning moments

Not everything went right at once. "By forgetting a minus sign when changing a position, the robot did not go left but right," Paul recalls. "A new panel wall had just been installed there a few days earlier. The robot jammed into it halfway up, causing two panels to snap and fall into the aisle on the other side. Within minutes, everyone from the bakery was watching 'the robot run wild.' Fortunately, the guys who installed the wall were able to laugh about it. In exchange for a crate of beer each, they fixed it the very next day."

Tastes like more

For Meyn, this first bakery project was also the last. Bakeries were a very different type of customer than poultry processors after all, and Meyn decided not to continue in the bakery business. For DERO, however, this was just the beginning. Several projects at bakeries followed over the years. The project at Bakkerij Pater also got a follow-up at DERO. In 2008, the old M400 robot for changing baking tins in the bread loaves line was replaced, and a year later the robot for storing baking trays in the small bread line followed. Today, several robots are still active and Bakkerij Pater is still a customer of DERO GROEP, a cooperation that already lasts for 35 years.

Read more about Bakkerij Pater here.