When planning the bun line, Pierre Samson, Multi-Marques' vice-president of engineering, and his staff faced a difficult design problem. To achieve peak efficiency for high-volume items, equipment speeds would approach operating limits just to handle current volume.
"The main idea on plant design was to make production of cluster buns and hot dog items as efficient as possible," Mr. Samson said. "So we sized the oven and proofer for those two products. The other items can be done at slower speeds."
Two bun makeup systems would be required, with a combined output that could exceed 2 50 cuts, or 1,500 buns, per minute. While the oven and proofer could run at this rate and higher, post-baking operations would be pushed right to the edge. One cooling line could carry present volume, but it would have to run "all out" all the time, eliminating the opportunity for future growth. Potential service life of the equipment would also be shortened.
"Bread is relatively stable in its individual sectors," he continued. "It's the opposite with rolls. Burger and barbecue outlets are a growing market."
Multi-Marques continually tries out new products. It introduced the big 51/4-in. Le Gros buns to capitalize on the current barbecue craze. Italian bread is another hot new product for the company. Niche products like these and a new round loaf introduced two months ago are important.
"We don't want to see our market erode, so we're looking for niche markets, too," Mr. Pelletier said. "You can get premium returns on these, so that takes care of the higher production costs."
Laval offered Multi-Marques a proving ground. This was the first time that the company built a new facility from scratch. For startup of the distribution center, Mr. Samson moved to Montreal from Quebec in 1987.
"We decided to do this work in stages. That's a more conservative approach, and we're happy with the way we went," Mr. Samson said. "We learned from each stage of this project, and we made changes in the next phases." He said that the slow approach also helped earn the confidence of both management and production. "It's a big job for everybody to do this much automation."
IJ WHITE COOLING SPIRAL. Buns are uniformly cooled on a continuous belt.
Merger of two groups of wholesale bakers - Montreal-based Unipain and Samson, headquartered in Quebec City - formed Multi-Marques in 1984. A group of Quebec partners owns 75% of thebaking company, and Corporate Foods Ltd., Etobicoke, Ont., has the other 2 5 %.
"We're working hard to rejuvenate our company," Mr. Pelletier said. That effort extends both to plant facilities and staff. "Over the past few years, we've brought in experienced people and new blood. And we're evaluating the performance of all our plants.
"With variable speed, you don't have to run spirals always at maximum," Mr. Samson said, noting that different pans require different line speed. "You don't have to rush the pans or risk pan damage.
"This way of operating adds a lot of flexibility. We can run the high-speed items but be flexible for variety items."
