Tech and tradition collide in bakeries as automation expands from caramel lines to cake decorating

A BBC analysis of three bakeries shows automation growing in the sector while makers seek to preserve craft. At Tunnock’s, the Glasgow-area wafer and cake producer, a multi-story caramel line runs from the second floor to the first, delivering a sweet aroma as it moves. A team of about 12 workers tests the caramel by sight and feel, and together with automated spreaders, helps shape the final product. Stuart Louden, the firm’s engineering and transport manager and fifth generation of the family to run the business, says the operation produces roughly 20 tonnes of caramel a day. While the caramel work remains labor intensive, most of the rest of the factory is automated. The company has long sought to combine the latest technology with its heritage to stay competitive with larger snack groups. "We are a small fish in a big pond, and to try and keep up with some of these bigger companies that we are competing against, you’ve got to have the good machines there to get the output," Louden says. Machines do the heavy lifting on spreading caramel, including night shifts, but human oversight remains essential in managing texture and process pace. In total, the combined effort on the line and wrapping produces about seven million wafer bars and 4.5 million tea cakes a year. Raising output without sacrificing the brand’s character is a constant balancing act. The wrapping on wafers is folded around the product rather than sealed at the ends, a choice that keeps the process more human-centered and slower than a fully sealed line. The goal, Louden says, is to preserve the traditional appeal that draws customers back, even as automation frees up space and capacity.

The push to automate is echoed in equipment makers’ efforts to tailor robot systems to bakeries' needs. Canada’s Unifiller, part of Coperion, has spent years developing HIRO, a robot arm designed to decorate cakes and handle toppings, including caramel. The system can work with the pastry bag technique used on many bakery lines, with Derek Lanoville, the research and development manager at Coperion, noting that if a task can be done by a pastry bag, it should be doable by HIRO as well. The project encounters food-safety and hygiene hurdles that are less common in other industries. The simplest way to address them, industry executives say, is to design equipment that is easy to take apart for cleaning. Swiss robotics firm Stäubli provides the arm that Unifiller deploys, a choice intended to simplify maintenance in the high-demand bakery setting.

A further complication for automation is the inherent variability of baked goods. Cakes are not identical from piece to piece, and lines must accommodate imperfect centering or slight shape differences as they move along conveyors. Lanoville notes that the solution must accommodate this natural variation so robots don’t disrupt the production flow.

At The Bread Factory, a northwest London bakery supplying sourdough loaves to Gail’s and other outlets, human hands remain central to the process. The site runs around the clock, baking with a schedule that uses about 16 tonnes of flour to produce up to 40,000 loaves each day. Machines mix dough and divide it into loaves, and a range of sustainable flours highlights the operation’s emphasis on soil health. Head baker Anomarel Ogen notes the delicacy of dough today and the value of skilled hands in shaping loaves. "Look at his hands, and look how gentle he actually is with the movement, how little pressure he is putting in. That requires years of skill. This is not fully replaceable by machines just yet," he says. Having staff on the floor adds flexibility; if a recipe is tweaked, workers can observe the impact and adjust the process if needed. Yet Ogen also emphasizes that automation can play a supportive role, while gatekeeping remains essential to safeguard the process.

Industry observers say the challenge is to strike a balance between speed and the handcraft that customers expect. Craig Le Clair, principal analyst at Forrester, argues that the path forward for food manufacturers lies in a hybrid model. Automation should target areas that benefit from consistency, speed, and volume, but core value-add elements—like the craft of decorating or shaping dough—should remain human. "Process transformation must apply automation only to areas that benefit from consistency, speed, and volume, while keeping core value-add elements strictly human," Le Clair says.

On the investment front, technology adoption hinges on the economic environment. Louden acknowledges that cocoa price volatility over the past two years has a direct impact on decisions to upgrade lines. If the business were to invest another £2.5 million in equipment, the timing would matter and the financial risk would have to be weighed against expected gains. "We just need to wait, because the last couple of years just have not been the right time, and we don’t want to put ourselves financially in a position that it could hurt us," he says.

The bakery sector’s trend toward automation is not about replacing skilled workers but about redefining roles to sustain output and food safety while preserving the product’s character. Proponents argue that automation can handle repetitive, precise tasks and scale production, while seasoned bakers focus on the sensory, texture, and presentation elements that define a brand. The broader industry is watching closely to see whether automation will broaden opportunities for small and mid-sized bakers to compete with global players without eroding what makes their products distinctive.

Ultimately, the bakery cases illustrate a future where technology and tradition intersect on the shop floor. As makers refine hybrid models that keep the “soul” of their products intact, automation could become a tool that enhances consistency and safety without sacrificing the human touch that customers value. The balance remains delicate and ongoing, influenced by price pressures, consumer expectations, and the evolving capabilities of robotics and sensing technologies.