WP Haton

Using your loaf

With a long-term aim to be the global leader in the field of bread systems, WP Haton has taken a massive step in the right direction with the creation of the Easy Toast concept

Located in Panningen, the Netherlands, WP Haton utilises 60 years of experience to offer a wide range of integrated and field-tested systems, that have helped the company become recognised as the market specialist in the manufacture and supply of innovative total concepts for automated dough processing. A part of the WP Bakery Group, WP Haton serves as an honest, serious and reliable partner of bakers, striving to realise added value by choosing the right module for each production line. WP Haton wants to be the most successful supplier of bread systems worldwide and one of the ways it wants to do this is by ‘communicating in bread, not in nuts and bolts’.

The current focus of the company is the marketing of its various production concepts, the most notable of these being Easy Toast. A total concept for the production of yeast dough baked in tins, Easy Toast is the result of a joint venture between the companies Sobatech BV in the Netherlands (designer of the continuous mixer) and WP Industrial Bakery Engineering in Germany (responsible for pan handling, proofing, baking and cooling): “In many parts of the world there is a fundamental lack of knowhow about how to make bread,” states Jan van den Berg, marketing director of WP Haton. “Bread is very much a staple food the world over and that means there is considerable demand out there for total solutions.”

World’s first
The world’s first and only complete continuous system for the production of bread baked in tins, the Easy Toast concept allows the operator to make and bake various bread types, including toast, sandwich, crust less bread, Pullman loaves and cinnamon bread: “The way Easy Toast works and the benefits the system brings to the table are so easy to explain to people within the industry that WP Haton is marketing it not just to countries here in Europe, but also to a number in the Far East, Africa and South America,” Jan continues.

“There are several major differences between the Easy Toast concept and other bread production systems,” Jan highlights. “First and foremost is its use of a continuous mixer, something that is completely new in the bakery business for toast and sandwiches. In traditional systems the operator would use batch mixers, which result in irregularly mix consistencies, whereas with Easy Toast you have a continuous flow of very consistent dough that stays at the same core temperature. With the line continuously running the operator can be looking at processing between four and six tonnes of dough per hour.

“Another strength of having a continuous mixer is that it can allow the operator to produce a consistent product at a increased level of output, because the system requires less corrections and fewer people working on the production line. On top of this, Easy Toast’s continuous mixer has been engineered to process lower grades of flour. Where this feature really comes in handy is in developing countries in the third world where the overall quality of flour is not as high as in the Western countries. Thanks to the Easy Toast concept, you can take lower grades of flour and still end up with a very good result.”

Reduced costs
The economic advantages provided by the Easy Toast concept are also very important to mention, with calculations suggesting that an industrial bakery using the system can expect to reduce yearly production costs between four and six per cent. This saving is made possible by the very high water absorption rates achieved by Easy Toast. Increasing the water content means less flour needs to be used and by using Hatonless ingredients you also decrease the amount of energy needed for mixing.

One of the many reasons for the success of Easy Toast is the incorporation of the Ingredient, People, Process and Machines (IPPM) concept. This tool, used to optimise bread production in industrial bakeries, is a method used to integrate design processes, organisation, technological process and the operation of complex production lines into automated, fresh good bakery equipment lines. The base principles of IPPM are transparency, solid information, the exchange of information and having a solid and professional approach.

IPPM is today becoming a more and more interesting proposition for bakers worldwide as the complexity of the production of bread, from ingredients to distribution, and the higher demands of the end customer towards bread and its distribution increases. The higher the requirements become, especially towards efficiency, hygiene, quality, shelf life and a better end product, the more it is necessary to structure the production process and to increase the quality of the process in general.

“WP Haton has now been promoting the Easy Toast concept for a full year and the response has been nothing but positive,” Jan enthuses. “With levels of demand going from strength to strength, the company is now turning more of its attention to marketing this technology to millers and bakers. WP Haton’s approach to business is to focus predominantly on areas of the world where there is evidence of growth. This is most prominent in countries where the middle classes are consuming more and more, regions in the Far East and in India for example.”

Unquestionably the future looks very bright for WP Haton and the Easy Toast concept: “The company is determined to follow a forward growth plan,” Jan concludes. “WP Haton has the knowhow, the process knowledge, the experience and the expertise to move forward and capitalise on the evolving nature of the industry.”