Page 32 - Food&Drink Business magazine October 2022

PLANT DESIGN & FITOUT
Streamlining
processes in
the kitchen
When Kez’s Kitchen outgrew its facility in Melbourne, the homestyle bakery business approached Process Partners to help decide whether they needed to refit or relocate.
Kim Berry toured the bakery to find out more.
ONE of Australia’s most well-known biscuit and baked goods brands, Kez’s Kitchen, began in the early 1990s with a choc chip biscuit made in the family kitchen.
Today, it produces almost 30 types of biscuits, bars, and brownies in traditional and gluten free varieties.
As with many family-owned businesses, accommodating growth was a piecemeal process, with additional production lines and equipment added where space allowed.
In 2019, pre-Covid, the company recognised the need to make significant changes to its facility to accommodate growth
and find operational efficiencies. Owner and managing
director Michael Carp explains, “Changes were needed to increase our capacity and flexibility. At the time we had one large bakery that operated as gluten rich for three weeks and then gluten free on a five-week cycled.
“We wanted to redesign our layout to allow for increased output in both gluten rich and gluten free as well as improve flexibility so that we didn’t always have to predict five weeks ahead. That would allow us not to sit on so much stock and be able to adapt quickly if customer demand changed.”
The company engaged Process Partners, one of Australia’s largest independent specialist food engineering groups.
Craig Gilbert is a senior packaging engineer for the group and led the Kez’s Kitchen project team.
“When Michael approached us, and in fact when any new customer comes to us, we see a key part of our role as bringing solutions to the table they might not have even considered.
“It’s not uncommon for customers to think they have to relocate, when in fact it can be a redesign of existing premises that can deliver the benefits, they are looking for,” Gilbert says.
The project at Kez’s Kitchen was just that. The company was growing with wider distribution networks, new products, and more contract manufacturing.
“We realised very quickly that we could help deliver a more efficient use of their space and process flow,” Gilbert adds.
Process Partners presented the company with a range of options and once the design decision was made, Kez’s
LEFT: Process Partners designed and built bespoke cooling tunnels, replacing an expensive and inefficient system.
ABOVE: One of Kez’s Kitchen’s latest biscuit ranges.
RIGHT TOP: In the mix.
RIGHT BOTTOM: The team at Kez’s Kitchen.
Kitchen applied for a federal Modern Manufacturing Initiative grant.
The grant decision was delayed and by the time Kez’s Kitchen knew it had been successful the country was experiencing the full impact of the pandemic.
“We were faced with a very tough decision; do we go ahead with what would be a major expenditure of around
$4 million or hold off. We decided to push on because interest rates were low, we were building for growth, and had support from the government, our equipment suppliers, and the bank,” Carp says.
The design was finalised, equipment was ordered, and an “enormous reconstruction” in a short space of time was set in motion. Ultimately, the project was delivered in a three-week window and finished in June 2021.
“The result is three separate zones within an expanded footprint. We now have full physical separation of production spaces, both with the same capability of the original bakery, which allows gluten rich and gluten (and other allergens) free products to be manufactured simultaneously.
“We have added new production and packing lines and a larger and faster chocolate enrobing line, housed in a dedicated third chocolate bakery,” Carp says.
32 | Food&Drink business | October 2022 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au