You know us for chilling. Now let’s talk heat.
You might already know Optimum for bringing KOMA’s cooling and dough-conditioning technology to the UK.
With Kornfeil joining our offering, we’re bringing the heat, too, and opening up a bigger conversation about how bakeries work.
By Reece Brumby, Managing Director, Optimum Temperature Solutions
We’ve spent a lot of time talking to bakeries about keeping things cool.
The right conditions for dough. Consistent proofing. Reliable refrigeration. Getting products down to temperature when they need to be.
Now, with Kornfeil joining the Optimum offering, we’ve got something else to talk about.
Heat.
A bakery doesn’t operate in neat equipment categories.
Here’s something I think is easy to forget as an engineer, particularly when you focus on one aspect of a bakery’s operations.
A bakery doesn’t operate in neat equipment categories.
The dough doesn’t know who supplied the proofer, the oven or the cooling system. It simply moves from one stage of production to the next, with the conditions at each stage affecting what happens afterwards.
An inconsistency in proofing can easily become a problem in the oven. A perfectly baked product can create a bottleneck if the next stage of production can’t keep pace. And even the most sophisticated equipment is of no use when it isn’t working.
It’s why we believe that choosing the right equipment should involve a conversation about much more than the machine itself.
What are you making? How are you making it? What’s working well? And what’s getting in the way?
Those questions have always been important to us at Optimum.
And now, we’re in a position to have an even bigger conversation.
A familiar name with a fresh look
You may have noticed that Optimum looks a little different lately.
We’ve refreshed our identity, launched a new website and introduced a new way of presenting the different areas of our business.
But while the look is new, the name isn’t.
Optimum is the established business behind the specialist expertise many customers already know through KOMA UK. Our work with KOMA has given us the opportunity to support bakeries and food producers with refrigeration, freezing, proofing and dough-conditioning solutions, backed by practical UK-based knowledge and engineering support.
And now we’re expanding that offering with the addition of Kornfeil.
The Czech manufacturer develops ovens and bakery production technology for operations ranging from artisan bakeries to large-scale manufacturers. Its equipment includes deck and rack ovens, tunnel ovens and integrated production systems. And it’s genuinely top-notch kit.
For us, it’s an exciting addition. But not simply because it gives us more products to talk about.
It means we can look at more of the production process together.
Hot and chilled. Better together.
Temperature influences almost every stage of baking.
It affects how dough develops, how production can be scheduled, how consistently products bake and what happens to them afterwards.
But while ovens, proofers and cooling systems each have a distinct job, they don’t work in isolation.
Consider a bakery looking to increase its output.
A new oven might offer significantly greater baking capacity. On paper, that’s progress. But what happens if the bakery can’t prepare or prove dough quickly enough to keep the oven supplied?
And what happens after baking? Can the finished products move through cooling and onwards to packing or dispatch without creating another bottleneck?
The same principle works in reverse. Investing in additional cooling capacity may help enormously, but its value depends on what the rest of the operation needs from it.
These are the kinds of questions that can get lost when equipment decisions are considered individually.
And perhaps most importantly, what if a piece of equipment breaks down? With different providers covering maintenance for different products, who do you call to solve the problem?
Bringing Kornfeil’s baking technology together with KOMA’s temperature-control expertise gives Optimum a wider perspective on those conversations.
And we think that’s a useful thing for bakeries to have.
Equipment is only part of the relationship
Of course, choosing the right equipment is just the beginning.
Bakeries depend on their machinery to perform consistently, often against demanding production schedules and customer commitments.
When something stops working, the consequences can extend well beyond the repair itself. Production might be interrupted, staff left waiting and deliveries rearranged.
It’s why engineering and ongoing support remain such an important part of what we do.
Our UK-based team works with customers to understand their equipment and how it fits into their operation, providing installation, servicing, maintenance and practical technical support.
Because the relationship shouldn’t end when a machine is installed.
It should continue for as long as that equipment is part of your bakery.
A bigger conversation starts here
We’ve given Optimum a fresh look because the business has an expanded story to tell.
But rather than spend the coming months simply telling you about our products, we’d like to use this website to explore some of the questions, challenges and opportunities facing people working in the baking industry.
We’ll be looking at production efficiency, bakery temperature control, equipment investment, servicing and the technology shaping the future of commercial baking.
We’ll draw on our own experiences, the questions customers ask us and the conversations we have with bakers and manufacturers across the UK.
Some articles will be about equipment. Others will explore the wider realities of running a bakery.
Hopefully, you’ll find something useful in both.
And if anything we write gets you thinking about your own operation, we’d love to hear from you.
Hot. Chilled. On Point.
Let’s talk about your bakery.
Whether you’re planning investment, reviewing your production process or simply exploring what might be possible, we’d love to have a conversation about your bakery and how we can help.
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