Automatic Tray Panning

An automatic tray panning machine places formed dough pieces and filled products onto oven trays in rows, without operators handling the product. It sits between the forming machine and the oven in a commercial bakery line, and is the step that turns a stream of encrusted buns, cookies or pastries into evenly spaced trays ready to proof and bake. Nexus Australia, a Rheon reseller, supplies automatic tray panning machines Australia-wide alongside the Rheon forming equipment they load from.

Also known as

• Tray loader or tray loading machine
• Panning machine or automatic panner
• Tray depositor or product-to-tray placer

How automatic tray panning works

Formed pieces arrive on a belt from the divider or encrusting machine. The panner collects them into a row of the set count, then transfers the row onto the tray at the programmed spacing. The tray indexes forward one row at a time until it is full, then moves out on the tray conveyor and an empty tray from the tray magazine takes its place. Row count, piece spacing and tray size are stored per product, so changing from a small cookie to a large bun is a recipe recall and a guide adjustment.

Capability

• Versatility: handles pre-formed products such as pastries, breads, buns, cookies, mochi and dumplings in different sizes and shapes.
• Precise placement: places products in a consistent, orderly arrangement for even baking and uniform presentation.
• High production efficiency: built for high-volume commercial production, keeping pace with a forming machine running up to 100 pieces per minute.
• Minimised manual handling: removes hand placement, which improves workplace safety and hygiene and lowers the risk of product contamination.
• Customisable options: settings for different tray sizes, row counts and product spacing, with tray magazines and outfeed conveyors to suit the oven or proofer.

Where it fits in the line

The usual bakery sequence is portion, form, pan, bake, then pack. A dough divider produces uniform pieces, an encrusting machine encases fillings and shapes the product, the tray panning machine lays the pieces onto trays, and after baking and cooling the product moves to a flow wrapper or tray sealer for packing. Because the panner is specified to the forming machine in front of it, Nexus supplies the two together so output and piece spacing match from the start.

Products

Filled buns and dumplings, bread rolls, cookies and biscuits, mochi and rice cakes, pastries and pies, energy balls and formed snacks. Soft, sticky and fragile pieces are handled with belt transfer instead of grippers, so the shape set by the forming machine is kept on the tray.

Trays and ovens

Flat and lipped baking trays, perforated trays and silicone-lined trays in standard bakery sizes. The tray magazine holds a stack of empty trays and feeds them one at a time, and the outfeed can run straight into a rack loader, proofer or tunnel oven infeed.

Output

Available with a range of throughput rates, from entry-level to high-speed production lines, set by the row count and the speed of the forming machine upstream. See the food processing range for the related bakery and formed-food equipment.

Send us your product, tray size and target pieces per minute and we will specify the panner. Contact Nexus Australia for a quote on an automatic tray panning machine.