When asked what he loved most about his job in the baking industry, Bakery Combinations general manager, Mark Hodgson, said that the appeal of working with MIWE was too hard to ignore when the opportunity arose to join the team two years ago.
“Any baker who has travelled to Europe or the US to attend the big trade fairs, such as IBA or IBIE, has seen how big MIWE is, but we had not had that exposure down here in Australia. We are changing that now,” he said.
MIWE deck and rack ovens have proven to be popular in the industrial, wholesale and retail sectors, although according to Hodgson, the artisan and craft sectors of the industry are where Bakery Combinations is experiencing the most growth.
“With MIWE’s cutting edge technology around energy efficiency and customized user interface we have really seen the Australian baking industry gravitate to MIWE through word of mouth. In terms of performance and energy savings, MIWE technology simply remains unsurpassed. In addition, the design is so aesthetically pleasing on the eye – and that’s more important than one might think,” said Hodgson
“Ovens are now commonly used as the “showpiece” in most bakeries so they have to look good – and what better way to underline your artisan approach to baking than a MIWE condo deck oven?”
But MIWE has more to offer. It’s product portfolio includes refrigeration technology (for proofing, cooling, retarding, freezing) and a range of baking ovens – both in terms of oven type (rack, deck, tunnel and convection ovens) as well as heating type.
MIWE roll-in: A trendsetter for over 50 years.
The German manufacturer, with more than 100 years of experience in the industry, was the one to introduce the rack oven – a common tool in many bakeries today – to Western Europe and beyond in the 1970s. The company helped make the system a success worldwide through the constant optimising of its MIWE roll-in rack oven.
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It should come as no surprise, then, that for many bakers, baking in a rack oven is synonymous with baking in the MIWE roll-in. After all, it has been delivering convincing results for bakers for over 50 years with its baking performance, great flexibility and uniformity, as well as its particularly low energy consumption. The latest model released this year, the MIWE roll-in 2021, combines patented and unique technologies (such as “atmospheric baking”, MIWE delta-baking and MIWE aircontrol) with further innovations and improvements regarding energy consumption, steam distribution and insulation. It is ideal for the economical production of a wide variety of products and can be heated with oil, gas or electricity.
The ideal solution for every demand
MIWE also offers thermal-oil heated systems, such as the deck oven MIWE thermo-express or the wagon oven MIWE thermo-static, convection ovens, such as the MIWE econo or the MIWE cube:air, as well as a range of deck ovens that can be loaded and unloaded with (semi-)automated loading systems. Customers thus have the choice and can pick the oven that best suits their business and – even more importantly – they are not forced to change supplier if they are successful and need to upgrade their equipment.
For instance, the deck oven range for instance is made up of many different models ranging from the MIWE condo through to the industrial MIWE ideal e+ units with the fully automatic loading system MIWE athlet or the semi-automated loaded unit MIWE sherpa integrated into their set-ups.
The great thing about MIWE is that they cover the entire range, says Hodgson. “Our relationships with our customers are so unique because we have options with MIWE that allow us to cater for the evolution of our customers’ businesses.
“Most artisan bakeries start with a MIWE condo deck oven and a MIWE econo, or MIWE cube convection oven and then it’s very common to be working with them on their upgrades three or four years later into MIWE ideal deck ovens and MIWE roll-in rack ovens because of the growth and success they have experienced.”
Taking the load off: loading systems
“We are seeing an increased demand for our MIWE ideal ovens and not surprisingly Aussie bakers are wanting to know ways to make it as efficient as possible and that’s where the semi-automatic loading system MIWE sherpa comes into play.
“The MIWE sherpa has been around for a couple of years, but this is a new version of it and something we are getting a lot of traction with.
“We have multiple units currently getting manufactured for Australian customers with several installations due in early 2022,” he said.
The continuous growth and constant development of the MIWE product range has always been a point of pride for Bakery Combinations as the exclusive Australian distributor to the baking Industry, Hodgson said, especially as the artisan sector experiences continued growth.
“In the past two years alone, Bakery Combinations has sold 500 per cent more ovens than before, and the company attributes that in large part to the outstanding quality of MIWE products,” he said.
“We believe that the local market simply did not know enough about MIWE before. Bakery Combinations will continue to bring the MIWE products and innovations to the market, as the demand is bound to increase even more.