Bakery focus: Sugden eyes expansion with 50th anniversary on the horizon

With recent substantial investment in new bakery machinery manufacturing facilities, Sugden, is anticipating a strong year ahead, as Neill Barston discovers
speaking to managing director Chris Baldwin

As Chris Baldwin relays on his experiences of the past two years, just as the pandemic hit, the company secured a notable contract in Australia, and the world seemingly ground to a halt.

But through a combination of determination and the team’s collective experience, the managing director enthuses that they’ve emerged positively through what will hopefully be closing in on the other side of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has impacted on all aspects of our lives around the world.

According to Chris, the UK business, which next year celebrates its 50th anniversary, is enjoying a strong vein of fortunes for its established bakery equipment lines for pancakes, crumpets and English muffins. “It’s been a tough period, but things are now starting to drop into place, with some business coming in for the start of this year, so we really hope that we will see the full potential of our investment with our new factory during 2022,” reveals the managing director, who concedes they’ve had to navigate some ‘stormy waters’ but feels the experience has galvanised the Lancashire-based business into action.

As he notes, the company is now building on its portfolio with orders coming in from America and across Europe, reflecting its aspiration to enhance its existing international business. There have clearly been tests to its operations in recent times, including many potential customers understandably taking a cautious approach to equipment investment decisions within an uncertain market – which now appears to be slowly changing. It’s certainly made the company’s teams all the more determined.

“The main thing for me is that I love working with a great team – there’s a fantastic group of people at Sugden, and also at Baldwin Technical Services, which is the electrical arm of our company, which is also doing extremely well at this moment at time. “Navigating difficult times isn’t easy, but when you do get through it all, there’s a euphoria about that and we’re probably a lot stronger than we have ever been. We’ve learned a lot of lessons and have developed the business and used our time well, making improvements where we could, which is important, including getting sales in other areas.”

An important element in its recent improved performance has been the company’s muffins and pancakes, but they were doing one or two lines a year. “It was based in an old mill which we extended as much as we could – we recognised with the global market we were pushing we needed something bigger, so we were fortunate to secure some land and built the 35,000 square foot facility for what we required. We can now assemble six lines at any one time, which can potentially triple our turnover if not more, so it does make a big difference to us,” notes the director, who says the company has recently welcomed the opportunity to return to the live events arena, having exhibited at last November’s Gulfood Manufacturing show.

As he revealed, the business was pleasantly surprised at the high level of footfall for the key regional show, which delivered solid enquiries and offered a platform to build on with core bakery events including IBA, Interpack and IBIE in the near future. Equipment design upgrades Significantly, he explains that in terms of its equipment design, it has been a process of evolution over time, but notes that perhaps the biggest area of upgrades that have been instilled on its ranges are in terms of delivering greater energy efficiency levels.

This has been achieved through replacing pneumatic repetitive motion components with servos, which has delivered enhanced consistency, accuracy, as well as providing key energy savings. Moreover, the other core area is in supplying the demands of customers in helping them produce product ranges that meet the growing requirements of consumers.

He adds: “Finished product bakery ranges are changing, so the key word is flexibility for different products. Everyone wants the recent acquisition of Dutch machinery business VanderPol, which has added an additional dimension to its bow in providing solutions for stroop waffles, funcakes, soft waffles and classic Belgian waffles for good measure. According to the company’s MD, the strategic move has proved instrumental, offering a rewarding aspect in driving the fortunes of its global activities.

Notably, he says the business has in fact grown to the next level of operating in a comparatively short period of time, which has taken considerable hard graft on the part of its combined teams. “When we bought Sugden in 2014, it was a great company making fantastic equipment for crumpet machines and English muffins and pancakes, but they were doing one or two lines a year. “It was based in an old mill which we extended as much as we could – we recognised with the global market we were pushing we needed something bigger, so we were fortunate to secure some land and built the 35,000 square foot facility for what we required.

“We can now assemble six lines at any one time, which can potentially triple our turnover if not more, so it does make a big difference to us,” notes the director, who says the company has recently welcomed the opportunity to return to the live events arena, having exhibited at last November’s Gulfood Manufacturing show. As he revealed, the business was pleasantly surprised at the high level of footfall for the key regional show, which delivered solid enquiries and offered a platform to build on with core bakery events including IBA, Interpack and IBIE in the near future

Equipment design upgrades

Significantly, he explains that in terms of its equipment design, it has been a process of evolution over time, but notes that perhaps the biggest area of upgrades that have been instilled on its ranges are in terms of delivering greater energy efficiency levels. This has been achieved through replacing pneumatic repetitive motion components with servos, which has delivered enhanced consistency, accuracy, as well as providing key energy savings. Moreover, the other core area is in supplying the demands of customers in helping them produce product ranges that meet the growing requirements of consumers.

He adds: “Finished product bakery ranges are changing, so the key word is flexibility for different products. Everyone wants the next thing to give them the edge on someone else. Variation is massive, as with the multi-lines we brought out five years ago making crumpets of different shapes and pancakes and pikelets, and we’ve added to this system to allow us to make five or six different products on one line, which is something that people are really looking for,” adds Chris, who says it is very much a question of liaising closely with its customers to find out their precise requirements and engineer any adaptations they may favour. Looking ahead to the future, he notes that while a wider market recovery may take a little time, this year is getting off to a decent start, with its anniversary around the corner. “Our 50th anniversary year will be special. There’s nothing more important than the company itself, no one individual is bigger than it, so it will be a really proud moment for all the team to celebrate. With some great machinery going out of our doors worldwide, it will be a real moment to mark that milestone.”

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