Craftsmanship on an
industrial scale at
a WP customer
installed in Switzerland
In order to be able to meet the continually increasing demand for rustic,
strongly baked breads with their unique taste, companies are investing
in the modernization and expansion of their bakeries - in this case for a
client in Switzerland. Werner & Pfleiderer Lebensmitteltechnik was awarded
the contract to build a fully automatic direct-fired oven system. Also a special
challenge were the structural conditions at the company site.
Wood-fired bread as a trendy product. Baking that returns to traditional values, adapted to a modern, industrial scale.
WP offers a solution for transforming true craftsmanship into fully automated production processes
With the ultra-modern equipment, baked goods according to an old recipe with typical wood-fired oven character arrive on the consumer's table.
A tribute to the high art of wood-fired oven baking: Rustic crust, strongly baked, hearty taste and typical aroma - the unique character of artisan wood-fired oven bread enjoys great popularity among consumers. Tradition and old values come to life again when people imagine stone ovens with blazing wood fires. What used to be quite normal is now something very special.
The principle of the ancient technique is clear: wood-fired bread is made in directly fired ovens, made of stone or stone-like material. Only real wood fire, directly in the baking chamber, ensures the right temperature and baking results with the typical characteristics of hearty wood-fired baked goods.
In its own bakeries, the customer combines high craftsmanship in baking with state-of-the-art baking technology to produce a wide range of high-quality baked goods. When the retailer reorganized its production, it also set high quality standards for the technical equipment and commissioned Werner & Pfleiderer Lebensmitteltechnik to plan, build and commission a fully automatic direct-fired oven system.
This consists of 24 floor decks of the WP PELLADOR series including the necessary loading and transport technology. The total height of the system is 9 metres. This is already the second system we have installed for our customer.
++ The baking technology located in the new building had to be connected to the dough preparation system with a mobile loading system over two floors with a total height of nine meters
![[Translate to Englisch:] Beladungstechnik und Fördertechnik für 18 Herde [Translate to Englisch:] Beladungstechnik](/fileadmin/wpl/produktwelt/backen/wp-backen/projekt/WP-Holzbrotanlage-Referenz-2.jpg)
++ The wood oven baking system consists of 18 decks of the WP PELLADOR series including the necessary loading and transport technology
Special construction overcomes
nine meters height
In addition to the enormous capacity of the plant, which has a baking area of 65 m2, the design engineers at WP faced a special challenge: the structural conditions. The bakery is located on the first floor of the production hall and the existing structural analysis was not designed for the weight of the massive ovens. A new extension on the first floor was the solution, but it had to be implemented to the highest standards.
The baking technology in the new building had to be connected to the dough preparation with a mobile loading system over two floors with a total height of nine meters, which is also separated by a fire protection wall. This was made possible by a special design of the WP OBER Pro deck oven loader, which has been on the worldwide market since 1992. "We had a clear idea of the capacity, the limited space requirements and the special specification of the wood-fired oven baking system for our more than 20 specialties such as organic wholemeal bread and the organic butter plait. The WP team, consisting of engineers, automation technicians and master bakers in the factory and onsite, supported us at all times with advice and practical assistance.
As a result, we received a plant that exactly met our requirements, which went into operation on schedule in February 2020 and has been running to our complete satisfaction ever since." concludes the head of the technical department and responsible for project coordination at the customers company.
Do you have special constructional challenges? Ask our engineers about solutions!
Fully automatic system
saves operators time
WP has further developed the principle of the traditional wood-burning oven, in which the baking chamber is directly fired with wood, into an ultra-modern system with wood pellet burners, which enables CO2-neutral firing and rational processes in the bakeries. The Wood Baking WP PELLADOR production floor stoves are fired with modern, energy-saving industrial burners, each floor being equipped with two PLC-controlled pellet burners. The combustion of the pellets is largely residue-free and any combustion residues – the ashes – are also removed by a special suction device before each charging process.
Baking is done in the classic way with falling temperature, whereby the individual recipe and product management and the oven and loader control is carried out via the integrated SIEMENS S7 overall system control," explains Dr. Christoph Adams, Technical Director at WP. The system recognizes the status of each product in the baking process, including the baking time, and controls all processes fully automatically. This means that the operator only needs to monitor the system creating time for other tasks.
The system is fed with cooked dough pieces, which are placed on plastic peel boards in rack trolleys. At present, almost 100 peel boards are used per hour, which are loaded with up to twelve dough pieces depending on the product.
In an automatic transfer system, they are "unscrambled" from the peel boards in one go and fed to the deck oven loading system. In terms of age, the system also allows conventional manual loading for special products such as the 3 kg butter plait. At the end of the baking time, the loader system moves to the corresponding deck for baking, unloads the baking chamber and transports the finished baked products to the downstream cooling system.
Ready for any challenge: automation through the combination of PELLADOR and OBER
The Pellador wood-fired oven, in combination with the OBER PRO II charging system, delivers efficient production, sustainable use of resources, and optimized workflows in an industrial setting. Learn more about the directly wood-fired deck oven and about the fully automatic loading system:
Wood oven bread from the WP Pellador meets all criteria
Baking in a wood-burning oven is a traditional technique. What exactly one understands by the term a wood-fired oven, is defined for example in the "Guidelines for Bread and Small Baked Goods of the German Food Book" from 31.01.1994. According to these guidelines, "wood-fired bread is pushed free and produced in directly fired ovens, with the baking chambers made of stone or a stone-like material. The heating material is located in the baking chamber. Only natural wood is used as heating material". The WP PELLADOR wood-burning oven meets all requirements.
The combustion of wood, regardless of its form as a piece of wood, pellet or as wood chips, always follows the same physical and chemical principles of wood combustion. First of all, the wood is heated up, whereby the residual water content still present in the wood evaporates. This is followed by the pyrolytic (thermal) decomposition of the wood dimensions into gaseous and combustible products with approx. 85 percent. The remaining charcoal is then burned almost completely and is residue-free due to the sufficient addition of oxygen (oxidation).
Typical aroma inspires customers
In the WP PELLADOR the volatile components escape from the inside of the fuel during the combustion mechanisms, ignite and burn completely outside the fuel at a temperature above 800°C - usually between 1000 - 1200°C. The thermal energy produced in this process is fed to the thermal storage mass fireclay, which is characterized by a high energy storage capacity (heat capacity).
This enables the baking process to start with the necessary temperatures directly after the end of the combustion process. The actual baking process takes place gently in a heat radiation envelope, which emanates from the fireclay bricks, in the baking chamber of the WP PELLADOR, with the influence of the highly volatile aroma substances. This gives the baked goods their typical wood-oven aroma - an unmistakable taste that inspires many customers.

![[Translate to Englisch:] Mobiles Ofen-Beladesystem über zwei Etagen und 9 Meter Höhe [Translate to Englisch:] Backofen-Beladesystem](/fileadmin/wpl/produktwelt/backen/wp-backen/projekt/WP-Holzbrotanlage-Referenz-1.jpg)
![[Translate to Englisch:] Pellet-Brenneranlage der Turmbackofen-Anlage [Translate to Englisch:] Pellet-Brenneranlage für Bäckereiofen](/fileadmin/wpl/produktwelt/backen/wp-backen/projekt/WP-Holzbrotanlage-Referenz-3.jpg)
![[Translate to Englisch:] Industrielle Pelletzuführung und Zischenspeicherbunker für Backofen [Translate to Englisch:] Pelletzuführung und Zischenspeicherbunker](/fileadmin/wpl/produktwelt/backen/wp-backen/projekt/WP-Holzbrotanlage-Referenz-10.jpg)
![[Translate to Englisch:] Vollautomatisches Beladen von der Bäckerei bis in die Holzofenbackanlage [Translate to Englisch:] Beladungssystem für die Holzbackofen-Anlage](/fileadmin/wpl/produktwelt/backen/wp-backen/projekt/WP-Holzbrotanlage-Referenz-4.jpg)
![[Translate to Englisch:] Ein- und Auslauf auf Bäckereiseite, Übergabetisch am Belader [Translate to Englisch:] Beladetisch](/fileadmin/wpl/produktwelt/backen/wp-backen/projekt/WP-Holzbrotanlage-Referenz-5.jpg)
![[Translate to Englisch:] Pelletbrenner, Steuerung und automatischer Pelletförderung an der Rückseite [Translate to Englisch:] Pelletbrenner, Steuerung und automatischer Pelletförderung](/fileadmin/wpl/produktwelt/backen/wp-backen/projekt/WP-Holzbrotanlage-Referenz-7.jpg)
![[Translate to Englisch:] Vakuumsauganlage für Verbrennungs- und Produktrückstände [Translate to Englisch:] Vakuumsauganlage für Rückstände](/fileadmin/wpl/produktwelt/backen/wp-backen/projekt/WP-Holzbrotanlage-Referenz-6.jpg)


![[Translate to Englisch:] Herstellung von Schweizer Bürli in der Holzofenbrot-Anlage [Translate to Englisch:] Schweizer Bürli](/fileadmin/wpl/produktwelt/backen/wp-backen/projekt/WP-Holzbrotanlage-Referenz-9.jpg)
![[Translate to Englisch:] Butterzöpfe in der Holzbackofen-Produktion [Translate to Englisch:] Herstellung von Butterzöpfen](/fileadmin/wpl/produktwelt/backen/wp-backen/projekt/WP-Holzbrotanlage-Referenz-8.jpg)