Unit 13a: Production Listening 1So,this is a diagram of the bakery.Now
it all begins with the main ingredients--those are flour and
water.They're weighed and fed automatically into mixers.Yeast and
additives are then added by handand everything is mixed together for
twelve minutes to make the dough.What are the additives for?They're
just to increase the shelf-life of the baguettes.The dough is then
divided indto pieces.And after the weight is checked,the dough enters
the first prover for ten minutes.The first what? Prover.What's a
prover? I can tell you haven't baked bread before. No,that's very
true!Well,you can't bake the dough straight away.You have to let it
stand for a while so the yeast can react before you form it.This is
called proving.Well now,the yeast makes the dough rise,and gives the
bread shape and volume. Oh,right,I see.So,the dought is then formed
into a baguette and dropped onto trays,which then continuously go
round a circuit.The trays take the baguettes into another prover for
60 Minutes.The temperature in the prover is perfect for the yeast to
make the bread rise even more. 60 minutes,that long?Well,the prover
stage is very important.If the bread doesn't prove properly,you can't
bake it.Now the trays then continue around the circuit to the
oven,where the bread is baked for ten minutes.And after leaving the
oven,the trays enter the cooler.That's where cool air is blown over
them for 40 minutes.The baguettes are then taken off the traysand
dropped into plastic baskets for packaging.And the trays continue
around the circuit and go back to the start again.And what happens to
the baguettes?They're taken to the packing hall,where they're
wrapped,boxed and despatched.And how long does the whole process
take?From flour to boxed products takes about two and a half
hours.Unit 13a: Production Listening 2So,Brian,what problems do you
have with the prodduction line?Well,we have a lot of problems with
sensors.these are electronic sensors that tell the computerwhen a tray
enters or leaves a prover or oven.The computer monitors the circuit
and controls the speed of the trays.The computer stops the whole
process when a sensor stops working properly-a complete shutdown.
Really?Well,you have to remember that the line produces 6,000
baguettes on hour.The timing has to be perfect or the system stops.The
sensors have to be set up exactly right.If they aren't ,the computer
won't start the system.What other problems do you have?Well,sometimes
we have problems with the mixers.If the computer gets the mix wrong,we
have to clean out the whole mixer.Do you have any rpoblems with your
workers?Not often,no.The system produces a new nix every 12 minutes,so
it is possible that a mixerman can for get to put in the yeast and
additives.If he forgets the extra ingredients,we lose the whole
mix.Any othe kinds of problems?Occasionally we have mechanical
problems.Like when an old tray loses its shape,it can jam in a prover
or oven.That can be a big problem because it can damage a machine and
jam the whole system.So how much time do you lose a day on average?
That's difficult to say,really.On a good day maybe 6 minutes.We can
lose up to an hour and a half of production if we have a really bad
day.And that means nearly 10.000 baguettes.