Gellerstadt Backwaren GmbH Uwe Presch and Rocco ... - Miwe

Success Story - Report from practical experience
Gellerstadt Backwaren GmbH
Uwe Presch and Rocco Grunwald will never forget January
12, 2007. Uwe Presch‘s wife woke him with the sentence,
“The bakery is burning.“ With the word “burning,“
Presch initially thought there would just be lot of work in
the bakehouse. He did not realize that the bakery was
really burning until he saw a flame-red night sky over
Hainichen from a distance. Today, about 18 months later,
there is no longer any sign of fire. The bakery, however,
has been completely rebuilt on another site.
MIWE‘s baking oven and the refrigerating unit specialists
from Arnstein played a decisive role on the conception
and the implementation of the new production facility. They
planned and implemented not only the technology, but the
entire bakery.
Gellertstadt Backwaren GmbH originated from a producer
cooperative (PGH) back when that part of Germany was still
the German Democratic Republic. In 2000, the 40th anniversary
was celebrated in the old production rooms. The
production collective (PGH) has become today a cooperative
association with 32 shareholders. The cooperative association
is also the sole shareholder of the Gellertstadt Backwaren
GmbH.
Manager Uwe Presch on the gallery. From here, the visitors can watch the operations.
Both master bakers Uwe Presch and Rocco Grunwald are
also the managing directors who have also shares in the
cooperative association.
The burnt-down company building was a former spinning
mill. Metal columns were located every three meters in the
two-story building. “The production conditions were rather
difficult,“ Rocco Grunwald says, looking back, “even though
the bakery was equipped with modern machines“. He is
responsible for production, while Uwe Presch is in charge of
the commercial part of the company and sales.
Fire experts found out afterwards that the cable of the fryer
was the cause of the fire. It was charred through and let
the whole room go up in flames. Once it was discovered,
the fire encroaching upon the rest of the building could no
longer be prevented.
“We had every support from the local political establishment,“
Uwe Presch emphasizes. Today he is still satisfied
with the crisis management. A few days after the fire, the
mayor invited all the involved public authorities to a roundtable.
It was immediately clear that the existing location
could not be rebuilt. The company was able to buy a piece
of land in the new industrial park not far from Highway A 4
in Hainichen to build its operations.
g
1

Success Story - Report from practical experience
Working at MIWE roll-in.
A 2,100 square meter production area and 570 square
meters for administration, a shop, café, and meeting rooms
are now available. All participants were immediately aware
that the bakery must continue to exist. The bakery had 27
branch outlets to supply, and, as a whole, the turnover and
the yields were good.
“It was planned from the inside out“, Rocco Grunwald
explains. After negotiations with the public authorities and
the banks, they were able to start thinking about the future
alignment of the bakery. Master baker Grunwald: “We knew
which technology we would use. A couple of years before
the fire, the MIWE refrigeration technology from MIWE was
redesigned, and 120 square meters of refrigeration area
was created. The rebuilding took place during the stollen
production period without a problem.“
It was clear that the bakery specialists from Arnstein were a
number one choice for the new building. Together with Ralph
Rüger of Backofenbau Rüger, the company in Arnstein
was commissioned with the planning. Rüger is the regional
MIWE partner company, which, besides consulting, is also
responsible for servicing the MIWE oven, loading, and refrigeration
technology.
When Uwe Presch and Rocco Grunwald talk about the
two days in Arnstein today, they are still thrilled. “The ideas
were elaborated within the shortest possible time and then
turned into concrete plans,“ master baker Presch points out.
“They asked us how much we would like to produce and
what our plans are.“ Modern technology and sensible
processes were combined together. In this way, the actual
building was constructed.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 2, 2007.
On January 18, 2008, just one year after the fire disaster, we
2
Baked products from MIWE roll-in.
started with the regular production after the trial operation
had been carried out. During the non-availability of the bakehouse,
the branch outlets were supplied by the Bäckerei
Möbius bakery. “We are very thankful for this support,“ both
manager say. “Otherwise, we would not have been able to
keep our branch outlet network or serve our customers as
usual.“
Today, the branch outlets are supplied by the company‘s
own bakehouse. The shops of Gellertstadt Backwaren are
located within a radius of about 70 kilometers. The shops
are delivered once a day. Some baking is performed on
site in the in-store baking ovens of the types MIWE aero,
MIWE gusto, and MIWE cube. The baking ovens, however,
still play a central role in the bakery. They are only optically
not the focus of the bakehouse.
It was clear for the managers that the baking should be
carried out using thermal oil. The oven hard rolls generate
an important turnover, and their quality is a criterion for
the workmanship in the bakery. The company thus decided
in favor of MIWE because the company in Arnstein,
as a full-line provider, offers baking ovens, in-store baking
ovens, loading systems, and refrigeration technology as a
one-stop-shopping model. “And this company has us persuaded
before,“ master baker Grunwald says, explaining
his decision. For him, MIWE is also a solid family-owned
business he can rely on.
A rack oven of the type MIWE roll-in RI 1.0608 is hardly
noticeable in the big hall. Grain rolls, showpieces, ham in
bread dough, and plaited goods can be baked here.
At the same time, constructional preparations have been
already provided so that additional baking ovens can be
installed.

Both large deck baking ovens are of the MIWE thermoexpress
type. 40 square meters each of baking space are
available. Three or four of the lower ovens are designed
as draw-plate ovens, which are needed for tin bread and
cake. Both ovens and all hearths are operated using the
MIWE athlet loading unit.
Three or four oven groups can be switched to one heating
circuit in both baking ovens. The energy is supplied by thermal
oil, which is heated in two central heating boilers.
One of the central heating boilers is operated in a “master
function“ and supplies the main power. The second central
heating boiler provides, as a “slave function,“ only auxiliary
power. In case the first central heating boiler breaks down,
the second will continue to operate. “This guarantees higher
operational reliability,“ MIWE specialist consultant Ralph
Rüger says.
The loading and unloading are carried out by the unloading
system MIWE athlet 1824 XXL. In the process, the control
system is designed in such a way that the automatic work
at the other oven can be simultaneously carried out during
the manual loading and unloading of the draw-plate ovens.
Here, sheet cake, tin bread, and stollen can be baked. Both
MIWE thermo-express baking ovens are simultaneously
controlled by the athlet control system.
Bread is baked in a half-baked form in both MIWE thermoexpress
baking ovens. “Today, you can hardly plan the sales
quantities,“ Uwe Presch complains about the returns.
Gellertstadt Backwaren GmbH has therefore switched over to
providing partially supply bread in a half-baked form to the
branch outlets. After cooling, the half-baked bread is packed
in foil and delivered to the bakery shops in thermal boxes.
Working with MIWE athlet…
There, they are baked in the in-store baking ovens as
required. Thanks to the loading system, they are baked at
the right moment - this is especially an advantage with halfbaked
products.
The trend to the hard rolls baking is also carried forward in
the branch outlets. For this purpose, Gellertstadt Backwaren
uses the MIWE smartproof process, a long time refrigeration
of the dough pieces in a lower positive temperature
range. Its centerpiece is a especially optimized suction
shocker. It works according to the suction principle, which
prevents undesirable air swirl and the skin formation of the
dough pieces associated to it. At the same time, the air is
suctioned out from the boards through small slots.
Rocco Grunwald indicates an experimental value of 20 up
to 30 minutes to cool down two trolleys loaded with hard
rolls to few degrees above the freezing point. The hard
rolls are stored on boards in the refrigerating chamber before
they are transported to the branch outlets without any
additional cooling in the vehicle. There, as well, they are
not cooled separately. Uwe Presch: “It is a good solution
for us.
Raw dough pieces take too long to thaw and to proof;
half-baked rolls do not reach the desired quality.“
While the proofing chamber is directly located in the
baking hall, the MIWE refrigeration technology is installed
on the side of the building. In addition to the smartproof
system, other dough preservation units, flash freezers, fully
automatic proofing units, proofing retarders, refrigerating
chambers, and deep-freeze chambers are available.
During delivery via the ramp for example, the vehicles can
be loaded directly from the deep-freeze cell.
... as well Bread loading at the transfer table MIWE GR.
g
3

Success Story - Report from practical experience
Photos from the refrigeration sector. View of the shop and of the café located above by night.
The cooling cell and the deep-freeze cell are also correspondingly
connected to the pastry shop. The PGH cake slices
come also from there; the multilayered cream cake slice
that is enwrapped with persipan and covered with icing is a
product that is only available at Gellertstadt.
The bakery knows exactly that a sophisticated and modern
production is important, but the products also have to be
actively sold. This has been taken into consideration with
Short profile of Gellertstadt Backwaren GmbH
Employees
Proprietors: Uwe Presch and Rocco Grunwald
Kastanienring 22
09661 Hainichen
Branch outlets: 27
the new installation, and a glazed gallery has thus been
constructed above the baking hall. “We wanted to create
a kind of glazed production,“ Uwe Presch argues. Due to
hygienic reasons, bakehouse visitations are really difficult.
From the gallery, the interested customers and guests can
look over the hard-working bakers‘ shoulders. They can
also see MIWE has done a good job in carrying out the
planning and the implementation of the project.
Production: 18
Sales: 66, of which 4 are apprentices
Shipping department/logistics: 7
Administration: 6
Turnover distribution:
Price examples:
Bread/hard rolls: 67%
Fine baker‘s wares: 20%
Pastry shop: 10%
Snack/café: 3%
Double hard rolls 0,31 EUR
Special bread 750 g 2,10 - 2,40 EUR
Rye bread 1,000 g 2,00 EUR
Cake (5 x 9 cm) 0,50 - 1,00 EUR
PGH cake slice 1,00 EUR
MIWE Michael Wenz GmbH • 97448 Arnstein • Telefon +49 (93 63) 680 • Fax +49 (93 63) 68 8400 • www.miwe.com 4
Dated: 0809