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Apex Motion Control — Robotic and Automation Equipment for Food, Dairy, Bakery and Pharma

Are You Still Using Skilled Labor
for Non-Value Added Tasks?



Tray & Pan Handling — WHY it's the First Task to Automate

In a typical wholesale bakery, handling trays and pans equals thousands of repetitive movements per shift, per worker
and the moment a worker is absent or fatigued, your whole line slows down.

Talk to an Automation Expert Watch an On Location Video

Front-of-Line: THE TRAY FEEDER

  • Automatically load pans onto conveyor infeed
  • Handles pans with or without paper liners
  • Sets and maintains the pace of production line
  • Small footprint & cost effective entry-level automation

End-of-Line: THE BAKER-BOT

  • Transfer trays from conveyor to racks - 44lb payload
  • Auto rack lock and unlock release for hands-free safety
  • Maintain consistent line speed regardless of staffing
  • Dual racking options for higher throughput

Purpose-Built Equipment for Tray & Pan Handling

Apex Motion Control has designed, built, sold and supported bakery & food automation systems for over 25 years. The family of Baker-Bot cobots are designed
specifically for the demands of industrial bakery and food production — heavy payloads, tight timelines, and the need to integrate with existing lines from other OEM's.


ROI that is Predictable and Measurable.

Ready to Take Tray Handling Off Your Team's Plate?

Tell us about your current tray handling challenges and we'll recommend the right solution for your production environment.

Talk to an Automation Expert See the Baker-Bot

© Apex Motion Control · apexmotion.com · Surrey, BC Canada · 25 Years of Bakery & Food Automation

Packaging Automation

Faster, Cleaner, More Consistent
Packaging — Every Single Run

From placing products into clamshells and trays to loading cases and boxes for shipment, robotic packaging automation brings the speed, accuracy, and flexibility your production line demands.

Packaging is where product quality meets customer perception. Inconsistent fills, damaged product, and slow throughput don't just hurt efficiency — they hurt your brand. Robotic primary and secondary packaging systems from Apex Motion Control help bakeries, food manufacturers, and dairy and pharmaceutical producers consistently hit their packaging targets, reduce product damage, and free skilled workers for higher-value roles.

Primary
Product direct to tray, clamshell, or container
Secondary
Packed items into cases, boxes, and shippers
Vision
Camera-guided placement for perfect pack every time
Flexible
Multi-SKU capable with fast recipe changeovers
Understanding the Application

Primary vs. Secondary Packaging — What's the Difference?

Primary packaging is the direct contact layer — placing muffins into clamshells, cookies into trays, or bread into bags. It requires gentle handling, precise placement, and often high speed to keep pace with production output. Secondary packaging is the next layer — loading primary packages into cases, display boxes, or shipping containers. Both tasks are repetitive, labor-intensive, and ideal candidates for robotic automation.

At Apex Motion Control, our collaborative robots and automation systems handle both levels of packaging — as standalone cells or fully integrated line solutions that connect your oven outfeed directly to your shipping dock.

"Packaging is often one of the bottlenecks in production. Accurate automated packing removes that bottleneck and puts your product in front of customers looking exactly as it should, every time."

Primary Packaging Benefits

  • Gentle product handling — no crushing, no rejects from grippers
  • Consistent placement and orientation in every pack
  • Vision-guided systems adapt to product variation automatically
  • Handles muffins, cookies, cakes, snack cakes, bread, and more
  • Maintains pack count accuracy — eliminates over or under packing
  • Integrates directly with depanning and conveying lines

Secondary Packaging Benefits

  • Load primary packages into into master boxes and cases for shipping
  • Consistent case weight and configuration for palletizing downstream
  • Reduces manual case packing — a highly repetitive tasks in food manufacturing
  • Multi-product capable with recipe-based changeovers at the HMI
  • Compact footprints to fit within existing production floor layouts
  • Supports just-in-time packaging demands and shift flexibility

The Labor Reality in Packaging

Packaging lines are among the hardest positions to staff and retain. The work is fast-paced, physically demanding, and repetitive — making it a constant source of turnover, injuries, and production inconsistency. Automation doesn't eliminate your team — it stabilizes your line, maintains throughput on days when you're short-staffed, and removes the physical burden that drives good workers away.

  • Eliminate throughput dependency on daily staffing levels
  • Reduce repetitive motion injuries associated with high-speed packing
  • Achieve consistent pack quality regardless of shift or operator
  • Scale output up or down with recipe changes — no line reconfiguration required
Apex Equipment for Packaging

Cobots Built for Food-Safe, High-Speed Packing

Apex Motion Control's Flexi-Bot and Flexi-Bot MAX are collaborative robots designed specifically for primary and secondary packaging in food, bakery, dairy, and pharmaceutical environments. They feature food-safe construction, intuitive HMI programming, and the flexibility to handle a wide range of products and packaging formats with minimal changeover time.

Flexi-Bot / Flexi-Bot MAX

Purpose-built for pick-and-place packaging. Fast, precise, and capable of handling fragile food products without damage. Ideal for primary packing applications.

Vision-Guided Placement

3D camera vision detects product position, orientation, and variation — ensuring accurate placement every cycle, even with irregular or handmade products.

Integrated Line Solutions

Connect depanning, conveying, primary and secondary packing into a single continuous automated line — from oven exit to case sealed and ready to ship.

Flexi-Bot Flexi-Bot MAX Pick & Place Case Packing Clamshell Loading Vision Guidance

Let's Talk About Your Packaging Line

Whether you're tackling primary, secondary, or both — we'll help you design the right solution for your products, your throughput, and your floor space.

Request a Packaging Assessment View Packaging Equipment

© Apex Motion Control · apexmotion.com · Surrey, BC Canada · 25 Years of Bakery & Food Automation

Post-Bake Automation

Gentle, Fast, Precise
Depanning at Every Volume

Removing freshly baked muffins, loaves, cakes, and bread from their pans is a delicate, labor-intensive task in post-bake production — robotic depanning help reduce breakage while gently and consistently repeating this task all day, everyday.

often hot, fragile, and moving quickly. Manual depanning is physically demanding, difficult to staff consistently, and prone to product damage that leads to waste and rework. Automated depanning systems from Apex Motion Control are engineered to handle the full range of bakery products — from delicate muffins and snack cakes to dense loaf cakes and bread — with consistent, repeatable precision, shift after shift.

48
Muffins depanned simultaneously with multi-needle head
3
Core depanning methods: needle grip, vacuum, 180° flip
Gentle
Non-evasive needle method — minimal product stress
Scalable
Add cobots as volumes grow without retooling the line
The Challenge

Why Depanning Is Hard to Do Well at Scale

Manually depanning freshly baked goods requires workers to handle hot pans, apply consistent pressure without damaging products, and keep pace with a continuous oven outfeed — all simultaneously. The result is often a combination of product damage, inconsistent throughput, and one of the highest ergonomic risk profiles on the production floor. Hot product, awkward pan weights, and high repetition are a difficult combination for any workforce.

Automated depanning eliminates each of these problems. Robots don't get fatigued, don't misjudge pressure, and don't slow down at the end of a shift. They apply exactly the right force, in exactly the right position, every single time.

Needle Grip Depanning

  • Non-evasive method — needles lift product cleanly with minimal surface disturbance
  • Single and multi-head configurations — up to 48 muffins per cycle
  • Can simultaneously transfer products into packaging (e.g. 4-pack clamshells)
  • Scalable — add cobots to the line as production volumes increase
  • Ideal for muffins, cupcakes, and portioned cakes
  • Sets the pace for downstream packaging operations

Vacuum Grip & 180° Pan Flipper

  • Vacuum end effector for smooth-bottomed products and loaf pans
  • 180-degree conveyor pan flipper for bread and loaf cake depanning
  • Gentle inversion with controlled product release onto conveyor
  • Works with both standard and custom pan sizes
  • Integrates with existing conveyor systems and oven outfeed
  • Available as standalone systems or integrated with Baker-Bot / Flexi-Bot

Product Quality Starts Right After the Oven

Depanning damage — crushed edges, torn muffin tops, broken loaves — doesn't just generate waste. It creates downstream rework, delays in packaging, and product that arrives at retail looking less than its best. Consistent automated depanning protects your product quality from the moment it exits the oven all the way to the shelf.

  • Eliminate product damage from inconsistent manual technique
  • Reduce waste and rework from depanning-related breakage
  • Maintain consistent product appearance across every shift
  • Improve downstream packaging efficiency with uniform product orientation
Who This Is For

Depanning Applications Across Bakery & Food Production

Apex Motion Control's depanning solutions are deployed in wholesale industrial bakeries, co-manufacturers, and food production facilities handling a wide variety of products. If your post-bake line relies on manual depanning to keep pace, there's a measurable efficiency gain — and a significant ergonomic improvement — waiting for your team.

Muffins & Cupcakes

Multi-needle head systems depan and transfer directly to packaging in a single motion — reducing handling steps and improving throughput dramatically.

Loaf Cakes & Bread

Vacuum grip and 180° pan flipping conveyors handle dense products with care — consistent release, correct orientation, ready for slicing or packaging.

Sheet & Round Cakes

Robotic arms with custom end effectors remove cakes from pans and place them precisely on finishing conveyors — ready for icing and decorating downstream.

Flexi-Bot Needle Depanner 180° Pan Flipper Vacuum Gripper Muffin Depanning Bread Depanning

Time to Take the Heat Out of Depanning

Share your product types, pan sizes, and throughput targets and we'll identify the right depanning solution for your line.

Get a Depanning Consultation View Depanning Equipment

© Apex Motion Control · apexmotion.com · Surrey, BC Canada · 25 Years of Bakery & Food Automation

End-of-Line Automation

The Hardest Job at the
End of Your Line — Automated

Palletizing is physically demanding, injury-prone, and a constant staffing challenge. Robotic palletizing delivers the throughput, accuracy, and consistency your end-of-line demands — even in tight spaces.

End-of-line palletizing is one of the most physically intensive jobs in any food manufacturing or bakery operation. Repetitive heavy lifting, awkward postures, and unrelenting production pace make it a significant source of workplace injuries and one of the hardest positions to fill and retain. Robotic palletizing from Apex Motion Control eliminates this challenge — delivering fast, accurate, consistent case stacking while freeing your team from one of the most physically demanding tasks on the floor.

44 lb
Maximum payload per pick cycle
96"
Extended reach — handles standard pallet heights with ease
Compact
Designed for manufacturers with limited floor space
Multi-SKU
Recipe-based pallet patterns — changeover at HMI
Why It Matters

Palletizing: The Bottleneck Most Facilities Accept — They Shouldn't

In many food and bakery facilities, the palletizing station is the most manual, most injury-prone, and most inconsistent point in the entire production chain. A worker who calls in sick doesn't just leave a gap — it can slow down or shut down your entire end-of-line operation, backing product up all the way to packaging and processing. And when pallets are stacked manually, pattern consistency and case protection are entirely dependent on who's working that day.

A robotic palletizing cell removes all of that variability. Every pallet is stacked to the same pattern, the same height, and the same stability standard — whether it's the first pallet of the morning or the last one before close of shift.

"For most bakeries and food manufacturers, palletizing is the first automation project that pays for itself faster than almost any other — because the labor cost, injury risk, and throughput impact are so clearly visible."

Operational Benefits

  • Consistent pallet patterns every cycle — no variation between workers or shifts
  • Throughput no longer tied to staffing availability at end-of-line
  • Handles multiple case sizes and pallet patterns with recipe-based changeovers
  • Integrates with conveyors, stretch wrappers, and pallet dispensers
  • Compact footprint designed for facilities with limited floor space
  • Works safely alongside humans — collaborative robot design

People & Safety Benefits

  • Eliminate heavy repetitive lifting — the leading cause of back and shoulder injuries in food manufacturing
  • Redeploy workers to higher-value, lower-risk tasks within the facility
  • Reduce Workers Compensation costs associated with palletizing injuries
  • Improve employee retention by removing the most physically demanding station
  • Maintain throughput on short-staffed days without compromising safety
  • Predictable, measurable ROI based on reduced labor and injury costs

Designed for Space-Constrained Food & Bakery Facilities

Not every facility has the floor space for a traditional industrial palletizing robot. Apex Motion Control's end-of-line palletizing systems are specifically designed for manufacturers who need high performance within a compact footprint — making robotic palletizing accessible to facilities of all sizes, not just large-scale operations.

  • Up to 44 lb payload — handles heavy bakery and food cases with ease
  • 96" reach covers standard pallet heights without overextension
  • Minimal safety guarding required — collaborative robot design
  • Modular design allows future expansion as production grows
Industries & Applications

Palletizing Solutions for Bakery, Food, Dairy & Pharma

Apex Motion Control's palletizing systems are deployed across bakery, food, dairy, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Whether you're palletizing cases of packaged muffins, boxes of frozen dough, or trays of retail baked goods — our systems are configurable for your products, your cases, and your pallet patterns.

Bakery & Frozen Dough

Handle cases of packaged baked goods, frozen dough, and bulk product with consistent pallet patterns that meet retail and distribution requirements.

Multi-SKU Capability

Store multiple pallet patterns in the system. Change between products, case sizes, and pallet configurations with a simple HMI recipe selection — no manual reprogramming.

Line Integration

Connect directly to your existing case conveyor, stretch wrapper, and pallet dispenser — Apex systems are designed to integrate with other OEM equipment cleanly and reliably.

Robotic Palletizing End-of-Line Case Stacking Baker-Bot MAX Food Manufacturing Compact Footprint

Ready to Automate Your End-of-Line?

Tell us your case dimensions, pallet patterns, and throughput requirements — we'll design a palletizing solution that fits your space and your production goals.

Design My Palletizing Solution View Palletizing Equipment

© Apex Motion Control · apexmotion.com · Surrey, BC Canada · 25 Years of Bakery & Food Automation

Cake Finishing Automation

Every Cake Finished
with Precision — Every Time

Robotic cake decorating brings the consistency, accuracy, and labor predictability that manual finishing simply cannot deliver at scale. From middle filling to base icing, borders to writing — automation makes every cake look like it was made by your best decorator. Every single one.

Cake decorating is one of the most skilled tasks in bakery production — and one of the most difficult to scale. Manual decorating depends on individual skill, stamina, and availability. The result is variation between decorators, between shifts, and between production runs that customers notice on the shelf. Robotic cake finishing changes this equation entirely. Every layer, every border, every drizzle is applied with the same precision by a system that doesn't fatigue, doesn't call in sick, and never has an off day.

25+
Years as the world leader in robotic cake finishing
3D Vision
Detects cake inconsistencies and adapts in real time
Unlimited
Design patterns programmable via easy drawing tablet
4-Bot
Baker-Bot Quad: full finishing line in a single system
The Consistency Problem

Why Consistency in Cake Finishing Is So Hard — And So Important

In wholesale bakery production, cake finishing is where variation is most visible and most costly. A border that's too thin on one cake and too thick on the next. Drizzle that doesn't reach the edge. Writing that drifts. Middle filling layers that are uneven between bites. These inconsistencies don't just affect appearance — they affect perceived quality, customer satisfaction, and the integrity of your brand on the retail shelf.

Manual finishing is skilled work, and your decorators are good at what they do. But at production volumes, even the best human decorator cannot maintain perfect consistency across hundreds or thousands of cakes per shift. Robotic systems can. And they do it while adapting to real product variation — because no two baked cakes are identical — using 3D vision to detect and compensate for differences in height, shape, and surface in real time.

Finishing Applications

What Robotic Cake Finishing Can Do

Apex Motion Control's cake finishing systems cover every stage of the decoration process — from the first layer inside the cake to the final flourish on top. Here's what automated finishing looks like across each application:

Middle Fill Layers

  • Precisely deposit filling between cake layers — jam, cream, ganache, or mousse
  • Consistent fill weight and distribution across every cake, every layer
  • Eliminates the variation between decorators that shows up in every bite
  • Programmable fill patterns for multiple products on the same line
  • Heated pump options for temperature-sensitive fillings

Base Icing

  • Apply base ice to tops and sides of single and multi-layer round and sheet cakes
  • Consistent icing thickness eliminates the "thick side, thin side" problem
  • Vision system accounts for cake height and diameter variation automatically
  • Smooth, professional finish ready for top decoration
  • Significantly faster than manual base icing — no compromising on quality

Top & Bottom Borders

  • Consistent top and bottom borders for round cakes, sheet cakes, and portions
  • Rosette, shell, star, and custom patterns — programmed via drawing tablet
  • Uniform spacing, uniform height, uniform pressure — every cake, all day
  • Multiple nozzle heads for multi-colour or multi-product runs
  • Adapts to cake diameter variation using real-time vision feedback

Writing & Drizzling

  • Targeted drizzle for bundt cakes, mini cakes, rounds, and ice cream cakes
  • Enrobing applications for full coverage products
  • Robotic writing — logos, messages, and decorative text applied consistently
  • Draw any design using the intuitive touch-screen drawing tablet interface
  • Heated pump maintains correct temperature for smooth, consistent flow

Consistency Is Your Competitive Advantage on the Shelf

When a customer picks up your cake at retail, they're comparing it — consciously or not — to every other cake next to it. If every cake in your display looks identical, you build confidence and brand recognition. If they vary, even slightly, you invite doubt. Robotic finishing eliminates that doubt. Every cake that leaves your production floor looks like it was finished by your best decorator on their best day.

  • Build brand recognition through consistent product appearance at retail
  • Reduce returns and customer complaints driven by decoration quality variation
  • Expand your decorated cake range without expanding your decorating team
  • Run higher SKU counts with fast, recipe-based changeovers at the HMI
  • Free your skilled decorators for custom, high-margin specialty work
Equipment

Purpose-Built Robotic Decorating Systems from Apex Motion Control

Apex Motion Control has been the world leader in robotic cake finishing since 1999. Our systems range from standalone decorating stations for smaller volumes to fully integrated multi-robot finishing lines capable of completing every decoration step in a single pass. Every system is built for industrial bakery production — food-safe, reliable, and designed to run in your environment, not a lab.

Baker-Bot Quad

Four cobot arms, fully integrated, with 3D vision at every station. Handles base icing, layering, top decoration, and finishing in a single modular line. The complete solution for high-volume cake finishing.

Deco-Bot

Single or dual multi-nozzle decorating head for top decoration, drizzling, and enrobing. Available with heated pump for temperature-sensitive products. Perfect for mid-volume decorating applications.

Baker-Bot DecoStation

Mobile standalone decorating station with touch-screen interface. Handles up to two cakes at a time. Ideal as an entry point to robotic finishing or as a supplemental decorating station during peak production.

Baker-Bot Quad Deco-Bot DecoStation 3D Vision Cake Bordering Base Icing Drizzle & Enrobe Robotic Writing

See What Consistent Decoration Does for Your Brand

Tell us your cake types, decoration requirements, and production volumes — we'll recommend the right finishing system and show you what it looks like in action.

Talk to a Decorating Specialist View Cake Finishing Equipment

© Apex Motion Control · apexmotion.com · Surrey, BC Canada · 25 Years of Bakery & Food Automation