How Ellison Bakes the Finest Cookie Products

Introduction

Making the very best cookies involves a complex, quality-focused operation that starts well before ingredients even arrive at our Fort Wayne facility. There's no short way to do justice to this intricate process, so here are all the details...

1. It All Starts with Ingredients
2. Timing Is Everything
3. Testing for Quality
4. Computerized Recipes
5. Many Shapes and Sizes
6. A Very Smart Oven
7. Testing the Final Result
8. Packaging Is Part of the Product
9. Storage and Distribution

It All Starts with Ingredients

Ellison begins by locating the finest ingredients available. After years of research, we've refined our roster of suppliers to include only those who have proven they can consistently provide the high-quality products we need.

Working with suppliers is a hands-on process. Our Quality Assurance (QA) team visits all of the plants that supply us to make sure they follow the same high standards for quality that Ellison does. We conduct initial inspections before we place an order and we reinspect on a regular basis.

Of course, we don't just rely on inspections to ensure quality. We also subject all ingredients delivered to a rigorous set of tests ranging from microbiological testing to standard sieve analysis. Ellison develops a set of specifications for each of the ingredients we use. All products delivered to our plant are tested and must be shown to meet these standards before they may be used to bake cookies.

Timing Is Everything (...back to top)

Once we place an order for an ingredient, we plan carefully for its arrival at our plant. Quality Assurance (QA) and Receiving coordinate the precise time the truck will pull up so that we have ample time to process its contents into our ingredient system.

Both the truck and the packaging of the ingredients are carefully inspected upon arrival. Both must pass this inspection before we will permit ingredients to be unloaded. We allow only sanitary packaging, products, and delivery vehicles into our facilities. If a delivery fails to meet even one of our criteria, the entire cargo is rejected.

Testing for Quality (...back to top)

After the load has been received, then the real testing begins. QA is notified of the delivery and they begin to record and track all lot numbers received. Samples are taken for testing.

Since testing procedures are different for each type of ingredient, this process may take just a few minutes or as long as several hours. Once the ingredient has been approved by QA, it is placed into stock rotation for use in the bakery.

All ingredients are rotated for freshness to make sure we use products in the order they arrived (a FIFO or first-in/first-out methodology).

Computerized Recipes (...back to top)

Ellison uses a computerized ingredient handling system to speed the process of mixing and to ensure absolute consistency from cookie to cookie and batch to batch.

All product formulas are stored in a computer database that allows them to be scheduled and scaled according to our customers' orders.

After the schedule has been posted for the day’s production, the computer system begins to make the required batches of dough for production.

Ingredient scaling starts the process as ingredients are combined in large mixers. The computer system controls the entire process, including mix times, order of ingredient addition, scaling processes, etc. When the batch is complete, and after a quality check, Ellison's bakers can transfer the batch over to the forming equipment.

Many Shapes and Sizes (...back to top)

Cookies come in many shapes and sizes. Our customers define just what size and just what shape with very great precision, including specifications for width, height, weight, thickness, color, density, and more. In this step of the baking process, the dough (which was mixed by a computer) is formed by another computer into cookie shapes in Ellison's World Wire Cut Machine.

This ingenious machine is designed to push a precise thickness of dough through a row of holes that gives each cookie its shape. A wire then cuts through the dough, dropping rows of neatly formed cookies onto a conveyor which carries them into the oven for baking.

By carefully controlling the shaping process in order to compensate for rising and expansion in the oven, Ellison's computerized shaping machines can create thousands of highly consistent cookies every hour.

A Very Smart Oven (...back to top)

The computer running the forming machines also operates the baking ovens. These impressive devices are almost 200 feet long with different sections for initial baking and subsequent bake periods. This setup gives us a lot of flexibility in baking different types of cookies.

For example, one type might require a cooler initial bake with an increase in temperature as the cookies travel the length of the oven. Another type might require a higher initial temperature and sustained heating through the rest of the bake. It all depends on what our customers need.

The precision of this process lets us bake millions of cookies each day in exactly the same way, yielding tremendous consistency. This ensures that our customers get exactly the same result from batch to batch and delivery to delivery.

Testing the Final Result (...back to top)

All baked goods produced are tested by QA to insure that they conform to our customers' requirements. Ellison produces a set of spec cards that include photos of the desired finished appearance of each product. Inspectors check the cookies against these cards for consistency of color, flavor, piece size, and weight.

All products are lot coded for tracking purposes and QA checks are recorded for each lot. Certificates of analysis are then supplied to each customer based on the lot numbers received with each order. These certificates of analysis are faxed to the customer prior to the arrival of their order at their site.

Packaging Is Part of the Product (...back to top)

Ellison uses a variety of packing equipment from computer-controlled wrapping machines to bulk-fill equipment.

We even wrap some products in retail-ready over wrap material that reflects our customers' brand identities.

Cookies can be wrapped individually, wrapped in 12-count packages, or bulk-packed. We bulk-pack all items that are used for ingredients by our customers.

Storage and Distribution (...back to top)

Once they have been wrapped, or bulk-packed, Ellison's products are placed in cartons and stored on racks in preparation for shipping. All products are marked with lot tracking information, the customer’s identification numbers, and kosher information. This information is recorded on all documentation that will travel with the shipment and is used to facilitate tracking while products are in transit.

Before shipments are released, Ellison undertakes one last inspection. All trucks that will carry our products are inspected before they are filled and must meet our transport criteria. This closes the loop and ensures the quality of our products – from the plants where ingredients are made, through our state-of-the-art bakery, right to our customers' own loading docks.