The “Aloha” Ingredient for Business: King’s Hawaiian

King’s Hawaiian is a family-owned producer that is known for its Hawaiian sweet bread. Founded more than 60 years ago in Hawaii, the bakery has expanded with a new facility in Eastern US. The company worked with Bachelor Controls Inc. (BCI) to standardize all machine builders on the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture™ system and HMI, and seamlessly integrate all of the specialized machinery into the plant.

Robert Taira, the Hawaiian-born son of Japanese immigrants, opened his first bakeshop after graduating top of his baking class in the 1950s in Hilo, Hawaii. It was called Robert’s Bakery and was the home of the first round soft loaves of “Original Recipe King’s Hawaiian Sweet Bread.”

Robert Taira created the recipe for the iconic round loaves 50 years ago. Taira’s business – King’s Bakery in Honolulu – became a destination for tourists who often shipped bread back to the mainland as gifts for friends and family.

The company’s product line has expanded to a wide variety of round bread loaves and sliced breads, sandwich buns, mini sub rolls and dinner rolls. They are present on the mainland since 1977, with the King’s Hawaiian Bakery built in Torrance, California. In 2004, the company built a 150,000-square-foot automated baking facility and corporate headquarters nearby.

With growing customer demand and rising gas prices weighing in on the bakery’s budget, King’s Hawaiian decided to build a new facility in Eastern United States.

The Challenge

King’s Hawaiian chose to build a highly automated 125,000-square-foot facility in Oakwood, Georgia, and set a goal to be up and running within 10 months. This timeline posed a challenge, especially given the complexity of the project. The entire bread-baking process required a total of 11 specialized machines, manufactured by a different original equipment manufacturer (OEM). These have a control and information platform that requires a unique design environment, user interface and vendor support model.

“We have been a small, family-run company, so building a new plant 3,500 miles away in Georgia was a huge step,” said Mike Williams, director of engineering for King’s Hawaiian. “We wanted to be sure we could look in on the process remotely from California to make sure production meets our customers’ expectations.”

Results

The new facility opened in October 2011 and it immediately doubled the company’s bread production. The facility produces the company’s two largest-selling products – the signature round bread and the 12-pack dinner rolls. As the plant was built for future growth, it has the capacity to add another line. Long-term, the company plans to produce all types of its products at the Georgia location.

You can read more of King’s Hawaiian in the latest issue of our print magazine Asia Pacific Baker – Summer 2015!