As past chair of the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) and president of Formost Fuji, Dennis Gunnell has the benefit of seeing the challenges and changes the commercial baking industry has faced across 12 Baking Expos. In the past 20 years, he’s noted a significant improvement in automation and robotics, and even in the past 10 years, bakers have more readily adopted new technologies.

“Automation and robotics are light-years from where they were, especially on the robotics side,” he said. “Ten years ago, we weren’t there. They were too expensive, unreliable and problematic. But it was a new segment of the industry. It takes time to get the bugs worked out.”

Today, Gunnell noted he’s seen major interest and advancements in gathering and interpretating data as well as improvements in the breadth of packaging materials available.

“From recyclability, biodegradable, compostable — all the different things that are available — the film business has made a huge shift,” he said.

Gunnell said he’s had more baking companies unwilling to go with the status quo just because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

“I cringe when I hear people say ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it,’ ” he said. “No, we should do it because it’s the right way or the best way.”

Gunnell attributed this new healthy skepticism to both the supply chain issues and younger generations of workers asking smart questions. This has opened up opportunities for baking companies to look at other solutions to their challenges.

In the packaging department, one of the big challenges that Gunnell thinks bakers will be looking to solve at IBIE 2025, Sept. 13-17 in Las Vegas, is the balance between customization, automation and unique packaging formats. While marketing always wants product to stand out on the shelf, it can be hard to translate on the production room floor.

The West and North Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center at IBIE 2025 will offer a wide range of exhibitors showcasing their solutions to both production and formulating issues as well as business services. As trade shows have grown and diversified, Gunnell has noticed baker attendees have become more strategic about the teams they send and approach IBIE with a more strategic focus on coverage and organizational objectives.