How Automated Tray Cleaners Work: Brushes, Scrapers, and Oiling
Industrial automated tray cleaning machines process baked-on debris, crumbs, flour, and fat residues from commercial bakery trays at rates that manual cleaning cannot approach. The JEROS Model 9020, the benchmark fully automated system in the category, cleans and oils 800 to 1,000 trays per hour continuously – a throughput that would require many workers to approximate with manual brushes and soapy water.
The mechanical sequence in a brush-and-scraper system follows a consistent pattern. Trays enter the machine on a conveyor or roller system. A dual pre-scraper stage removes coarse debris first – dislodging the bonded surface material that brushes alone cannot efficiently clear. The pre-scraped tray then passes through the main cleaning section where rotating brushes work both above and below the tray simultaneously, cleaning both sides in a single pass. Counter-rotating brush arrangements mean that the brushes turn in opposing directions, generating shearing forces against the tray surface that are more effective at removing baked-on deposits than unidirectional rotation.
The JEROS 9020 uses six precision-cut rotating brushes: three main cleaning brushes, each with replaceable side brushes for handling tray edges, one dedicated hole-cleaning brush for perforated trays, and two subsequent cleaning brushes. Main brushes are made from polyamide or stainless steel. The machine cleans trays with the baking side facing up, so the cleaned tray emerges in the correct orientation for immediate reloading without flipping.
After cleaning, an integrated oiling station applies a uniform release agent layer. The JEROS 9020 uses a KEG-return oiling system with six selectable nozzles and an Armix nozzle design that creates a dust-free, uniform oil film. Oiling immediately after cleaning has two functions: it prevents product from sticking to the tray surface in the next production cycle, and it simplifies subsequent cleaning by reducing the bonding strength between baked-on residue and the tray surface.
Waste collection is built into the machine. The JEROS 9020 uses a 50-liter waste collection tray mounted on wheels, with an optional plastic bag insert for convenient disposal.
Waterless vs. Water-Based Tray Cleaning Systems
The choice between waterless and water-based cleaning determines operating costs, throughput characteristics, and the types of bakery residue the system can handle effectively.
Waterless systems (dry brush, vacuum, and air-knife configurations) remove physical debris without water or cleaning chemicals. The LeMatic Dry Bun Pan Cleaner is the primary commercial US example. It uses two-stage dry brushing action combined with a counter-balanced air and vacuum head that pulls away loosened particles. A regenerative blower drives the vacuum, and a built-in debris collection system captures the material removed from the trays. No water, no detergent, no wastewater treatment required. The LeMatic operates at a maximum conveyor speed of 100 feet per minute, with brush widths from 24 to 40 inches across seven models (BM100303 through BM100309). Electrical compatibility spans 208, 230, and 460 volt systems.
Waterless systems carry important limitations. They do not sanitize – they remove physical debris only. Food safety compliance still requires a separate chemical sanitization step following dry brush cleaning. They also cannot remove baked-on fat deposits, caramelized sugar residues, or protein films that bond chemically to the tray surface. These require hot water and detergent chemistry to dissolve and remove. For bakeries producing croissants, Danish pastry, enriched doughs, or any other fat-heavy products, waterless systems are insufficient as the sole cleaning stage.
Water-based systems apply hot water, detergent, and typically sanitizer across multiple stages. The Newsmith Silver Series tunnel washer is a commercial example with a documented process sequence: prewash, main wash, recirculating rinse, fresh rinse, blow-off, and heated drying – all contained in a compact floor footprint. Optional stages include high-pressure label removal, high-velocity air knife drying, double-skin construction for heat retention, steam or gas or electric tank heating, automated detergent dispensing, and a final fresh water rinse.
Water recirculation in tunnel washers reduces operating cost. Tank design allows wash water to recirculate across multiple cycles before the tank is refreshed. Water softening and reverse osmosis options improve water quality and extend effective recirculation intervals. Optimized water management in these systems can cut consumption by up to 70% compared to single-pass configurations where every cycle uses fresh water.
Automated chemical dosing eliminates the concentration variability that creates compliance risk and product quality failures in manual chemical application. Automated dosing calculates precise chemical amounts for each cycle and delivers them consistently. Electrolyzed water and super-concentrate dilution systems claim 30 to 100% reduction in chemical costs compared to standard detergent use at manually measured concentrations.
Hybrid systems combine stages: a dry brush pre-clean removes loose debris before the tray enters a wet wash stage. The dry pre-clean reduces the organic load that enters the wash tank, extending the effective life of the wash water and reducing the amount of detergent required per tray cleaned.
Throughput Capacity: From 100 Trays to 10,000 Trays Per Day
Entry-level scraper-and-brush systems with manual tray feeding: the WP Riehle BRM Deluxe handles up to 700 trays per hour with one operator performing both cleaning and greasing. At this capacity over an 8-hour shift, the system can address approximately 5,600 trays per day – appropriate for medium-sized commercial bakeries.
Semi-automated dry brush systems: the LeMatic models run at up to 100 feet per minute conveyor speed. Throughput depends on tray spacing and size but is designed for continuous in-line use in medium to large bakeries. The LeMatic’s position is specifically as an inline production tool rather than a standalone batch cleaning unit.
Semi-automated wet-and-brush systems: the JEROS Model 9015 handles 2,000 to 10,000 trays per day (approximately 250 to 1,250 trays per hour assuming an 8-hour production shift). The 9015 specifically includes the dedicated hole-cleaning brush station that perforated tray operations require – a feature that distinguishes it from general-purpose brush systems.
Fully automated industrial systems: the JEROS Model 9020 achieves 800 to 1,000 trays per hour. At 3,000 trays per day, the 9020 completes the full daily volume in approximately 3 hours, leaving substantial capacity margin for production variability and planned downtime. Large-scale operations processing 40,000 or more trays per day deploy multiple JEROS 9020 units operating in parallel. A single 9020 unit at 800 to 1,000 trays per hour requires 40-plus hours of continuous operation to reach 40,000 trays, which exceeds a single operating day. Multi-unit configurations in parallel are the standard solution for high-volume facilities — primarily shortbread and rye bread snack producers whose production volumes are especially high.
Mainca USA distributes JEROS systems throughout the United States and Canada, citing a throughput specification of 14 trays per minute for their dry-clean-and-stack configuration – which translates to approximately 840 trays per hour.
High-volume industrial systems: Newsmith Stainless Ltd. tunnel washers span 100 to 8,000 trays per hour across their full product line, with individual configurations designed up to 1,500 trays per lane and up to four lanes for multi-lane operations. Better Engineering in Joppa, Maryland produces custom conveyor and tunnel washers for wholesale baking operations; their throughput is designed to customer specification rather than published at a fixed rate.
The scale selection rule: size the system to handle the facility’s peak daily tray volume within a single production shift, with a 20 to 25% capacity margin for unplanned downtime and variable production intensity. A bakery cleaning 3,000 trays per day needs a system rated for at least 375 trays per hour (3,000 divided by 8 hours) – the JEROS 9015’s lower range handles this with margin. The 9020’s 800 to 1,000 trays per hour is better suited for operations at 5,000 to 10,000 trays per day.
Handling Perforated Trays in Automated Systems
Perforated trays present a specific challenge for automated cleaning: the perforations accumulate baked-on crumbs, caramelized sugars, and fat deposits in a location that standard flat-surface brushes cannot reach. A brush that cleans the flat tray surface efficiently may not dislodge material that is embedded in or around the holes.
Standard brush systems without dedicated hole-clearing capability will clean the tray deck surface but leave the perforations progressively more clogged over time. The result is a tray that appears clean but has significantly degraded airflow function – the primary purpose of the perforations.
The JEROS Model 9015 was designed specifically for this problem. Its unique finishing brush operates at the perforation locations, moving at a geometry and speed that clears hole blockages rather than simply passing over them. The machine is marketed to bakeries cleaning 2,000 to 10,000 perforated trays per day.
The WP Riehle BRM Deluxe addresses the same requirement with a dedicated hole-cleaning station separate from the two brush pairs used for general surface cleaning. This station directs bristle contact into the hole openings rather than across the deck surface. At up to 700 trays per hour, the BRM Deluxe serves smaller-volume perforated tray operations.
Operations choosing automated cleaning equipment for perforated tray fleets must verify that the specific machine includes a dedicated hole-clearing stage. Specifying “brush cleaning” without confirming hole-clearing capability will leave the operation with clean-looking trays whose perforations are increasingly ineffective.
Fat-heavy product residues on perforated trays require water-based cleaning regardless of the hole-clearing brush configuration. Baked-on croissant fat or Danish glaze cannot be removed by dry brushing, even with a dedicated hole-cleaning station. Water-based systems with alkaline detergent are required to dissolve lipid residues before brushing clears them from the perforations.
Calculating ROI: When Does Automation Pay for Itself
Annual Net Savings = (Labor Savings) + (Chemical and Water Savings) + (Reduced Rework and Product Loss) – (Annual Maintenance Cost)
Payback Period in months = Equipment Investment / Monthly Net Savings
Labor is the dominant savings driver. In most industrial cleaning operations, labor accounts for 55 to 85% of total cleaning costs. Automated tray cleaning reduces or eliminates the direct labor hours spent on manual tray scrubbing, brushing, rinsing, and inspection. Published benchmarks for food manufacturing automation indicate that switching from manual to automated cleaning can reduce labor costs by 50 to 67%.
The labor savings calculation requires using the fully burdened labor cost, not the base wage. Fully burdened cost includes base wages, payroll taxes, workers’ compensation insurance, health and benefits costs, and training time – typically 30 to 60% higher than base wage alone. A worker earning $18 per hour has a fully burdened cost of approximately $26 to $29 per hour. Using the base wage alone understates the true labor savings from automation by 30 to 60%.
A worked example: a bakery cleaning 3,000 trays per day manually requires 4 workers spending 3 hours each daily on tray cleaning, for a total of 12 labor hours per day. At a fully burdened cost of $28 per hour, daily labor cost for cleaning is $336. Over 250 production days per year, annual cleaning labor cost is $84,000. An automated system requiring one operator for loading and unloading for 4 hours per day at the same rate costs $28 x 4 x 250 = $28,000 annually. Annual labor saving: $56,000.
Water and chemical savings add to the total. A bakery using 500 gallons per day of wash water, with automated recirculation reducing that by 70%, saves 350 gallons per day. At municipal water and disposal rates in commercial-use brackets, annual water savings can reach $5,000 to $15,000 depending on local utility pricing.
Equipment purchase price is not the total investment. The quoted equipment cost represents approximately 60 to 75% of total project expenditure. Add 10 to 15% for rigging and installation, plus costs for electrical and utility drops, floor preparation, safety guarding, commissioning, and operator training. The full total cost of ownership must be used in the payback calculation. Using only the equipment purchase price understates the investment and overstates the payback speed.
Industry benchmarks for food manufacturing automation payback: 12 to 30 months is considered acceptable and strong. Under 10 months suggests optimistic assumptions that should be reviewed. Over 36 months warrants reassessment of whether all savings streams have been captured and whether the correct system scale has been chosen.
Integration with Existing Bakery Production Lines
Automated tray cleaners integrate with production lines in two configurations.
Inline integration places the cleaning machine directly in the production flow. Trays exit the depanning or product-transfer stage, pass through the cleaner, are oiled, and re-enter the production cycle without leaving the line. This eliminates all manual tray transport between the cleaning station and production. JEROS designs their 9020 for inline use: the machine’s conveyor connects to the production line’s conveyor, matching tray flow to production speed. At 14 trays per minute (the Mainca USA published throughput for the JEROS dry system), this matches a production line running at that tray output rate.
Offline batch integration positions the cleaning station near production but not in-line. Operators load full tray trolleys into the machine, run a cleaning cycle (approximately 20 minutes per trolley for the JEROS 9020), and return the cleaned trays to the production staging area. This requires more labor for tray transport than inline but imposes less constraint on production line layout and can serve multiple production lines from a single cleaning station.
JEROS offers compatible tray destacking equipment that feeds individual trays from a trolley stack into the cleaning machine automatically, and tray restacking equipment that collects cleaned trays back into trolleys. Combined with the 9020, this creates a loop that requires only trolley positioning from the operator – no individual tray handling. Newsmith offers the same automatic destacking and restacking capability as an integrated option for their tunnel washer systems.
PLC and HMI controls are standard on modern automated systems. The JEROS 9020 uses color touchscreen HMI controls with data-logging for operational parameters including runtime, wash temperature, and pressure. These logs support FSMA and GFSI documentation requirements by providing objective, time-stamped records of cleaning parameters for every cleaning cycle rather than relying on manual operator entries.
Preventive maintenance requirements for automated tray cleaning machines include brush inspection and scheduled replacement, oiling nozzle cleaning, conveyor belt and roller checks, waste collection system emptying, and annual machine hygiene cleaning. JEROS publishes a brush lifespan of approximately one million trays. At a production volume of 3,000 trays per day, brushes last approximately 333 days before replacement – slightly under one year of operation.
Comparing Leading Automated Tray Cleaning Machines
JEROS (Denmark)
Product: Model 9015 (semi-automated) and Model 9020 (fully automated industrial)
Throughput: 9015 handles 2,000 to 10,000 trays per day; 9020 handles 800 to 1,000 trays per hour
Key feature: Dedicated hole-cleaning brush station for perforated trays; 9020 includes integrated oiling with Armix nozzles, six precision-cut rotating brushes, and JEROS Aqua Clean internal washing system with a 15 to 20 year average machine lifetime
Best for: Medium to large commercial bakeries, perforated tray operations, facilities requiring inline integration; distributed in North America by Mainca USA
https://www.jeros.com
LeMatic (Jackson, Michigan)
Product: Dry Bun Pan Cleaner
Throughput: Up to 100 feet per minute conveyor speed; brush widths 24 to 40 inches across models BM100303 through BM100309
Key feature: Waterless two-stage dry brush system with counter-balanced air and vacuum head; does not sanitize – dry debris removal only
Best for: Dry product operations (crackers, dry biscuits, flatbreads), in-line production at medium to large scale, water-restricted facilities
Newsmith Stainless Ltd.
Product: Silver Series tunnel washers
Throughput: 100 to 8,000 trays per hour across the product line; up to 1,500 trays per lane, up to four lanes
Key feature: Full process stage suite with heating, water softening, and reverse osmosis options; automatic tray destacking and restacking as standard optional equipment
Best for: High-volume wholesale baking operations, multi-lane configurations for large facilities, operations requiring both cleaning and sanitization in one pass
https://www.newsmiths.com
Better Engineering (Joppa, Maryland, founded 1960)
Product: Custom sanitary stainless steel cleaning systems including batch washers, rack washers, and conveyor and tunnel washers
Throughput: Designed to customer specification
Key feature: Self-cleaning work tanks, open architecture for complete access, robotic integration capability, multi-lane options, steam/gas/electric heating; meets FDA, FSMA, HACCP, and GMP standards
Best for: Large wholesale baking operations requiring fully custom-specified systems, facilities with robotic integration in adjacent production stages
https://www.betterengineering.com
WP Riehle (Germany)
Product: BRM Deluxe
Throughput: Up to 700 trays per hour per operator
Key feature: Two brush pairs for general surface cleaning plus dedicated hole-cleaning station; cleaning and greasing in one pass
Best for: Smaller to medium operations with perforated tray fleets, operations where a single operator can manage the full tray flow at the system’s throughput rate
https://www.wp-riehle.de