A history of pie making and pie making machines

It all began in the mid 1980s. We were the first independent pie manufacturing family in the Eastern Cape, South Africa – and probably one of the first in the country.

Thanks to fantastic recipes and legendary pastry, our business grew rapidly. At times, we were producing more than 5 000 pies per day.

It was the limitation of space and high costs that spurred the concept that is now the Pie Designs & Solutions system. We needed to develop ways of working smarter, using less space, producing more pies, more profitably.

"Herewith, I would like to thank you for the excellent products that you supplied us with. It has truly made light work of our production." - Andre Vorster

Innovative pie-making and bakery equipment development.

The Pie Design and Solutions range started with our lidding machine blocking and lidding solution – and has led to many other innovations in bakery equipment design, which has evolved over the years into cost-effective, high volume production solutions.

The business is primarily rooted in the Port Elizabeth engineering industry. We have undertaken specialised fabrication and machining and serviced the automotive, optical, textile, aeronautical and food and beverage industries. Amongst other major companies, Coca-Cola and Volkswagen counted as our clients.

With the extensive knowledge and skills acquired we have grown into a specialised design and manufacturing business, while surviving some arduous times. Thanks to our specialist abilities, dedication and belief in what we do – and by God’s Grace, we have managed to survive these times and continue to grow from strength to strength.

Pie Design and Solutions was then born from lots of prayer and consultation with God, who is now the senior partner in our business.

Tried and tested bakery equipment engineering - Testimonials

The need to redevelop the lidding machine into a high volume solution arose. The original, launched in 1993, was not suitable for high volume industrial pie production, even though it is still in use every day, to this day.

An inability to focus due to the circumstances required us to involve God in every way, especially within the design and development of the structure of the business and its products.

The Lord has been gracious in answering prayer. He showed us in detail – how to proceed and complete as well as manufacture the new lidding machine and all our products. This is the path in design and development and manufacture that we now follow, so we can’t claim ourselves to be the designers of our range. We can give that glory only to God.

Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for man. Colossians 3 v 17

With God being the sole partner, it is of the utmost importance that the quality and standard of everything we produce is high – reflecting His headship.

In 2003 we were privileged to supply our new lidding machine to King Pie South Africa. This was pivotal in our survival.

During the course of the next year, work began on designing the world’s first cold blocking process, and we launched the first machine in early 2006. The first two cold blocking systems were sold to the manufacturers of Christmas mince pies for Woolworths, an upmarket retailer and supplier of quality foods and merchandise in South Africa.

It was the success of the sale that enabled us to move forward as we had wanted to. It also made us realise the full potential of our process: the manufacturers for Woolworths had to produce 9 000 000 Christmas mince pies to be in store by December.

Two Cold Blocking Systems and two Lidding Machines were supplied in late September for production to begin for this December order. The order was successfully completed – producing nine million pies on two machines in as little as three months.

Constant innovation in pie-making equipment

Our Cold Blocking Machine has since been greatly improved. We have supplied major retailers and franchises with our machinery. In addition, our machinery has allowed the smaller independent pie manufacturer to remain competitive in the market.

We believe in constant improvement. Therefore our research and development is an ongoing process.

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