Breadbasket Cells

How we turn physical production into software-controllable systems that work with any hardware, anywhere.

Hardware AgnosticEdge-AutonomousComposable

What is a Cell?

A cell isn't a device. It's a software abstraction that makes production work programmable at any scale.

The Cell ≠ A Device

A device is a sensor, motor, oven, mixer—a component. A cell is the system that coordinates those devices to achieve a specific, measurable outcome (e.g. "bake 5,000 loaves at 180°C using 15% less energy").

The cell has boundaries, logic, and feedback. It's not just hardware—it's the intelligence layer that makes hardware do what you ask.

Works With What You Have

Cells integrate with whatever hardware exists in your facility—legacy PLCs from 20 years ago, manual mixers with relay controls, new IoT sensors, or anything in between. The abstraction layer sits above the electrical hardware, speaking to whatever control systems are installed. You're adding intelligence, not replacing infrastructure. Faster deployment. Lower capex.

Why This Matters: All Cells Speak the Same Language

Because every cell—whether it handles mixing, baking, cooling, or distribution—shares the same control, sensing, and communication DNA, your software can:

  • •Monitor every process the same way
  • •Deploy updates and optimisations network-wide
  • •Reassign work between cells based on energy, demand, or downtime

That's how production becomes programmable. The same logic scales from a production line to a room to a city.

How to Think About It: Cloud Computing Analogy

  • A functional cell is like a microservice—small, focused, composable.
  • An integrated cell is like a full application—self-contained but still part of the network.

Both make up the Breadbasket Network, and they understand each other.

Edge Autonomy: Designed for Intermittency

Each cell runs local control logic and can execute independently during grid failures. When the hub connection drops, the cell doesn't stop—it executes its fallback plan, maintains batch state, and syncs results back to the network when power returns. Your production doesn't pause for blackouts.

Why Cells Solve Production Scheduling

Without cells, production scheduling is a constant manual struggle: when should you start? Which power source? Which equipment? Every morning, your bakery manager is making decisions based on guesswork, experience, and whatever power is available that day.

With cells, scheduling becomes programmable.

Each cell is instrumented with sensors that report energy consumption, production rates, and equipment state. The Orchestrator sees all this in real time and makes scheduling decisions automatically:

  • •Is grid power available at 4pm? Start the oven then to pre-heat before production batch.
  • •Has grid power failed? Switch to diesel. The cell doesn't pause—it adjusts in real time.
  • •Is solar generation peaking at 2pm? Pre-stage work that uses renewable energy. Shift diesel-heavy operations to later.
  • •Do you need 5,000 loaves by 6am? The Orchestrator reverse-plans from your deadline, factoring in oven preheat time, batch durations, perishability windows, and energy cost. It tells you when to start and which equipment to use.

The cell transforms your factory from a manual optimisation problem into an observable, responsive system. Your job isn't guessing anymore. It's monitoring. The system schedules.

Two Types of Cells

Cells are flexible. They can be configured as focused modules or complete systems.

Functional Cells

Individual units optimising one production stage within a larger factory.

  • Mixing cell: Controls water/flour ratios and dough consistency
  • Baking cell: Tunes heat, airflow, and timing to save energy
  • Packaging cell: Synchronises conveyors, sealing, and labelling

Each plugs into the orchestration system as a smart module inside a broader production line.

Integrated Cells

Standalone micro-factories—self-contained units handling the full production cycle.

Make sense when you need to:

  • Produce closer to consumption zones
  • Respond dynamically to local demand
  • Replicate capacity quickly without massive new plants

Can be containerised or warehouse-based, operating independently or networked with others.

Energy as a Programmable Resource

In cities with unreliable grids, energy isn't a fixed cost—it's a signal. Breadbasket's cells sense it, schedule around it, and turn volatility into an optimisation problem.

The Philosophy

When each production cell is instrumented and software-controlled, energy stops being a fixed input and becomes a real-time signal the network responds to. In Breadbasket's network, energy isn't consumed—it's scheduled.

This turns load-shedding, brownouts, and fuel cost spikes from catastrophic constraints into optimisation opportunities. The system learns when cheap power arrives, when solar peaks, when diesel is necessary. Then it adapts.

Three Levels of Energy Intelligence

Level 1: Monitoring

Sensors measure kWh usage, power factor, and heat loss per cell. Baseline data for optimisation.

Level 2: Scheduling

The orchestration system aligns production with cheapest or most available energy source. Reduced costs, smoother grid load.

Level 3: Active Optimisation

Dynamic modulation of oven heat, motor speed, batch timing. Autonomous energy management.

How It Works Across the Network

Imagine cells spread across a city. Each reports in real time:

  • •Current kWh demand and capacity
  • •Available energy source (grid, solar, diesel, battery)
  • •Local energy cost and carbon intensity

The orchestrator then:

  • •Routes work to cells with cheaper or cleaner energy at that moment
  • •Pre-heats ovens when renewable energy is abundant
  • •Pauses or delays non-critical operations when grid is strained

The result: a distributed energy-responsive organism. Flexible. Efficient. Resilient.

Even during blackouts, cells operate locally using fallback plans and battery power. When the grid returns, they sync results back to the network. Your production doesn't pause for infrastructure failures.

Cellular Connectivity: Field-Deployable Architecture

In Africa's fastest-growing cities, grid failures and network blackouts aren't exceptions—they're part of operations. That's why cellular IoT connectivity is built into every cell.

Why Cellular Matters

Adding cellular IoT to your Breadbasket cells isn't just a communications backup; it's what makes your entire system field-deployable and blackout-resilient.

Each cell is equipped with cellular modems that enable independent operation during network outages, local data collection via IoT sensors, and secure synchronisation with the Orchestrator once connectivity is restored. You get autonomous edge intelligence with cloud-scale coordination.

Three Dimensions of Cellular Resilience

Autonomous Operation

Cells execute local logic over cellular and continue production even when the hub is unreachable. No blackout, no downtime.

Real-Time Data Flow

IoT sensors stream production data, energy consumption, and quality metrics over cellular to the Orchestrator. Visibility doesn't depend on fixed infrastructure.

Sync-On-Reconnect

When connectivity returns, cells replay their batches, align with orchestrated schedules, and share learnings. Cascading failures are prevented across the network.

How It Works in Practice

Your cell receives a production schedule from the Orchestrator. The grid fails. Your cell doesn't wait for the cloud—it starts executing locally using cached plans and battery or backup power. It monitors temperature, flow rates, and quality using its embedded sensors. Every decision is logged and batched for transmission.

When the network returns (minutes, hours, or days later), your cell connects over cellular, uploads its batch state and sensor data, reconciles against the central database, and receives updated instructions for the next cycle. The Orchestrator learns from the downtime and optimises around future disruptions.

The result: infrastructure failures become data points. Production doesn't pause. The network gets smarter.

Ready to Learn More?

Understand how cells fit into the broader Breadbasket architecture and our go-to-market strategy.

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