By all accounts the recently concluded Anuga FoodTec exhibition, the International supplier fair for the food and drink industry held every three years in Cologne, Germany, was a resounding success. FrozenFoodsBiz.com was on the scene with a roving camera crew, and will soon upload video interviews with a number of exhibitors that showcased new and improved processing and packing system technology at the show. Among them are Heinen Freezing, Case Packing Systems (CPS), Urschel Laboratories, GEA Food Solutions and Pattyn Packing Lines.
“The trade fair set an all-time record, both in terms of the number of exhibitors (1,501, occupying 121,000 square meters of space) and visitors (over 45,000),” reported Katharina C. Hamma, chief operating officer of Koelnmesse GmbH, the organizer.
Noting that the visitor count increased by 6% (of which 56% hailed from outside of Germany) over the show’s last running in 2012, and the exhibitor tally was up by 14%, Hamma added: “The cross-process, raw material-independent concept is highly welcomed by both the exhibitors and the visitors. As such, Anuga FoodTec has been able to grow successfully over the years and continually further develop in terms of quality.”
The 2015 rendition of Anuga FoodTec set records in both the number of visitors and exhibitors it attracted, at over 45,000 and 1,501, respectively.
Indeed, the fair has grown from strength to strength since its launch in 1996. At that time, a number of equipment manufacturers accustomed to exhibiting at the all-encompassing Anuga held every other year in October, were not necessarily enthusiastic about investing time and money into a new show dedicated exclusively to machinery. After all, the biennial Anuga event – the world’s largest food show – was the preferred venue in which to get up close and personal with easily accessible customers who were also exhibiting. But it did not take long for them to realize that the time for a stand-alone food equipment trade show had come, and the rest is history.
As always, operations managers and executives with buying authority from leading international food processing companies attended all or part of the four-day running of the 2015 event, which held forth from March 24-27. Among them were decision-makers from Nestlé, Tyson, Mafrig, Mondalez and the Yili Group.
“Once again, numerous innovations and all relevant aspects of the production of food and drinks were present in Cologne,” remarked Dr. Reinhard Grandke, managing director of the DLG (Germany Agricultural Society) and chairman of the Anuga FoodTec’s advisory board. “In conjunction with a tailor-made specialized program, the visitors were able to get a comprehensive picture of current industry themes and ground-breaking developments in the global food industry.”
GEA Makes Big Stand
The GEA Group had a huge presence at the show. Its mega footprint in Hall 9.1, occupying Stands A080 to E089, was second to none in space throughout the entire fairgrounds. Indeed, the company had an abundance of kit to show. Perhaps shining brightest at the sprawling pavilion was Bakel, Holland-headquartered GEA Food Solutions’ MultiDrum breading machine, which won a gold medal in the International FoodTec Awards competition for innovation in industrial plant and process technology.
Luuc van Lankveld told the FrozenFoodsBiz.com camera crew that the GEA MultiDrum utilizes an innovative technique to separate a single stream of products into three streams to ensure even feeding into three parallel drums, which thus maximizes coating consistency. It is no longer necessary to use manual operators to do this.
Luuc van Lankveld extols the virtues of GEA Food Solutions’ MultiDrum breading machine, which was a gold medal winner in the International FoodTec Awards competition.
The machine is very space efficient, requiring less room on the factory floor. To create a dust-free work environment and keep the system clean, the equipment can be completely closed with covers and used in combination with the patented GEA OptiAir system.
The MultiDrum is especially adept at producing home-style products, which are characterized by a coarse, crispy coating. Typical examples include natural boneless and bone-in poultry. For food processors to achieve the required look, bite and coverage required, pick-up of coarse flour may be up to 45%. This means that almost half of the end product is coating. Flatbed breaders struggle to achieve this level of coverage, while still maintaining the desired “coral reef” appearance.
Another member of the GEA Food Solutions team providing the FrozenFoodsBiz.com video team with information about product lines was Gerd Heuser, who detailed advantages of the company’s PowerPak thermoforming technology, which incorporates a split sealing bridge, servos for lifting in forming and sealing station and low-noise cross punches, and a TiroLabel unit with “no product/no label” detection capability.
Peter Rietjens demonstrated the continuous motion GEA SmartPacker CX400 vertical packaging machine’s ultrasonic sealing capacity of up to 100 bags per minute. Widely used in bagging frozen products ranging from meat and poultry to vegetables and potatoes, its uptime performance exceeds 98%.
Instead of using thermal energy to form a seal, ultrasonic sealing technology employs high-frequency “ultrasonic” vibrations on the sonotrode to bond two layers of film together at a molecular level, explained Rietjens.
Meanwhile, GEA premiered its enhanced frozen grinder at Anuga FoodTec. The two-worm design PowerGrind 280mm unit heralds a new generation of equipment with greater capacity as well as better safety performance. When launched four years ago, its predecessor set high standards for frozen block meat grinding down to -25°C, with minimum dust and fines. The new version offers increased throughput while still maintaining flexibility, robustness and modularity.
The new GEA Bock SHG44e/-L condensing units have debuted.Elsewhere on the stand, the company’s Bochum, Germany-based division introduced a more efficient GEA Bock HG44e semi-hermetic compressor to replace the HG4 range. The new model offers a number of advantages over the previous range, including a four-cylinder design that combines well-tried reliability with the running smoothness of the preceding model HG4, in addition to enhanced efficiency.
The advantages of the HG44e model have been transferred to the air-cooled condensing units. The new series of the GEA Bock SHG44e/-L, launched in April, features four model sizes that cover the range of maximum displacements from 41.3 to 67.0 m³/h.
In addition, the largest version SHG44e/770-4 compressor offers almost 20% more displacement with its 67.0 m³/h than the largest SHG4 model, and replaces the smallest model size of the former SHG5 range with 62.9 m³/h.
Heinen: The Freezing People
Jochen Hottinger, managing director of Heinen Freezing, did double duty at the show. In addition to heading up the Varel, Germany-based company’s stand, he delivered a lecture entitled “Technical Design of Industrial Cooling and Freezing Systems: Status Quo and Possible Enhancements.”
Heinen’s high profile spiral freezer drew plenty of visitors to the German company’s stand at the Anuga FoodTec in Cologne.
Heinen, a member of the Kahl Group, designs builds and installs industrial machines and equipment for freezing and cooling, as well as the continuous pasteurizing and proofing food products. Whether single, low-capacity units, a large-scale series of machines, or complex combinations of equipment integrated into a production line – its products are tailor-made to suit client specifications. The company excels in building customized systems or adapting models in its standard line to meet the exacting requirements of customers by utilizing numerous time-proven options.
From spiral freezers to fluidized bed systems and multi-level buffer freezers, Heinen engineers are experts at saving costs and maximizing efficiencies for clients. Its packfrost sliding shelf system for simultaneous freezing, cooling and storing large quantities of packaged products has proved to be especially appealing to producers of poultry, red meat and ice cream. One design features two systems widths and various tier heights for production volumes of between 50 and 500 tons per day.
For those starting up in the frozen food business or the production of specialty items, a compact system is offered which freezes and cools medium-capacity ranges in minimum factory space.
Urschel Debuts DiversaCut 2110A
Urschel Laboratories, a leader in industrial food cutting technology, unveiled its newest dicer at the show: the DiversaCut 2110A model. The largest machine in the line, it produces dices, strips, slices, granulates and shreds at high production capacities.
Jan van der Horst, Duurstede, Holland-based sales director of the Valparaiso, Indiana, USA-headquartered company, pointed out that with a maximum infeed of 10” (254 mm) in any dimension, the machine offers cost savings by eliminating the need to pre-cut product. It is capable of more precise cut tolerances, and features fine-tuning through adjustable collars on both cutting spindles for ultimate precision.
The DiveraCut 2110A is made to process a wide assortment of foodstuffs, ranging from potatoes, vegetables and fruits to ham, fish, pepperoni, breads, cookie granulations and more. Among its features is a new dial-in slice adjustment knob that simplifies slice selection and eases changing over from one slice size to another.
CPS Makes the “Impossible” Packable
Henri Veltmans, sales director of Case Packing Systems (CPS), and Joan Berkvens, sales coordinator, welcomed FrozenFoodsBiz.com to the Stramproy, Holland-headquartered company’s booth, which showcased a fully automatic end-of-line case packing system with special emphasis on flexibly packed products and trays.
CPS equipment is proficient at efficiently handling numerous types of items – from frozen vegetables, fruits and potatoes to fish, meat, poultry, baked goods and more – at high rates of speed.
There are other benefits as well. Its machines pack products more compactly than is possible by hand, and therefore achieve substantial savings in labor costs. Packing in shelf-ready boxes has also become an important feature, and CPS uses its deep expertise and experience to produce high-quality case packers.
Flexible bags, MAP trays or flowpacks in all shapes and sizes are packed fully and automatically, horizontal and vertical, at high speed in RSC boxes, cardboard trays, crates, pallet boxes and wheeled containers.
In order to supply customer-specific case packing lines, CPS integrates X-ray scanners, metal detectors, check weighers, coding systems and case erectors in its systems. The total case packing line is normally supplied with complete product and box supply systems, and may also include merging and buffering systems, to the final discharge of sealed boxes, which is completely designed and constructed by CPS engineers in house.
The company produces a full range of industrial case packers. If required, collaborations can be set up with partners to deliver complete turnkey projects, including packaging machines and palletizing systems.
Pattyn: Responsive Box Lining
Stan Pattyn and Gregory Van Dijk showed FrozenFoodsBiz.com what Brugge, Belgium-based Pattyn Packing Lines has to offer. Fully automated Pattyn bulk solid lines, installed by over 100 companies worldwide, optimize the packaging process by polybags-lining containers ranging from carton boxes and crates to trays holding from five to 30 kilograms.
To pack bulk solids efficiently into pallet containers, octabins or drums with capacity of up to a ton, it designs, builds and installs a unique range of giant machines according to client specifications. The turnkey solution encompasses case erecting, bag inserting, weigh filling, bag closing and case closing delivered at minimum running cost.
Now with the third generation of family leadership at the helm, the company, founded more than 60 years ago, has been serving the frozen food industry with box lining solutions since 1983. Frozen vegetable processors have long relied on Pattyn’s innovative and responsible solutions, and frozen bread makers have been using its FLEXIM-11 flexible bag inserters since 1999.
Development and improvements have been ongoing. The FLEXIM-21 model, featuring enhanced bag insertion technology, was launched in 2005 to provide failsafe bag opening with mechanical grippers. Most recently, in 2014, the FLEXIM-31 was rolled out. The start-up first bag inserter uses pre-made bags from a roll.
Employing 200 people, the Pattyn Group’s customer base numbers more than 800 worldwide. It has 35 business partners and five subsidiary companies.
