GEA opened the doors of its new 1,500-square-meter Technology Center (XLAB) in Biedenkopf-Wallau, Germany on March 20. The facility is now available to food industry customers for product testing and training.
“With the XLAB, we are taking product testing for our national and international customers to a whole new level. A special feature is the new 500-square-meter air-conditioned hall, which can be cooled down to the freezing point and enables customer tests under realistic conditions,” said Moritz Krunke, managing director of GEA’s Wallau site.
During the opening week, automation, digitization, sustainability, as well as training and performance support workshops will be offered to customers. Plant tours and live demonstrations on the slicing and packaging line, SmartPacker and CutMaster round off the program. Individual machines and complete, highly digitalized production lines are on display on the exhibition floor, and the business unit’s entire product portfolio is available.
This includes technically complex thermoforming and vertical packaging machines, high-speed cutting and loading systems for frozen foods and vegetables, meat, sausage, ham/bacon and cheese, as well as highly flexible bowl cutters for the production of sausages, cheese, fish and meat substitute products.
“Our new Technology Center underscores our partnership-based customer relations on a national and international level. Together with our customers we develop tailored solutions that will play a decisive role in the technological transformation of the respective production area,” stated Jörg Kuhn, vice president of the company’s slicing and packaging business unit.
GEA is not only an equipment systems supplier, but also a consultant for customers just entering the food processing industry. These are integrated into the processes and planning at an early stage. In addition to consulting, the company stands out as a full-line supplier of machines for the entire process line, automation and software.
