A. There is a saying in Germany: Firstly, things turn out differently, and secondly, than you think. I never accepted existing structures or technologies as is, but always tried to change something and to find better solutions instead. Especially the time as a management consultant sharpened my senses for entrepreneurial thinking and developed the continuous urge for customer satisfaction and success. But besides of the technical knowledge and the management experience it was finally hard work and being at the right place at the right time or simply luck.
You have worked in R&D within Brabender. Do you see new products and new processes as the future growth for the company and if so, in what direction might that be?
Even though we tend to operate in conservative markets, many new technologies will revolutionise laboratories in the near or mid-future. Thereby, I am not referring to the digitalisation, which is unfortunately often still progressing slowly due to a lack of priority or a lack of understanding of the potentials of big data. Rather, I refer to automation and artificial intelligence. The costs for automation are declining since years and robots will soon be taking over many operational tasks in laboratories as well. Additionally, artificial intelligence plays already an integral part of our daily life and it will continue to take over cognitive tasks in laboratories like the interpretation of data, finding correlations, or identifying quality characteristics. Of course, we will provide corresponding solutions. Moreover, we are broadening our product portfolio in order to strengthen our positioning in existing markets and access new markets, also outside the laboratory business. Amongst others, the driving trends in this regard are clearly sustainability and green economy and especially in the food business the substitution of meat and dairy with plant based alternatives.
Extrusion technology is a significant part of the Brabender product line-up. What, in your view, is the importance of extrusion processing and why has Brabender developed such a strong position in the production of smaller, laboratory scale machines?
A. The selection between a batch or a continuous process like extrusion is normally a purely economic consideration. Typically, the investment costs for an extruder are higher but a continuous process is able to produce at lower production costs. Consequently, an extruder for production purposes is designed for uninterrupted 24/7 operation and maximum productivity. However, when it comes to formulation and process development the requirements are completely different and this is where Brabender comes into play. Our twin screw extruder design fulfils the criteria of improvers and innovators. First, we provide a high flexibility achieved with multiple top and side feeding options, with a modular liner and configurable screws and a wide process parameter range (speed, temperature, pressure). This allows for a broad range of applications. Furthermore, our clam-shell design with an openable liner enables high transparency, easy cleaning and consequently fast product changes between the trials. This is crucial for speeding up development cycles. But the key aspect for our strong market positioning is our application expertise that we have accumulated over decades in various, partially exotic, projects with customers and research partners.
What are the key advantages of using an extruder in the production of foodstuffs? Do operators need ongoing technical support that companies like yours offer?
A. Besides the above-mentioned productivity, extrusion offers also a high versatility. Perhaps an extruder cannot bake a beautiful and delicious bread, but it can produce pasta of different shape and form, it can produce directly or indirectly expanded snacks, it can texturise proteins and create meat alternatives, it can even roast coffee or squeeze out oil, etc. This process and product diversity is overwhelming and offers many opportunities for the future.
Do you see extrusion technology playing a greater role in the production of our foodstuffs in the future and if so in what areas?
A. Food extrusion plays already a big role in the market. In simple terms, it is used wherever it makes sense to do so. Nowadays, consumers have become very demanding in terms of product quality and taste.
If the extrusion process is feasible for a particular application, does not affect quality aspects negatively and offers advantages in productivity and costs, then it is highly likely that it is already in use or will be used in future. But, more important for new market potentials and growth are the megatrends “plant based” and “green or circular economy.” Extruders are particularly well suited for the texturisation of proteins and creation of healthy and sustainable food alternatives to animal-based foods like meat or egg with typically higher footprints. In addition, extruders are crucial in the recycling of residue streams from foodstuff production into intermediate products or delicious snacks, bars, etc. In both areas we see the most movement in the markets.
We expect the world’s population to grow to over nine billion people by 2050. Will food analysis and product monitoring become increasingly important to consumers and governments alike and with the world continuing to grow rapidly, is the focus likely to remain on safe food production? Is the world becoming more standardised in its evaluation of foodstuffs?
A. Many people and experts believe that the biggest challenge in future will be to feed the world’s fast growing population. I am relaxed because we are dealing with comparably slow developments and we are working already on the solutions like productivity increases without expanding agricultural land, waste reduction or even avoidance, an optimised carbon footprint partly achieved with aqua cultures, lower consumption in general, and so on and so forth. And of course, additionally, the increasing consumer demand for healthy and sustainable food will lead to seamless monitoring from field to the plate with most probably new technologies and standards. But to be honest, I am rather puzzled why with this oversupply of food today there are still people or especially children in our world still suffering from malnutrition or hunger. I hope that we solve this problem much sooner.
The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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