The following interviews have appeared in our now monthly publication - Milling and Grain (formerly Grain & Feed Milling Technology).
Yiannis Christodoulou is the Managing Director of Agentis Innovations, Progressus and Athene Consulting - all companies that he founded himself in 2011. Specialising in the field of leadership, people and business development, Mr Christodoulou is also an expert in the application of digital technology in agriculture. Over the last 25 years, he has also held a number of technical and senior leadership positions in the livestock, aquaculture farming and feed milling industries in Asia. He is a Poultry Production and Management graduate from Scottish Agricultural College and he also holds a BSc in Animal Agriculture from Wye Collage- University of London. In 2014, Mr Christodoulou also obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Leading Innovation and Changes in Organisation from St John University in York, UK.
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David Wright, at 59, came into the family flour milling business, GR Wrights and Sons Limited, in 1981 representing the fifth generation milling on the company's River Lea site at Ponder’s End. Nine years later, in 1990, he took over as Managing Director at 29-years of age. He is a graduate from the Swiss Milling School, which he had attended in 1983. He had also trained as a miller at UK mills - namely the Timms Mill and at Heygates Mill in North Hampton. Mr Wright is the great, great grandson of George Reynolds Wright and under his direction the family business expanded in an extremely competitive marketplace through his attentions to staff support and adopting the latest technology. The company gained BS5750 Certification in 1994 – one of the first milling companies in the UK to achieve this accreditation. He also saw his company gain recognition for its support for employees by again being one of the first in the milling sector to lift the ‘Investors in People Award’ in 1998. He also secured a ‘London’s Manufacturer of the Year Award’ in 2004 followed by a ‘Passport to Exports Award’ in 2005. This latter award was for finding new markets for bread mixes abroad. After developing bread mixes in consumer packs he introduced cake mixes, which were more recently rebranded in 2015, but had already penetrated markets overseas, such as France and The Netherlands. Mr Wright focuses on his people, new technologies and has an uncanny eye for market opportunities in the flour milling sector. Here he talks to Milling and Grain about the latest company development – the building and commissioning of his new 18-tonne-per-hour flour mill at Harlow north of London.
Christian Rabe, Head of Applied Feed Technology, Evonik, Germany Christian Rabe started his education at the Technical University (TU) in Munich with a Bachelor of Bio-Process Technology, followed by a Master of Process Technology at the TU Braunschweig. In 2010, he started working on process development for the production of different feed additives at Evonik.
Li Jianjun
Ryan Alan S. Celis
Ryan Alan S. Celis is a Mechanical Engineer who earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 1987 where he also received his Certificate in Advanced Military Training in 1985. He placed 6th in the 1987 Mechanical Engineering Licensure Examinations. He also attended the Ateneo de Manila Graduate School of Business in 1992. He started his professional career in San Miguel in 1988 which saw him undertake various important positions.
After leaving San Miguel, he set-up his own food company marketing and distributing his former company’s poultry and meat products. He also set-up his own engineering and consultancy company doing project engineering and project management, consultancy and technical training, maintenance services, fabrication, construction, and installation works for the feed and food manufacturing companies. Over-all, Ryan’s experience in the feedmilling industry spans 33 years. At present, his company also operates a feedmill plant in the southern Philippines doing contract manufacturing for various major feed integrators and commercial feedmillers. He is also a regular resource speaker at the Milling School organised by Milling and Grain and Progressus Agrischools.
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Arnaud Petit, Executive Director of the International Grains
Council (IGC)
Arnaud Petit was appointed Executive Director of the International Grains Council (IGC) in February 2018. IGC is an intergovernmental organisation based in London offering independent analysis on grains, oilseeds, rice and pulses markets to its member governments to promote international trade in grains. It also provides information to non-government subscribers. IGC provides an important international platform for discussions between policy makers and the private sector. It also serves as the Secretariat for the Food Assistance Committee helping to facilitate networking within the donor community to improve the efficacy of food assistance.
From 2005- 2017 Mr. Petit worked at the European Farmers and agri-cooperatives Union (Copa-Cogeca), as Director for Commodities and Trade. He was also a Member of the Executive Committee of the European Technology Platform “Plants for the future” (2009-2017) and a Member of the Experts Group on EU-US trade negotiations at the European Commission (2014-2017). From 2000 -2005 he served as Policy Advisor for European Affairs at the National Chamber for Agriculture in Paris, and Deputy Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (2000-2005). He holds an MA in Agricultural Economics from the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, Montpellier, France.
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Martin Schlauri, Bühler
Martin Schlauri started his milling career with a millers’ apprenticeship program with his first work experience as a young miller outside Europe, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Martin joined Bühler in 1980 after graduating as a milling technologist at the Swiss School of Milling (SMS). After completing assignments in process development and plant commissioning in various countries, he was made responsible for the flour milling business in Egypt followed by Italy.
Back to the headquarter in Switzerland, Martin Schlauri took over the management of the grain milling training centre and later headed Bühler’s worldwide grain milling activities. In 2015 Martin took over the management of the African Milling School in Nairobi, Kenya, where he also taught technology and quality control. In 2020 Martin returned to Switzerland, taking care of specific milling groups and projects for the company.
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Ron and Mildred Cookson
Ron and Mildred hail from a part of NW England known as ‘Windmill Land.’ Unsurprisingly, when they moved to Reading west of London in 1968, Mildred soon found their nearest windmill at Lacey Green near High Wycombe and became active in helping to rescue what was a ruin in danger of collapse.
Nearer to home, the mediaeval watermill on the Thames at Mapledurham had just been repaired. Mildred rapidly became Britain’s only female watermiller, running the mill by herself for 30 years. She also rose to prominence in the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings as chairman of their Mills Section and for the last decade a trustee.
In 2001 they identified the need for a specialist archive and library to look after images and documents relating to the history of milling. Ron, recently retired from the pharmaceutical industry, volunteered to set this up as an independent charity. The Trust, started with just Mildred’s collection, is now caring for some four million items from 270 collections. Ron was honoured MBE by the Queen in 2010, but their proudest moments were the Archive’s award of National Accreditation in 2016 and its recent Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
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Scott Montgomery, Director of the Food Fortification
Initiative (FFI)
Scott Montgomery is the director of the Food Fortification Initiative (FFI), a network of partners working to make the addition of vitamins and minerals to flour and rice standard milling practice worldwide. He is based in Minneapolis, USA and has expertise in senior level management, food processing and the supply chain with global experience across cereal grain industries. Scott received a bachelor’s degree in milling science and management from Kansas State University in 1980 and worked for Cargill Incorporated from 1980- 2010; he started as a trainee at the company’s oilseeds processing plant in Washington, Iowa. He quickly moved into the wheat flour milling business, holding several supervisory positions across North America. Scott assumed responsibility of global operations for Cargill’s wheat and maize milling operations and, ultimately, citrus operations in every region of the world. He retired from Cargill in 2010 as Vice President, Global Procurement Leader. Before becoming FFI’s director in 2011, Scott served on the FFI Executive Management Team (EMT) from 2004 and from 2006-10 he was appointed chair. The FFI EMT is a group which includes representatives from multi-sector partners who provide strategic direction to FFI.
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Prof. Wang Weiguo, Henan University of Technology
Milling and Grain had the opportunity to interview the head of China’s technical committee who is leading its proposal to have all feed manufacturing equipment compliant under a new ISO/TC293 standard.
Professor Weiguo Wang, who graduated in 1977 from Zhengzhou Grain College, Henan Province, majored in grain processing before teaching at Zhengzhou Grain College (now, the Zhengzhou University of Technology). He achieved his Masters’ Degree in Grain, Oil and Plant Protein Engineering in 2001 from Jiangnan University, became associate professor in 1992 and professor in 2000 in feed science and technology. He was also head of the Department of Grain Engineering from 1997-98 and chairman of the Bio-engineering College from 1999-2007.
Today, Prof Wang is the chairman of feed branch of the Chinese Cereal and Oil Association, a member of National Feed Evaluation Committee of China and a member of the Standardisation Technical Committee of Feed Machinery of China and is the convenor of ISO/TC293/WG1. He has published 160 papers on feed science and technology and has received three first prizes in science and technology on both provincial and ministerial level.
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Roger Butler, president of nabim (UK flour millers)
Milling industry stalwart Roger Butler, who began his career cleaning hessian flour sacks aged 14, has become the new president of the National Association of British and Irish Millers (nabim) the trade association for UK flour millers. Mr Butler, 59, takes over from George Marriage this month, having previously served as the association’s vice president. Currently chairman of Whitworth Brothers and Carr’s Flour mills, his appointment comes as the UK flour industry continues to face unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Mr Hao Bo, Chairman, Zheng Chang
Jack Chen, Chief Technology Officer, Famsun
Motoharu Yoshimasa, President and CEO, Satake USA Inc
Ralph E. Kolb, General Manager, FrigorTec GmbH
Constance Cullman, CEO and President, AFIA
Dr Heike Knoerzer, Head of Knowledge Management and Head of
PETKUS Academy, PETKUS
Xavier Bourbon, President of JTIC
Mr Xavier Bourbon is the President of Les Journées Techniques des Industries Céréalières (commonly known as JTIC), a key event for the milling sector held annually in France. Growing up with a father who specialised in the milling and crops sector, Mr Bourbon has always held an interest and appreciation for cereals and milling, which he now uses in his work as president, helping to coordinate the annual exhibition.
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Samuel Goldberg, co-founder of Blood Orange Pictures and Producer of SILO
Samuel Goldberg is a film, television, theatre and live events producer based in New York City. He began his career as an actor and moved into writing and creative producing while studying at the University of Pennsylvania. Samuel has produced multiple award-winning documentaries including Web and Silo: Edge of the Real World and has worked with renowned artists Jon Batiste, Shaina Taub and Louis Cato, to name a few.
Most recently he produced the feature film SILO about a grain entrapment accident and rescue in a small American farm town. Samuel believes in the power of stories to produce empathy and alongside his amazing wife loves telling tales to their infant daughter, Taal.
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Professor Wu Wenbin, Henan University of Technology
Dr Wenbin has been engaged in teaching and scientific research in regard to the grain processing industry within Henan University of Technology for an incredible 37 years.
He graduated from the Dalian University of Technology and is a NTNU visiting scholar and Deputy Secretary General of China’s Grain Committee for Standardisation.
Dr Wu is also Director of the Grain and Oil Machinery Research Institute of the Henan University of Technology. He has directed and completed the publication of over 135 papers and 18 national standards.
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Bernd große Holthaus, CEO of Ge-Pro
Bernd große Holthaus joined Ge-Pro in 1992 and has been dedicated to the animal meal industry for over 27 years. Ge-Pro’s various solutions for poultry meal, protein concentrates and feather meal have faithfully served the agriculture industry for many years, establishing their position as one of the largest producers of poultry meal in Europe.
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Travis Young, CEO of Vortex
Vortex was founded in 1977, by Travis Young’s grandfather, Neil Peterson, and his father, Lee Young. Travis grew up in the material handling and engineering industry and has now continued to revolutionise the industry for the past two decades. Mr Young has a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and International Business from Kansas State University.
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Jan Vanbrabant, Chairman and CEO of the ERBER Group
Jan Vanbrabant was appointed Chairman and CEO of the ERBER Group in April of 2017. He has been the CEO of Biomin Asia since 2009 and has played a very important role in the development and the success of the Asian region as Managing Director Biomin Asia based in Singapore.
Dr Vanbrabant holds a master’s degree in Biotechnology and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Ghent in Belgium, with fields of expertise in microbiology and biochemistry. From applied scientific research at the University of Ghent, Jan moved to the business world, where he has held positions in sales, marketing, and general management.
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Mehmet Ugur Gürkaynak
Milling and Grain magazine has recently opened a new office in Eskişehir, Turkey. Mehmet Ugur Gürkaynak has been appointed to run the new office and will continue in his role of editor for the Turkish language edition of the magazine.
Mehmet has been involved in the milling industry since 2005, and although he has only been in his new position with Milling and Grain for less than six months, he is already making a big impact on the reach and content for our Turkish language edition.
Perendale is vey grateful to have to a such a dynamic, committed and professional employee representing us in Turkey, a country that is fast becoming a major power in the industry.
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Joko Widodo ‘Jokowi’, President of Indonesia
In an unprecedented step, President Joko Widodo ‘Jokowi’ the president of Indonesia gave just a 24-hour notification that he intended to visit Indonesia’s leading livestock and animal feed exhibition being held at the Jakarta Convention Centre in the heart of the city, on the afternoon of the closing day.
For those who had stayed to the end, or who were visiting on the last day, it was an extraordinary scene when his entourage entered the main Convention Centre which was dominated by the stand of Indonesia’s leading feed manufacturer, Charoen Polphand Indonesia.
Our interview this month reflects the views of Indonesia’s President, President Joko Widodo ‘Jokowi’ - and not his direct quotations - about the importance he and his government place on the development of the livestock and aquaculture industries and the support provided by the feed manufacturing industry, both locally and internationally.
It is a pleasure to see the importance the leader of this country places on the foundations of food production. He stayed at the exhibition for a full one-and-a-half hours talking to exhibitors from both local and international companies.
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Mirko Filip, Managing Director, Filip GmbH
Mirko Filip is the fourth generation of Filip’s to run his namesake company Filip GmbH alongside his sister Tatjana Filip.
Starting in the role in June 2017, Mirko has said that alongside the company’s family motto “To always deliver the best of the best” he also strongly supports the mantra “Marketing is good – but real testing under real conditions in the mill is better!”
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Sergio Antolini, CEO, Paglierani
Paglierani, the Italian company specialized in the design and manufacture of packaging and bagging systems for solid products in powder, granulated and flaked form from cement, sugar, pet food, flour and chemical and petrochemical.
It’s a company globally known for their vast experience, high reputation and latest technological developments and innovations in ‘mechatronics’.
Founded in 1926 by the grandfather of brother’s Sergio and Alberto Antolini, and developed by their father Primo Antolini - born in 1921 – the Paglierani company works alongside that well-respected Italian milling manufacturer Ocrim.
Sergio is dedicated to the commercial activities while his older brother Alberto takes responsibility for the industrial aspects and for R&D.
Milling and Grain carried an interview with Alberto Antolini, the CEO of Ocrim in December 2014. Today we have the pleasure of reporting our interview with Sergio in his head quarters in San Marino.
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Nicola Lorenzo Finco, CEO, Mulmix
Mulmix was ‘born’ in 1962. Established by Knight Luigi Finco, it developed as a specialist division of one of Italy’s largest poultry-cage producers, Officine FACCO Spa, of Campo San Marino, Padova.
Today, the business is overseen by his son Nicola Lorenzo Finco and has become a major supplier and leading manufacturer of grain handling, storage and cleaning equipment. Mulmix quickly became a national milestone in the area of milling equipment and in 1975 became independent.
This was the breakthrough it was looking for, which allowed it to focus on complete milling projects both within Italy and more importantly abroad - from on-farm storage solutions to deep water ship unloaders and everything in between that related to grains and cereal processing.
Since 2008 the company has been run by charismatic CEO Nicola Lorenzo Finco who brings ‘spirit to the steel’.
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David Perry, Managing Director, Perry of Oakley Ltd.
Perry of Oakley has over 70 years experience in the manufacture and design of continuous flow grain driers, chain and flight conveyors and augers, square bins and grain cleaners for the drying and handling of most granular bulk materials.
Mr Perry explained of his experience in the industry, “Since I graduated, nearly 28 years ago, I have been in the business all my working life. I have been responsible for purchasing, production, workshop management, design, and sales. Also prior to this in my younger years I worked in all of the positions on the shop floor including welding, painting, assembly and sheet metal.”
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Mr Greg Liu, President of International Business Development, FAMSUN
Famsun is an integrated solution provider of plants, equipment and services in the farm-to-table industry chain. It has said its global ability and experience in turnkey project delivery in feed milling, grain logistics and processing, steel structure building as well as industrial automation has helped customers succeed in their respective markets.
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Mildred Cookson, Chairman, The Mills Section of the Society for The Protection of Ancient Buildings
Mildred Cookson is Chairman, for the second time, of The Mills Section of the Society for The Protection of Ancient Buildings, an organisation she joined in 1976. About that time Mildred became Britain’s only woman traditional watermiller with responsibility for the medieval mill at Mapledurham on the River Thames. She retired as a miller in 2010.
By then she had formed the Mills Archive Trust, the World’s first specialist archive collecting and caring for records of milling history from around the world. The Archive, now with 235 collections holding more than three million records, has been recognised by the UK authorities as a National Centre of Excellence. Mildred has a particular interest in traditional millwrighting and in the development of the modern milling industry from the middle of the 19th century. She is the lead trustee for the archive in both these areas.
Mildred has a monthly column in Milling and Grain magazine on the Mills Archive Trust, the column features information about national mills and their histories as well as delightful images which the Mills Archive Trust gather and then restore.
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Dr Ali El-Sayed Ali Al-Moselhi, Egyptian Ministyer of Supply and Internal Trade
Dr Ali El-Sayed Ali Al-Moselhi is the Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade.
He previously held the position of Egyptian minister of Social Solidarity in the cabinet of Dr Ahmed Nazif and a member of the Parliament, the People’s Assembly, for the constituency Abu Kabeer, Ash Sharqiyah Governorate.
The International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) Mideast and Africa Chapter held its annual conference and exhibition in Dubai from October 22-25, 2017 and invited Egypt’s Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, His Excellency Dr Ali El-Sayed Ali Moselhi, to participate in the conference’s closing Panel Discussion on ‘Wheat imports – MEA Regional Outlook’.
Dr El-Sayed Ali Moselhi spoke to Milling and Grain about Egypt’s experience of providing subsidized flour, and other foodstuffs, to its growing population.
Egypt has a population of 98 million and provides subsidised food to 80 million people.
He is opposed to food subsidies on an economic basis, but recognises their role in helping to sustain many of his countrymen’s nutrition and health.
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Mr Walid Ali Mohamed Saeed
Mr Walid Ali Mohamed Saeed comes from a reputable and renowned Yemeni Business Family (AL SAEED Family). His business career started by establishing Al Saeed Trading Company in the year 1993 under the umbrella of Hayel Saeed Anam (H.S.A) Group of Companies, which started its business in the year 1938.
Al Saeed trading company has grown rapidly to become a household name for the H.S.A. group in Yemen, while identifying the importance of foodstuff requirement. They started by importing essential food commodities for serving Yemen Market where foods mainly rely on imports in order to benefit the final consumers.
The Group owns and operates two state of the art Bühler built Flour Mills with a combined milling capacity of 7,500 MT/day and has silo storage capacity to store wheat for over 400,000 MT in addition to storage of bagged commodities. The Group also owns a sugar refinery with 2000 MT/day refining capacity.
Attending last month’s IAOM Mideast and Africa Conference and Expo in Dubai, he was named winner of the Regional Leader Award to serve consistent food supply in Yemen – to find out more, a Milling and Grain representative interviewed Mr Walid Saeed at his Dubai office, Midstar Commodity Management Ltd.
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Mr Sander Geelen
Sander Geelen is the second-generation owner and Managing Director of Geelen Counterflow.
You have most likely heard the English idiom “Don’t do what I do, do what I say”
Well, Geelen Counterflow has modified it to, “Don’t do what I say, do what I do”, specifically for when it comes to developing an environmentally friendly philosophy in the manufacture of equipment used in feed and food production systems. Shown today, this company is actively identifying ways to eliminate fossil fuels from the feed and food manufacturing process, starting at home.
Since 1980, Geelen Counterflow has devoted itself exclusively to the design, construction and installation of its unique counterflow dryers and coolers in feed and food factories around the world. This family run company in Haelen, The Netherlands, invented the counterflow cooler, which is now acknowledged as a worldwide market standard with units successfully operating in feed and food plants in more than 100 countries. The counterflow dryer is becoming similarly successful thanks to its high food saftey standards, best energy efficiency and lowest total cost of ownership.
The company’s goal is to build the world’s best dryers and coolers for feed and food to be 100 percent sustainable. It’s a strategy initiated and overseen by the second-generation owner and Managing Director, Sander Geelen.
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Mrs Zübeyde Kavraz
Mrs Zübeyde Kavraz is the General Manager of Parantez International Exhibition Organization Corp.
Parantez Fair Organization is one of the Parantez Group companies who organised IDMA, the international feed and milling events.
The fair is held every two years and is widely considered to be one of the most important meeting platforms of the world milling sector. The eighth exhibition which wins recognition with visitors and investors in 2017, will be held in April 2019. But before this event, IDMA FEED - Feed Technologies and Sub-Industry Exhibition will be held from July 5-7, 2018 to support the developing feed industry.
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Nicholas Braime
Nicholas Braime joined 4B in 1972 after graduating from Oxford with an MA in Modern History.
Initially Nicholas trained in the drawing office and production departments, while doing day release engineering courses at Kitson college before continuing his formal studies, with a diploma in management studies at Leeds Metropolitan University.
In 1976, Nicholas took on the responsibility for developing the sales of components used in the bulk material handling industry. In 1984 he moved to the USA to set up a branch office of the new subsidiary 4B Elevator Components Ltd, before returning to the UK in 1987 to take responsibility as Sales Director for Braime Pressings Ltd.
Nicholas was elected Chairman in 1987. He is responsible for the operational management of the company and for developing group strategy.
4B Braime is located in Leeds, England and is the original and UK based subsidiary, and also the HQ, of the ‘4B Group’; consisting of seven subsidiaries located worldwide and developing and selling products into the global material handling industry in more than 50 countries.
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Paul Phillips, President of Maxi-Lift, Inc
Paul Phillips graduated from West Texas A&M in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing. This was to be the start of a very successful and very full career within the agricultural industry.
Paul received his MBA in 1995 from The University of Texas before attending several postgraduate courses including one in marketing at The Harvard Business School.
He is currently the President of Maxi-Lift, Inc., a worldwide manufacturer of plastic elevator buckets. He is also the Vice President of Marketing for Southwest Agri-Plastics, a sister company that manufacturer plastic products for the cattle, swine, chicken and egg industries.
Mr Phillips previously served as the Chairman on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the AFIA (American Feed Industry Association), he has served as a Representative of the AFIA to the International Feed Industry Federation in conjunction with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN, and has served as the past Chairperson for the Equipment Manufacturers Committee of AFIA.
He chaired the Exhibitor Advisory Committee for the joint meeting with AFIA, the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, and the North American Meat Institute and was selected as the Member of the Year for AFIA in 2011.
Finally, Paul also holds several patents for new products used in the agricultural, industrial, and horticultural industries.
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Arya Seta Wiriadipoera, Managing Director, PT Napindo Media Ashatama
Arya Seta Wiriadipoera, was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and is the second child of Mr Herman Wiridipura, the founder of PT Napindo Media Ashatama.
Arya was born on October 17, 1984 and considering his young age has a very impressive career history.
He graduated from Paramadina University, Jakarta in 2006. Three years later in 2009, he began his career working with PT Napindo Ashatama – a professional exhibition organiser company. Showing his diverse skillset he developed an automotive trade company in 2011 before returning to PT Napindo as the Vice President and soon after the Managing Director.
As well as being fully in charge of his father’s company he and his company are the proud organisers of Indo Livestock, Indonesia’s number one livestock, feed, dairy and fisheries industry event.
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Henk van de Bunt - General Manager of Victam
Victam is one of the world’s largest and foremost international events for animal feed ingredients processing technology, biomass-pelleting systems, flour milling and grain processing. The 2015 event marks a very special year, it is the 50th anniversary of the exhibition which will once again combine the FIAAP, VICTAM and GRAPAS exhibitions, and their respective conferences under one roof at Koelnmesse in Cologne. Henk van de Bunt has been General Manager of the show since 1999.
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Dr Lutz Popper - Mühlenchemie
Mühlenchemie, specialists for enzyme-containing compounds for pasta flours, has opened a trials laboratory for pasta and is considerably expanding its efforts in this field. The German company sees the interlocking of expertise in raw materials and plant and equipment as a promising way to advance the development of innovations and product optimisations for the pasta market. Dr Lutz Popper studied at the Technical University, Berlin between 1979-85. He holds a Ph.D in food technology. He has been a scientific director at the Stern Wywiol Group since 1993 and is also head of R&D. Milling and Grain Magazine spoke to Dr Popper about the latest developments and rising to challenges in the industry.
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Yoshimasa Tomoyasu - Satake
Yoshimasa Tomoyasu originates from Hiroshima. Having joined Satake as an engineer, he was engaged on a series of projects supplying flour mills. Rising to the position of Manager of the Flour Milling Division, in 2007 he was appointed General Manager of the Asia Business Division. He is now an Executive Officer of Satake Corporation, and concurrently President of Satake Australia Pty, Ltd.
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Johannes Wick - Bühler
In September last year Johannes Wick took over the reigns of Bühler’s Grain Milling Business Area - one of five newly organised business areas within the grains & food company. With a non-milling background, Johannes Wick today heads up one of the most advanced milling process design and equipment manufacturing facilities globally along with its distribution and marketing responsibilities. Milling and Grain magazine was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview Mr Wick just prior to his official introduction as Head of Grain Milling in late August 2014. It is a milestone for MAG to start 2015 by publishing this key interview on a futuristic outlook for the flour milling industry.
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Joel Newman - AFIA
Joel Newman is the American Feed Industry Association’s president, CEO and corporate treasurer. Newman has more than three decades of diverse executive experience in agribusiness, with United Cooperative Farmers, Maple Leaf Foods and Agway. He brought an exciting new vision to the association when he joined in 2004 and has effectively led the membership and staff through a landmark era of change. Newman represents AFIA on international issues and is a director of the International Feed Industry Federation, headquartered in Germany. He holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from West Virginia University and a Master of Business Administration in finance and marketing from Syracuse University.
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Alberto Antolini - Ocrim
Guido Grassi, the Knight of the order of Merit for Labour, founded Ocrim in 1945. Today, Ocrim remains an Italian company; the Antolini family owns the stock of which Alberto Antolini is the Chief Executive Officer, his brother Sergio the Vice-Chairman and his father, Primo Antolini, the chairman. Servicing the agri-food chain, Ocrim operates in the milling sector through the construction of mills processing wheat, corn, cereals and animal feed. Coupled with its ‘Italian made’ heritage, Ocrim prides itself on investment and attention paid to the training of future generations through its Milling Technology school, situated in Cremona which has been in existence for over 50 years, training millers from all over the world.
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Volkmar Wywiol - Patron, FlourWorld Museum
Volkmar Wywiol is the owner of Mühlenchemie – a manufacturer of flour improvers – in Ahrensburg, near Hamburg, and the initiator of the FlourWorld Museum, an attraction unique of its kind in the world. In this interview Volkmar Wywiol explains what motivated him to do something out of the ordinary for the international milling community.
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Gerard Klein Essink - Director, Bridge2Food
Gerard Klein Essink is Director at Bridge2Food, which is located in Bilthoven, The Netherlands. The Bridge2Food company was founded in 2002 to provide research & consultancy services in fast-moving consumer categories. In recent years, international recognition has led to us developing platforms on food category trends such Sports & Performance Nutrition, Healthy Ageing, Healthy & Nutritional Bars, Ingredients with a specific protein focus and on Food Technology for food technology professionals.
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Nigel Bennett - secretary, nabim
we talk to the secretary of nabim - Nigel Bennett. nabim has three principle functions to promote the flour milling industry's views to government, parliamentarians, regulators, the media and other interested bodies; to improve the understanding of the operational requirements of the flour milling sector; to provide information and advice to its members on a wide range of subjects affecting flour milling.
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Ruwan Berculo - Project Manager VIV
Exhibitions, or any kind of physical b2b meeting platforms, have always played a significant role in pushing industries forward. The annual fairs that most Western countries had in the 19th and 20th centuries, the World expo's, industry trade shows... They have all been playing one central role: to unite peers who will watch out for innovations presented and set directions for future technology developments. That hasn't changed and will not change, I am sure. Meeting platforms haven't lost their relevance, although many of you foresee a decreasing role following the introduction of online match-making concepts. But hey, can you list 3 successful digital initiatives that just did what a physical meeting used to do? I don't think you'll get far. Of course, print and online serve a relevant purpose, though quite different from the value of face to face meetings. It's no surprise that publishers increasingly start developing meeting concepts. One cannot do without.
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Adifo’s founder and former CEO Piet De Lille, and current R&D manager Reinhart De Lille
Adifo’s founder and former CEO Piet De Lille (PDL), and current R&D manager Reinhart De Lille (RDL) (father and son), give their personal views on 40 years of developing this leading Belgium based, software company that serves the milling industry. They highlight milestones the feed and food industry has already passed and, above all, what does the future hold? A unique double interview.
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Paul Davies - Royal Agricultural University, UK
Paul Davis is the Vice Principal & Professor of Agricultural Systems for the Royal Agricultural University in the UK. Professor Davies has considerable experience of crop production systems and crop science, and has developed a particular understanding of agricultural development. He has had extensive research, training and extension experience both in the UK and overseas. His international experience has been gained mainly in Asia; in Central and Eastern Europe and, on occasion, in South America. Professor Davies is well known in the UK crop protection industry, and parts of the food sector, for his expertise in education and training development. He is from a farming background, and has a particular interest in technology transfer and the application of new technology in agriculture and food production.
Professor Davies has, in particular, experience of commercial farm development for training and extension, and Agritourism use. Recent involvements include food chain analysis and quality assurance.
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Andreas Flückiger - Middle East and Africa region president, Bühler AG
Andreas Flückiger is president of the Middle East and Africa region of Switzerland-based industry leader Bühler AG. He took up his current position in 2011, having led Bühler South America for the previous 10 years.
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Alfonso Garrido - sales director, Symaga, Spain
Symaga specialises in the design, manufacture and supply of steel silos for storing cereals, oilseeds, grains and pellets, rice for the agriculture, agro-industry, biofuels and biomass industries. With more than 30 years' experience and over 15 million m³ of storage built worldwide, the company is one of the world’s leading storage experts.
But Symaga is not just silos; the company is divided into four individual divisions. The Livestock Division focuses on farm silos and livestock equipment, the Agriculture Division, provides water tanks and vineyard posts, and the Steel department is dedicated to any steel work.
In the Silos division, Symaga supplies a wide range of silos, flat bottom up to 25,000 m³ and hopper silos, reaching 12 m diameter with 45° hopper and 2,700 m³ capacity, completely galvanized and with double welded compression ring.
Alice Neal spoke to Alfonso Garrido, sales director, about the family-run business.
Garrido began his career at the company as a child helping out in the manufacturing department. He has an understanding of all aspects of the company, having spent time working in the logistics department and administration before joining the sales team three years ago. Despite having so much hands-on experience, Garrido understands the value of formal education and has a degree in business administration and speaks several European languages.
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Nick Everington - Chief executive, Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers
Organised by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF), Livestock Event is the leading event for the UK livestock sector. It presents a unique opportunity for all dairy, beef, sheep, goat, pig and poultry farmers as well as farm managers, stockman, consultants, processors and retailers to see the best livestock, equipment, products and services available in the UK market.
Born in North Yorkshire, Everington studied Agricultural and Food Marketing at Newcastle University. A 24-year career in sales and marketing roles in the agricultural supply industry followed. Everington was appointed RABDF chief executive in 2002.
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Ali Habaj - Secretary general and treasurer, IAOM MEA
International Association of Operatives Millers Mideast & Africa District (IAOM MEA) was formed in 1989 and represents flour and feed millers across the Middle East and Africa. Initially, the district was managed by rotating host countries, meaning the head office changed from one country to another. Since 2006, however, there has been a permanent head office in Muscat, Oman. This has helped to standardise operations and allow the association to offer more services to both members and the region.
GFMT spoke to Ali Habaj, secretary general and treasurer, IAOM MEA, about the association and milling in the Middle East and Africa. Habaj is a well suited for a role within IAOM. He has 14 years experience in the milling industry and is the full time CEO of the Atyab Investments Group which manages many firms in the food industries. The portfolio includes Oman Flour Mills, one of the biggest bakeries in the Middle East, Sohor Poultry and a modern poultry farm. Habaj’s current projects include setting up a new pasta factory and a new flour mill in Oman.
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Mani Qian - Assistant president, Muyang
Since its formation in 1967, the Muyang Group has grown into a prestigious corporation, whose activities cover the whole process of feed manufacturing. From design and development to fabrication and installation of the machinery, Muyang has it covered. Over the years, the company has developed more 100 different series of feed and grain processing machines, which includes an impressive 600 different models.
Headquartered in the famous historical and cultural city of Yangzhou, China, Muyang currently has over 4000 employees, including 1000 technicians and engineers who work across all departments. As one of China's big three equipment suppliers, Muyang is now looking for its share of the international marketplace.
GFMT met up with Mani Qian, assistant president of Muyang at the IPPE show in Atlanta, USA where his company was promoting its range of feed manufacturing equipment. Mani Qian is a dynamic and forthright individual. When you meet him he captures your attention with his ideas and enthusiasm for all things milling.
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Hao Yun - ZhengChang Chairman
2012 was a busy year for ZhengChang. The company changed its name from ZCME to ZhengChang, launched the ‘Pelleting King’ SZLH1068 Pellet Mill and continued its international expansion. Founded in 1918 as an oil and rice factory, ZhengChang’s first mill came to market in 1974. Today, the company is one of the world’s largest feed machinery manufacturers and whole plant builders, with a range of turnkey solutions. Hao Yun, chairman of Shanghai ZhengChang, which is responsible for international sales and projects for the ZhengChang group, talks about the history of the company, its future and the expanding Chinese market.
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Christian Rabe, Head of Applied Feed Technology, Evonik, Germany Christian Rabe started his education at the Technical University (TU) in Munich with a Bachelor of Bio-Process Technology, followed by a Master of Process Technology at the TU Braunschweig. In 2010, he started working on process development for the production of different feed additives at Evonik.Mr Rabe possesses more than 10 years of practical experience with process technology and application of feed additives in different functions within Evonik. During his career he has also been involved with quality assurance and new product development for feed additives.
He has also worked on starting up new production sites for feed additives and implementing equipment at customer sites to handle these feed additives all over the world. To achieve this, he tries to get as many as possible different insights into the feed industry and then look at it from different angles.
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In 1991 Chairman Li Jianjun started Pingle Flour Mill Repair Factory in Zhengding County, mainly engaged in flourmill transformation and equipment repair.
Now with more than 30 years of industry experience of refining technology, furthering inherited knowledge, the company presents a collision of history, innovation and creativity.
Under the leadership of Mr Lianjun, the company continues to have their finger on the pulse of our industry and continues to enjoy meeting the needs of their customers. Mr Li Jianjun currently holds the positions of Chairman of Hebei Pingle Flour Machinery Group Co, Ltd; Director of China National Association of Grain Sector, and Vice President of Hebei Sesame Industry Association. Milling and Grain magazine recently spoke with Mr Lianjun with the hope of sharing his insights, experience and hopes relating to not only his company, but any views that he might have relating to China and the wider world too.
Ryan Alan S. Celis is a Mechanical Engineer who earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 1987 where he also received his Certificate in Advanced Military Training in 1985. He placed 6th in the 1987 Mechanical Engineering Licensure Examinations. He also attended the Ateneo de Manila Graduate School of Business in 1992. He started his professional career in San Miguel in 1988 which saw him undertake various important positions.
After leaving San Miguel, he set-up his own food company marketing and distributing his former company’s poultry and meat products. He also set-up his own engineering and consultancy company doing project engineering and project management, consultancy and technical training, maintenance services, fabrication, construction, and installation works for the feed and food manufacturing companies. Over-all, Ryan’s experience in the feedmilling industry spans 33 years. At present, his company also operates a feedmill plant in the southern Philippines doing contract manufacturing for various major feed integrators and commercial feedmillers. He is also a regular resource speaker at the Milling School organised by Milling and Grain and Progressus Agrischools.
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Arnaud Petit was appointed Executive Director of the International Grains Council (IGC) in February 2018. IGC is an intergovernmental organisation based in London offering independent analysis on grains, oilseeds, rice and pulses markets to its member governments to promote international trade in grains. It also provides information to non-government subscribers. IGC provides an important international platform for discussions between policy makers and the private sector. It also serves as the Secretariat for the Food Assistance Committee helping to facilitate networking within the donor community to improve the efficacy of food assistance.
From 2005- 2017 Mr. Petit worked at the European Farmers and agri-cooperatives Union (Copa-Cogeca), as Director for Commodities and Trade. He was also a Member of the Executive Committee of the European Technology Platform “Plants for the future” (2009-2017) and a Member of the Experts Group on EU-US trade negotiations at the European Commission (2014-2017). From 2000 -2005 he served as Policy Advisor for European Affairs at the National Chamber for Agriculture in Paris, and Deputy Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (2000-2005). He holds an MA in Agricultural Economics from the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, Montpellier, France.
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Martin Schlauri started his milling career with a millers’ apprenticeship program with his first work experience as a young miller outside Europe, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Martin joined Bühler in 1980 after graduating as a milling technologist at the Swiss School of Milling (SMS). After completing assignments in process development and plant commissioning in various countries, he was made responsible for the flour milling business in Egypt followed by Italy.
Back to the headquarter in Switzerland, Martin Schlauri took over the management of the grain milling training centre and later headed Bühler’s worldwide grain milling activities. In 2015 Martin took over the management of the African Milling School in Nairobi, Kenya, where he also taught technology and quality control. In 2020 Martin returned to Switzerland, taking care of specific milling groups and projects for the company.
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Ron and Mildred hail from a part of NW England known as ‘Windmill Land.’ Unsurprisingly, when they moved to Reading west of London in 1968, Mildred soon found their nearest windmill at Lacey Green near High Wycombe and became active in helping to rescue what was a ruin in danger of collapse.
Nearer to home, the mediaeval watermill on the Thames at Mapledurham had just been repaired. Mildred rapidly became Britain’s only female watermiller, running the mill by herself for 30 years. She also rose to prominence in the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings as chairman of their Mills Section and for the last decade a trustee.
In 2001 they identified the need for a specialist archive and library to look after images and documents relating to the history of milling. Ron, recently retired from the pharmaceutical industry, volunteered to set this up as an independent charity. The Trust, started with just Mildred’s collection, is now caring for some four million items from 270 collections. Ron was honoured MBE by the Queen in 2010, but their proudest moments were the Archive’s award of National Accreditation in 2016 and its recent Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
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Scott Montgomery is the director of the Food Fortification Initiative (FFI), a network of partners working to make the addition of vitamins and minerals to flour and rice standard milling practice worldwide. He is based in Minneapolis, USA and has expertise in senior level management, food processing and the supply chain with global experience across cereal grain industries. Scott received a bachelor’s degree in milling science and management from Kansas State University in 1980 and worked for Cargill Incorporated from 1980- 2010; he started as a trainee at the company’s oilseeds processing plant in Washington, Iowa. He quickly moved into the wheat flour milling business, holding several supervisory positions across North America. Scott assumed responsibility of global operations for Cargill’s wheat and maize milling operations and, ultimately, citrus operations in every region of the world. He retired from Cargill in 2010 as Vice President, Global Procurement Leader. Before becoming FFI’s director in 2011, Scott served on the FFI Executive Management Team (EMT) from 2004 and from 2006-10 he was appointed chair. The FFI EMT is a group which includes representatives from multi-sector partners who provide strategic direction to FFI.
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Milling and Grain had the opportunity to interview the head of China’s technical committee who is leading its proposal to have all feed manufacturing equipment compliant under a new ISO/TC293 standard.
Professor Weiguo Wang, who graduated in 1977 from Zhengzhou Grain College, Henan Province, majored in grain processing before teaching at Zhengzhou Grain College (now, the Zhengzhou University of Technology). He achieved his Masters’ Degree in Grain, Oil and Plant Protein Engineering in 2001 from Jiangnan University, became associate professor in 1992 and professor in 2000 in feed science and technology. He was also head of the Department of Grain Engineering from 1997-98 and chairman of the Bio-engineering College from 1999-2007.
Today, Prof Wang is the chairman of feed branch of the Chinese Cereal and Oil Association, a member of National Feed Evaluation Committee of China and a member of the Standardisation Technical Committee of Feed Machinery of China and is the convenor of ISO/TC293/WG1. He has published 160 papers on feed science and technology and has received three first prizes in science and technology on both provincial and ministerial level.
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Roger Butler, president of nabim (UK flour millers)
Milling industry stalwart Roger Butler, who began his career cleaning hessian flour sacks aged 14, has become the new president of the National Association of British and Irish Millers (nabim) the trade association for UK flour millers. Mr Butler, 59, takes over from George Marriage this month, having previously served as the association’s vice president. Currently chairman of Whitworth Brothers and Carr’s Flour mills, his appointment comes as the UK flour industry continues to face unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Xu Bin, Chairman, Myande Group
This month Milling and Grain takes the opportunity to interview Mr Xu Bin,
chairman of the Chinese Myande Group as it plays an increasing role in the
international milling sector and is a supporter of our magazine.
Mr Xu Bin tells us his company has always adhered to core concepts of creating
value for customers and continuously engaging with the grain processing
industry around the world. The company is also a leading provider of integrated
solutions in the oils and fats sector, starch and derivatives industry along
with meal fermentation, evaporation and crystallization.
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Mr
Ed de Souza, Extrusion Systems Process Director, Wenger Manufacturing
Ed de Souza graduated with a degree in Agribusiness at Fort
Hays University in Kansas, USA in 1995. He also obtained a master’s degree in
Business Administration, with a focus on business management at Fundação
Getúlio Vargas.Mr de Souza was hired by Wenger Manufacturing Inc in late
1995. Working at Wenger for the past 23 years, he has developed an extensive
know-how in food extrusion processing. He has worked in food extrusion research
at the Wenger Technical Centre in Sabetha, Kansas, and has knowledge also as a
field service technician working with equipment start-ups, process
troubleshooting and providing lectures and training.
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Professor Li Dongsen, President, Zhengzhou Golden Grain
Mechanical Engineering Co Ltd
Professor Li Dongsen is a professor at Henan University of Technology, China. From 1977-1981 he studied at the Grain Engineering Department of Zhengzhou Grain Institute (now formally known as the Henan University of Technology). From 1981-2017, he has taught students about grains and oil as part of the Food College within Henan University of Technology. He has been engaged in teaching, scientific research and technology development within cereal sciences and engineering. Professor Dongsen has also served as Deputy Secretary General of the China Wheat Association.
Professor Dongsen also serves as the Founder and Chairman of Zhengzhou Gold Grain Mechanical Engineering Co Ltd.
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Mr Hao Bo, Chairman, Zheng Chang
As one of the world’s leading providers of feed equipment, storage equipment and complete system solutions, Zheng Chang focuses on providing stable and reliable equipment, engineering and services for China’s feed industry, and has made a great contribution to the development of the world feed industry.
At the helm of the “century-old store”, Hao Bo, Chairman of Zheng Chang group, has always adhered to the core concepts of focus, innovation, integrity and quality service to continuously enhance the influence of Zheng Chang in the international feed sector.
At the helm of the “century-old store”, Hao Bo, Chairman of Zheng Chang group, has always adhered to the core concepts of focus, innovation, integrity and quality service to continuously enhance the influence of Zheng Chang in the international feed sector.
Jack Chen, Chief Technology Officer, Famsun
Milling and Grain magazine paid a regular visit to China
2019 year end, and we had the opportunity to sit down with Mr Jack Chen, the
Chief Technology Officer of Famsun Group - a China-based, global integrated
solution provider who has a strong market position in China and the global feed
manufacturing industry - to talk about something new from Famsun R&D and
his perspectives on the future of feed technology.
Motoharu Yoshimasa was born in Hiroshima, Japan. He joined Satake as a sales representative for grain processing plant. After a series of successful projects, in 2010, he was promoted to the manager of Sales Planning Office in the Plant Division, becoming a major player in leading corporate sales strategy. In 2018, he was appointed as Deputy Head of the Corporate Planning Office, followed by Executive Vice President of Satake’s US subsidiary, Satake USA, Inc He became President & CEO of Satake USA, Inc. in January 2020.
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Ralph E. Kolb, General Manager, FrigorTec GmbH
Ralph
E. Kolb studied Facility Technology at the University of Applied Sciences
Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and Technical Sales and Marketing at the Freie
Universität Berlin.
After some occupational years in the business field Facility Technology at the company Sulzer AG in Stuttgart and in the field of Environmental Technology at the company Dürr AG in Stuttgart, Mr Kolb changed to Sulzer-Escher Wyss in Lindau and joined the department of Refrigeration Engineering.
Sulzer-Escher Wyss has been taken over by Axima Refrigeration and later FrigorTec GmbH took over the product field Cooling Units. Mr Kolb is the active owner of FrigorTec GmbH.
FrigorTec manufactures individual cooling units and heat pumps for industrial applications, like eg grain cooling units and supplies them worldwide.
See full interviewAfter some occupational years in the business field Facility Technology at the company Sulzer AG in Stuttgart and in the field of Environmental Technology at the company Dürr AG in Stuttgart, Mr Kolb changed to Sulzer-Escher Wyss in Lindau and joined the department of Refrigeration Engineering.
Sulzer-Escher Wyss has been taken over by Axima Refrigeration and later FrigorTec GmbH took over the product field Cooling Units. Mr Kolb is the active owner of FrigorTec GmbH.
FrigorTec manufactures individual cooling units and heat pumps for industrial applications, like eg grain cooling units and supplies them worldwide.
Ms Constance Cullman, who is the CEO and President of the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), taking up her position in October 2019, started her career working in academia supporting farmers, helping them with livestock forecasts and understanding how markets might look for the year ahead. She’s an ag-economist by training, and this often informs the approach she takes towards industry issues.
Following this, she worked directly for a farming organisation in the late 1990s, at a time when the industry first started talking about sustainability issues; an interesting time for issues that were challenging farmers on trade and the environment.
After this experience, Ms Cullman moved to the US government’s Foreign Agricultural Service to work alongside the country’s major trading partners before joining the corn refining industry where she carried out advocacy work for a major agri-business in the area of technology - pesticides and biotechnology - as its head of a government affairs program.
Milling and Grain caught up with Ms Cullman on the AFIA booth at the recent IPPE 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA held in late January 2020.
See full interviewFollowing this, she worked directly for a farming organisation in the late 1990s, at a time when the industry first started talking about sustainability issues; an interesting time for issues that were challenging farmers on trade and the environment.
After this experience, Ms Cullman moved to the US government’s Foreign Agricultural Service to work alongside the country’s major trading partners before joining the corn refining industry where she carried out advocacy work for a major agri-business in the area of technology - pesticides and biotechnology - as its head of a government affairs program.
Milling and Grain caught up with Ms Cullman on the AFIA booth at the recent IPPE 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA held in late January 2020.
Dr Heike Knoerzer, Head of Knowledge Management and Head of
PETKUS Academy, PETKUS
Dr Heike Knoerzer’s fascination for farming began back in
childhood. Heike grew up on a seed farm and food production quickly became an
integral part of her life and something she grew to be greatly passionate
about.
She completed her PhD in Agronomy at the University of
Hohenheim, Germany in 2010. Heike joined Petkus back in 2014 and in her six
years with the company has continued to pursue her interests in food production
as Head of Knowledge Management and Head of Petkus Academy.
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Mr Xavier Bourbon is the President of Les Journées Techniques des Industries Céréalières (commonly known as JTIC), a key event for the milling sector held annually in France. Growing up with a father who specialised in the milling and crops sector, Mr Bourbon has always held an interest and appreciation for cereals and milling, which he now uses in his work as president, helping to coordinate the annual exhibition.
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Samuel Goldberg, co-founder of Blood Orange Pictures and Producer of SILOSamuel Goldberg is a film, television, theatre and live events producer based in New York City. He began his career as an actor and moved into writing and creative producing while studying at the University of Pennsylvania. Samuel has produced multiple award-winning documentaries including Web and Silo: Edge of the Real World and has worked with renowned artists Jon Batiste, Shaina Taub and Louis Cato, to name a few.
Most recently he produced the feature film SILO about a grain entrapment accident and rescue in a small American farm town. Samuel believes in the power of stories to produce empathy and alongside his amazing wife loves telling tales to their infant daughter, Taal.
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Dr Wenbin has been engaged in teaching and scientific research in regard to the grain processing industry within Henan University of Technology for an incredible 37 years.
He graduated from the Dalian University of Technology and is a NTNU visiting scholar and Deputy Secretary General of China’s Grain Committee for Standardisation.
Dr Wu is also Director of the Grain and Oil Machinery Research Institute of the Henan University of Technology. He has directed and completed the publication of over 135 papers and 18 national standards.
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Bernd große Holthaus, CEO of Ge-ProBernd große Holthaus joined Ge-Pro in 1992 and has been dedicated to the animal meal industry for over 27 years. Ge-Pro’s various solutions for poultry meal, protein concentrates and feather meal have faithfully served the agriculture industry for many years, establishing their position as one of the largest producers of poultry meal in Europe.
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Vortex was founded in 1977, by Travis Young’s grandfather, Neil Peterson, and his father, Lee Young. Travis grew up in the material handling and engineering industry and has now continued to revolutionise the industry for the past two decades. Mr Young has a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and International Business from Kansas State University.
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Jan Vanbrabant was appointed Chairman and CEO of the ERBER Group in April of 2017. He has been the CEO of Biomin Asia since 2009 and has played a very important role in the development and the success of the Asian region as Managing Director Biomin Asia based in Singapore.
Dr Vanbrabant holds a master’s degree in Biotechnology and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Ghent in Belgium, with fields of expertise in microbiology and biochemistry. From applied scientific research at the University of Ghent, Jan moved to the business world, where he has held positions in sales, marketing, and general management.
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Mehmet Ugur GürkaynakMilling and Grain magazine has recently opened a new office in Eskişehir, Turkey. Mehmet Ugur Gürkaynak has been appointed to run the new office and will continue in his role of editor for the Turkish language edition of the magazine.
Mehmet has been involved in the milling industry since 2005, and although he has only been in his new position with Milling and Grain for less than six months, he is already making a big impact on the reach and content for our Turkish language edition.
Perendale is vey grateful to have to a such a dynamic, committed and professional employee representing us in Turkey, a country that is fast becoming a major power in the industry.
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In an unprecedented step, President Joko Widodo ‘Jokowi’ the president of Indonesia gave just a 24-hour notification that he intended to visit Indonesia’s leading livestock and animal feed exhibition being held at the Jakarta Convention Centre in the heart of the city, on the afternoon of the closing day.
For those who had stayed to the end, or who were visiting on the last day, it was an extraordinary scene when his entourage entered the main Convention Centre which was dominated by the stand of Indonesia’s leading feed manufacturer, Charoen Polphand Indonesia.
Our interview this month reflects the views of Indonesia’s President, President Joko Widodo ‘Jokowi’ - and not his direct quotations - about the importance he and his government place on the development of the livestock and aquaculture industries and the support provided by the feed manufacturing industry, both locally and internationally.
It is a pleasure to see the importance the leader of this country places on the foundations of food production. He stayed at the exhibition for a full one-and-a-half hours talking to exhibitors from both local and international companies.
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Mirko Filip, Managing Director, Filip GmbHMirko Filip is the fourth generation of Filip’s to run his namesake company Filip GmbH alongside his sister Tatjana Filip.
Starting in the role in June 2017, Mirko has said that alongside the company’s family motto “To always deliver the best of the best” he also strongly supports the mantra “Marketing is good – but real testing under real conditions in the mill is better!”
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Paglierani, the Italian company specialized in the design and manufacture of packaging and bagging systems for solid products in powder, granulated and flaked form from cement, sugar, pet food, flour and chemical and petrochemical.
It’s a company globally known for their vast experience, high reputation and latest technological developments and innovations in ‘mechatronics’.
Founded in 1926 by the grandfather of brother’s Sergio and Alberto Antolini, and developed by their father Primo Antolini - born in 1921 – the Paglierani company works alongside that well-respected Italian milling manufacturer Ocrim.
Sergio is dedicated to the commercial activities while his older brother Alberto takes responsibility for the industrial aspects and for R&D.
Milling and Grain carried an interview with Alberto Antolini, the CEO of Ocrim in December 2014. Today we have the pleasure of reporting our interview with Sergio in his head quarters in San Marino.
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Nicola Lorenzo Finco, CEO, MulmixMulmix was ‘born’ in 1962. Established by Knight Luigi Finco, it developed as a specialist division of one of Italy’s largest poultry-cage producers, Officine FACCO Spa, of Campo San Marino, Padova.
Today, the business is overseen by his son Nicola Lorenzo Finco and has become a major supplier and leading manufacturer of grain handling, storage and cleaning equipment. Mulmix quickly became a national milestone in the area of milling equipment and in 1975 became independent.
This was the breakthrough it was looking for, which allowed it to focus on complete milling projects both within Italy and more importantly abroad - from on-farm storage solutions to deep water ship unloaders and everything in between that related to grains and cereal processing.
Since 2008 the company has been run by charismatic CEO Nicola Lorenzo Finco who brings ‘spirit to the steel’.
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Perry of Oakley has over 70 years experience in the manufacture and design of continuous flow grain driers, chain and flight conveyors and augers, square bins and grain cleaners for the drying and handling of most granular bulk materials.
Mr Perry explained of his experience in the industry, “Since I graduated, nearly 28 years ago, I have been in the business all my working life. I have been responsible for purchasing, production, workshop management, design, and sales. Also prior to this in my younger years I worked in all of the positions on the shop floor including welding, painting, assembly and sheet metal.”
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Famsun is an integrated solution provider of plants, equipment and services in the farm-to-table industry chain. It has said its global ability and experience in turnkey project delivery in feed milling, grain logistics and processing, steel structure building as well as industrial automation has helped customers succeed in their respective markets.
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Mildred Cookson, Chairman, The Mills Section of the Society for The Protection of Ancient BuildingsMildred Cookson is Chairman, for the second time, of The Mills Section of the Society for The Protection of Ancient Buildings, an organisation she joined in 1976. About that time Mildred became Britain’s only woman traditional watermiller with responsibility for the medieval mill at Mapledurham on the River Thames. She retired as a miller in 2010.
By then she had formed the Mills Archive Trust, the World’s first specialist archive collecting and caring for records of milling history from around the world. The Archive, now with 235 collections holding more than three million records, has been recognised by the UK authorities as a National Centre of Excellence. Mildred has a particular interest in traditional millwrighting and in the development of the modern milling industry from the middle of the 19th century. She is the lead trustee for the archive in both these areas.
Mildred has a monthly column in Milling and Grain magazine on the Mills Archive Trust, the column features information about national mills and their histories as well as delightful images which the Mills Archive Trust gather and then restore.
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Dr Ali El-Sayed Ali Al-Moselhi is the Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade.
He previously held the position of Egyptian minister of Social Solidarity in the cabinet of Dr Ahmed Nazif and a member of the Parliament, the People’s Assembly, for the constituency Abu Kabeer, Ash Sharqiyah Governorate.
The International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) Mideast and Africa Chapter held its annual conference and exhibition in Dubai from October 22-25, 2017 and invited Egypt’s Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, His Excellency Dr Ali El-Sayed Ali Moselhi, to participate in the conference’s closing Panel Discussion on ‘Wheat imports – MEA Regional Outlook’.
Dr El-Sayed Ali Moselhi spoke to Milling and Grain about Egypt’s experience of providing subsidized flour, and other foodstuffs, to its growing population.
Egypt has a population of 98 million and provides subsidised food to 80 million people.
He is opposed to food subsidies on an economic basis, but recognises their role in helping to sustain many of his countrymen’s nutrition and health.
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Mr Walid Ali Mohamed Saeed comes from a reputable and renowned Yemeni Business Family (AL SAEED Family). His business career started by establishing Al Saeed Trading Company in the year 1993 under the umbrella of Hayel Saeed Anam (H.S.A) Group of Companies, which started its business in the year 1938.
Al Saeed trading company has grown rapidly to become a household name for the H.S.A. group in Yemen, while identifying the importance of foodstuff requirement. They started by importing essential food commodities for serving Yemen Market where foods mainly rely on imports in order to benefit the final consumers.
The Group owns and operates two state of the art Bühler built Flour Mills with a combined milling capacity of 7,500 MT/day and has silo storage capacity to store wheat for over 400,000 MT in addition to storage of bagged commodities. The Group also owns a sugar refinery with 2000 MT/day refining capacity.
Attending last month’s IAOM Mideast and Africa Conference and Expo in Dubai, he was named winner of the Regional Leader Award to serve consistent food supply in Yemen – to find out more, a Milling and Grain representative interviewed Mr Walid Saeed at his Dubai office, Midstar Commodity Management Ltd.
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Sander Geelen is the second-generation owner and Managing Director of Geelen Counterflow.
You have most likely heard the English idiom “Don’t do what I do, do what I say”
Well, Geelen Counterflow has modified it to, “Don’t do what I say, do what I do”, specifically for when it comes to developing an environmentally friendly philosophy in the manufacture of equipment used in feed and food production systems. Shown today, this company is actively identifying ways to eliminate fossil fuels from the feed and food manufacturing process, starting at home.
Since 1980, Geelen Counterflow has devoted itself exclusively to the design, construction and installation of its unique counterflow dryers and coolers in feed and food factories around the world. This family run company in Haelen, The Netherlands, invented the counterflow cooler, which is now acknowledged as a worldwide market standard with units successfully operating in feed and food plants in more than 100 countries. The counterflow dryer is becoming similarly successful thanks to its high food saftey standards, best energy efficiency and lowest total cost of ownership.
The company’s goal is to build the world’s best dryers and coolers for feed and food to be 100 percent sustainable. It’s a strategy initiated and overseen by the second-generation owner and Managing Director, Sander Geelen.
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Mrs Zübeyde Kavraz is the General Manager of Parantez International Exhibition Organization Corp.
Parantez Fair Organization is one of the Parantez Group companies who organised IDMA, the international feed and milling events.
The fair is held every two years and is widely considered to be one of the most important meeting platforms of the world milling sector. The eighth exhibition which wins recognition with visitors and investors in 2017, will be held in April 2019. But before this event, IDMA FEED - Feed Technologies and Sub-Industry Exhibition will be held from July 5-7, 2018 to support the developing feed industry.
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Nicholas Braime joined 4B in 1972 after graduating from Oxford with an MA in Modern History.
Initially Nicholas trained in the drawing office and production departments, while doing day release engineering courses at Kitson college before continuing his formal studies, with a diploma in management studies at Leeds Metropolitan University.
In 1976, Nicholas took on the responsibility for developing the sales of components used in the bulk material handling industry. In 1984 he moved to the USA to set up a branch office of the new subsidiary 4B Elevator Components Ltd, before returning to the UK in 1987 to take responsibility as Sales Director for Braime Pressings Ltd.
Nicholas was elected Chairman in 1987. He is responsible for the operational management of the company and for developing group strategy.
4B Braime is located in Leeds, England and is the original and UK based subsidiary, and also the HQ, of the ‘4B Group’; consisting of seven subsidiaries located worldwide and developing and selling products into the global material handling industry in more than 50 countries.
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Paul Phillips graduated from West Texas A&M in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing. This was to be the start of a very successful and very full career within the agricultural industry.
Paul received his MBA in 1995 from The University of Texas before attending several postgraduate courses including one in marketing at The Harvard Business School.
He is currently the President of Maxi-Lift, Inc., a worldwide manufacturer of plastic elevator buckets. He is also the Vice President of Marketing for Southwest Agri-Plastics, a sister company that manufacturer plastic products for the cattle, swine, chicken and egg industries.
Mr Phillips previously served as the Chairman on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the AFIA (American Feed Industry Association), he has served as a Representative of the AFIA to the International Feed Industry Federation in conjunction with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN, and has served as the past Chairperson for the Equipment Manufacturers Committee of AFIA.
He chaired the Exhibitor Advisory Committee for the joint meeting with AFIA, the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, and the North American Meat Institute and was selected as the Member of the Year for AFIA in 2011.
Finally, Paul also holds several patents for new products used in the agricultural, industrial, and horticultural industries.
See full interview
Arya Seta Wiriadipoera, was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and is the second child of Mr Herman Wiridipura, the founder of PT Napindo Media Ashatama.
Arya was born on October 17, 1984 and considering his young age has a very impressive career history.
He graduated from Paramadina University, Jakarta in 2006. Three years later in 2009, he began his career working with PT Napindo Ashatama – a professional exhibition organiser company. Showing his diverse skillset he developed an automotive trade company in 2011 before returning to PT Napindo as the Vice President and soon after the Managing Director.
As well as being fully in charge of his father’s company he and his company are the proud organisers of Indo Livestock, Indonesia’s number one livestock, feed, dairy and fisheries industry event.
See full interview
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Volkmar Wywiol
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There’s more to Volkmar Wywiol than meets the eye. While
he’s passionate about his flour museum, it is his commitment to the development
of the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe – with 11 specialised independent companies
including Mühlenchemie and numerous alliances throughout the world – that has
made him an industry icon.
Now over 80, for decades he has worked tirelessly to provide an economic supply of ingredients and additives to improve flour. 37 years ago Wywiol bought a small Hamburg-based company and developed it into a world market leader for lecithin, an important food ingredient, along with many other ingredients including enzymes and stabilisers. Today, the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe provides a range of key ingredients for the food and feed industries.
Its companies Mühlenchemie, DeutscheBack and SternEnzym with their broad line-up of products, cover every sector of the milling and baking industries in a significant number of countries. See full interview
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Markus Dedl, Chief Executive Officer, Delacon
Now over 80, for decades he has worked tirelessly to provide an economic supply of ingredients and additives to improve flour. 37 years ago Wywiol bought a small Hamburg-based company and developed it into a world market leader for lecithin, an important food ingredient, along with many other ingredients including enzymes and stabilisers. Today, the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe provides a range of key ingredients for the food and feed industries.
Its companies Mühlenchemie, DeutscheBack and SternEnzym with their broad line-up of products, cover every sector of the milling and baking industries in a significant number of countries. See full interview
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Markus Dedl, Chief Executive Officer, Delacon, took over his father’s company in 2010. As the son of company founder, Helmut Dedl, he became responsible for the company and all its’ subsidiaries. Having previously served as the Manager of Finance and Operations, along with his education in economics and a member of the committee of the International Egg Commission, Markus’s CV presents an obvious fit for these rather impressive shoes.
Delacon, family to the truest sense, family owned and family run, the company has been researching, developing and producing phytogenic feed additives for the feed industry for three decades. Positively coming to light in recent times, Markus Dedl and his company made headlines when they successfully registered their second phytogenic feed additive as a zootechnical additive with the EU, Biostrong®510 EC, becoming one of a select few to achieve that goal for phytogenic products.
At the recent VIV Asia exhibition, he proudly showed off the certification of registration for this achievement and symbolically cut a cake on the company’s stand, expressing his passion for his craft and company, “Our company is attempting to provide natural ingredients that have long-standing, strong belief backgrounds with standardised, scientific support to provide customers with evaluated products that they can trust.”
See full interview
Gerard Klein Essink, entrepreneur and Director, Bridge2Food
Delacon, family to the truest sense, family owned and family run, the company has been researching, developing and producing phytogenic feed additives for the feed industry for three decades. Positively coming to light in recent times, Markus Dedl and his company made headlines when they successfully registered their second phytogenic feed additive as a zootechnical additive with the EU, Biostrong®510 EC, becoming one of a select few to achieve that goal for phytogenic products.
At the recent VIV Asia exhibition, he proudly showed off the certification of registration for this achievement and symbolically cut a cake on the company’s stand, expressing his passion for his craft and company, “Our company is attempting to provide natural ingredients that have long-standing, strong belief backgrounds with standardised, scientific support to provide customers with evaluated products that they can trust.”
See full interview
Director and entrepreneur, Gerard Klein Essink set up Bridge2Food 15 years ago in the Netherlands. Having worked internationally in the food industry for over two decades his experience lies in business-to-consumer markets as well as business-to-business industries.
He has fulfilled roles from Vice-President of Sales to Business Development Manager with a Pan-European FMCG company, not to mention his roles as a General Manager, Global Business Manager, Asia Pacific Marketing Manager and Research and Application Manager with an international food ingredient company.
See full interview
John Bowes, International Sales Director at Sukup Mfg. Co.
He has fulfilled roles from Vice-President of Sales to Business Development Manager with a Pan-European FMCG company, not to mention his roles as a General Manager, Global Business Manager, Asia Pacific Marketing Manager and Research and Application Manager with an international food ingredient company.
International Sales Director at Sukup Mfg. Co., John Bowes is currently based at the Sukup Europe/Dan Corn facility in Hedensted, Denmark. From there he assists leadership with those efforts as well as maintaining his role as International Sales Director. He is constantly working on dealer development globally and travels approximately 50 percent of the time.
For the past few years, Sukup Manufacturing Co. has established dealers in the countries of India, South Africa, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Japan and Indonesia while growing global market share in Europe, Canada and Mexico. An ongoing project now is 12 each of 5,000 metric ton silos for wheat in the Philippines, which is being handled by an experienced Sukup dealer located in that country.
See full interview
Muthiah Ghandi - Exhibition organiser
For the past few years, Sukup Manufacturing Co. has established dealers in the countries of India, South Africa, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Japan and Indonesia while growing global market share in Europe, Canada and Mexico. An ongoing project now is 12 each of 5,000 metric ton silos for wheat in the Philippines, which is being handled by an experienced Sukup dealer located in that country.
Mr Muthiah Gandhi is a pioneer in the trade exhibition business in the Asia Pacific region and has been organising trade exhibitions since 1990.
M. Gandhi has launched and developed exhibitions in several industries and he is now both in partnership with UBM and Managing Director of their Asian operation (ASEAN Business), one of the world’s leading trade exhibition organisers and the largest in Asia.
In 2006, he established UBM in India, and as the first Managing Director of UBM India, he oversaw the period during which they became the largest private event organiser, staging 14 trade exhibitions in 6 cities in India. Prior to his position with UBM Asia, Gandhi was Executive Director of Blenheim Exhibitions and Miller Freeman.
Mr Gandhi became involved with exhibition industry over twenty years ago, when a friend of his had a contract with the government of Malaysia to organise a huge event, “The way I started was that somebody threw me into the deepest end – so I had to learn to swim pretty quickly.”
So the event was the biggest military and defence show in Asia ever held. So that’s how his career in events started and slowly he got to know the industry and is now the managing director of ASEAN Business.
See full interview
Carlos Cabello - Head of Buhler in Northern Europe (Buhler NEU)
M. Gandhi has launched and developed exhibitions in several industries and he is now both in partnership with UBM and Managing Director of their Asian operation (ASEAN Business), one of the world’s leading trade exhibition organisers and the largest in Asia.
In 2006, he established UBM in India, and as the first Managing Director of UBM India, he oversaw the period during which they became the largest private event organiser, staging 14 trade exhibitions in 6 cities in India. Prior to his position with UBM Asia, Gandhi was Executive Director of Blenheim Exhibitions and Miller Freeman.
Mr Gandhi became involved with exhibition industry over twenty years ago, when a friend of his had a contract with the government of Malaysia to organise a huge event, “The way I started was that somebody threw me into the deepest end – so I had to learn to swim pretty quickly.”
So the event was the biggest military and defence show in Asia ever held. So that’s how his career in events started and slowly he got to know the industry and is now the managing director of ASEAN Business.
Carlos Cabello was appointed Head of
Buhler in Northern Europe (Buhler NEU); which comprises the UK, Ireland,
Benelux and the Nordics. A civil engineer who specialises in food
process engineering, Mr Cabello started his career as a food project
engineer working in many different countries.
See full interview
Clifford Spencer - Chairman of Milling4Life
However, 18 years ago he had the opportunity to work for Buhler in
Spain, where he was responsible for many different business areas,
including managing the accounts of some large international food groups.
Following his appointment to his current role in October 2015, Mr
Cabello stated that, “I am very proud to have been offered this amazing
challenge, but not only from the professional point of view, living in
the UK was always one of my dreams, it is a wonderful experience for
both me and my family.”
Mr Clifford Spencer of the UK has been appointed chairman of the
newly-formed ‘Milling4Life’ charity which aims to assist the relief of
hunger through advancing milling practices in developing and
transitional countries. Currently Mr Spencer leads the Global
Biotechnology Transfer Foundation (GBTF), which with support from global
organisations, makes up a strong delivery mechanism for the
Foundation's aims. The GBTF was formed with the intervention of the
United Nations and is dedicated to promoting the potential for
biotechnology to support sustainable, long-term, socio-economic
development.
‘Technical biology’ is to gain a better understanding of a subject in
which we operate and excel. Thus, bread-making, brewing and composting
are as much a part of biotechnology as the genetic work that is often
disproportionately associated with the subject. The Foundation is
currently involved in activities ranging from promoting community
bioenergy programmes to the Global Alliance for Climate Smart
Agriculture. ‘Milling4Life’ is privileged, and honoured, to have Mr
Spencer as it Chairman.
See full interview
Shawn Thiele - flour milling and grain processing curriculum manager, KSU
hawn Thiele was a graduate of the Milling Science and Management program
with the Grain Science and Industry department at Kansas State
University (KSU). After graduating from KSU, he spent the first eight
years of his career working for Quaker Oats in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His
time with Quaker Oats was spent managing the operations and process
improvement projects for the world’s largest oat mill, as well as a
white and yellow corn mill, oat flour operations, and instant grit
operations. In 2012, he moved back to Manhattan, Kansas to take the
Milling Operations Manager role with the Department of Grain Science and
Industry. He spent four years at KSU managing the Hal Ross flourmill
and milling labs, teaching advanced undergraduate milling classes and
labs, assisting with research activities utilising the school milling
equipment, and teaching flour milling short courses at the IGP
Institute. His past experience with both industry and the university
has helped to transition him into his current role as the flour milling
and grain processing curriculum manager.
See full interview
Ismail Kemaloğlu - Turkish Grain Board
Mr. Ismail Kemaloğlu graduated from Ankara University Faculty of
Political Science and began his career as an auditor at the Turkish
Court of Auditors. Following this, he worked as General Manager at the
Turkish Grain Board (TMO), Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Food
Agriculture and Livestock, General Director of the Turkish Meat and Milk
Board, manager of food companies in the private sector and Head of the
Inspection Board of the Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock. It
could be said that Mr. Kemaloğlu has worked on ‘both sides of the
table’, and it is thanks to this opportunity to work with different
institutions and organisations that he can claim a more nuanced
understanding of agricultural stakeholders – making assessments on many
subjects such as the growth of agriculture, expectations of farmers,
market analysis and sectoral dynamics in terms of the industry and
traders. As Mr. Kemaloğlu was Deputy Director General and Director
General of TMO between 2003-2008, he has prior knowledge of TMO and its
field of activities. With his new duties at the Turkish Grain Board, he
aims to make a positive contribution to the sector by moving the
institution forward.
See full interview
David Wernsing - General Manager of Union Iron
David Wernsing was appointed to General Manager of Union Iron in late February of this year, but his career in the industry started more than 25 years ago.
In the early 1990s, Mr Wernsing started with GSI in their grain dryer division. After some time on the plant floor and in production management, he moved to the engineering department as a technician and eventually became a product manager. In the late 1990s he moved to GSI’s international sales division.
Following a short break for academic study, Mr Wernsing then went to Brock as strategic accounts manager and soon after accepted an offer to be sales manager at Union Iron. AGI had just acquired Union Iron. He then spent a few years at Union Iron and then accepted a position with AGI as director of international sales.
In 2015, he became director of North American sales for our newly formed commercial division. In early 2016 Mr Wernsing was asked to be general manager at Union Iron. Mr Wernsing is firmly of the belief that he currently possesses sufficient “understanding of Union Iron’s people, products and customers to build and support an effective team that will manage this business successfully.”
See full interview
Erik Heemskerk - General Manager, Victam International
Victam recently celebrated their 25th Anniversary of holding events in Asia. On the first evening of the event a Celebration Dinner was held. The international audience of over 400 executives from our industry were treated to a wonderful evening program that featured both modern and traditional Thai entertainment.
However, during this evening, came the confirmation of the sad news that Victam’s General Manager Henk van de Bunt is soon to retire. Mr van de Bunt has been with the organisation since the very first show in Bangkok in 1991, in the quarter of a century since Victam has enjoyed a growth rate of over 600 percent. Mr van de Bunt will vacate his post on June 31st. A well-known and respected industry personality, he will certainly be missed by all, although he will still have some presence within the organisation as he will take up a role on the board of the Victam Foundation.
He will be succeeded by Erik Heemskerk, who will start on June 1st. Milling and Grain Magazine met with Mr. Heemskerk at the recent Victam Asia show to discuss his feelings about succeeding Mr. van de Bunt, as well as his past experiences and future plans for when he takes the helm at Victam.
See full interview
Ton Otten, Director, Jaarbeurs
Ton Otten is a director and long-term employee of Jaarbeurs. Based in The Netherlands, they own and oversee the running of VIV exhibitions and events around the world. As VIV expands their reach - namely by hosting VIV Middle East & Africa 2016 in Abu Dhabi for the first time in February - it’s timely to understand the views of the man who is at the helm of both the expansion and changing role of this exhibition provider.
See the full interview
David Wright - Managing Director of G R Wright and Sons Ltd
A sixth generation miller and self-proclaimed man of “many hats,” Mr Wright’s primary responsibility is to ensure that the day-to–day running of the company remains smooth, although he particularly focuses on the commercial side of the business. Mr Wright still resides in the quaint Mill House which stands on site at Wright’s Mill, Ponders End, Enfield - a site which has roots traceable all the way back to 1087. In fact, whilst driving into the mill you pass the house, a veritable monument of milling history, which has been inhabited by six generations of the Wright family for the past 149 years. It is the house in which Mr Wright was brought up, which is still in fact his family home, and which was previously inhabited by his great-great grandfather, so it’s got a “few ghosts running around the place!”
See the full interview
Aidan Connolly - Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President of Corporate Accounts with Alltech
Other than Aidan Connolly’s main role of Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President of Corporate Accounts with Alltech, Mr Connolly also works “hand-in-hand” with their Director of Research, Dr. Karl Dawson, in developing the next generation of technologies for Alltech.
As well as being the well-known architect of Alltech’s annual global feed survey, which assesses global feed tonnage in more than 130 countries, Mr Connolly is also responsible for organising Alltech’s ONE symposium as well as their internal management/leadership development programs.
A graduate of University College Dublin with an MBS in International Marketing, Mr. Connolly is now an adjunct professor of marketing at that very same institution. He is also a board member of IFIF, IAMA, the National Chicken Council, the National Turkey Federation, and a former board member of FEFANA.
Milling and Grain magazine met with Mr Connolly recently to discuss recent developments at Alltech, as well as any plans or strategies that the company has going forward.
In the early 1990s, Mr Wernsing started with GSI in their grain dryer division. After some time on the plant floor and in production management, he moved to the engineering department as a technician and eventually became a product manager. In the late 1990s he moved to GSI’s international sales division.
Following a short break for academic study, Mr Wernsing then went to Brock as strategic accounts manager and soon after accepted an offer to be sales manager at Union Iron. AGI had just acquired Union Iron. He then spent a few years at Union Iron and then accepted a position with AGI as director of international sales.
In 2015, he became director of North American sales for our newly formed commercial division. In early 2016 Mr Wernsing was asked to be general manager at Union Iron. Mr Wernsing is firmly of the belief that he currently possesses sufficient “understanding of Union Iron’s people, products and customers to build and support an effective team that will manage this business successfully.”
See full interview
Victam recently celebrated their 25th Anniversary of holding events in Asia. On the first evening of the event a Celebration Dinner was held. The international audience of over 400 executives from our industry were treated to a wonderful evening program that featured both modern and traditional Thai entertainment.
However, during this evening, came the confirmation of the sad news that Victam’s General Manager Henk van de Bunt is soon to retire. Mr van de Bunt has been with the organisation since the very first show in Bangkok in 1991, in the quarter of a century since Victam has enjoyed a growth rate of over 600 percent. Mr van de Bunt will vacate his post on June 31st. A well-known and respected industry personality, he will certainly be missed by all, although he will still have some presence within the organisation as he will take up a role on the board of the Victam Foundation.
He will be succeeded by Erik Heemskerk, who will start on June 1st. Milling and Grain Magazine met with Mr. Heemskerk at the recent Victam Asia show to discuss his feelings about succeeding Mr. van de Bunt, as well as his past experiences and future plans for when he takes the helm at Victam.
See full interview
Ton Otten is a director and long-term employee of Jaarbeurs. Based in The Netherlands, they own and oversee the running of VIV exhibitions and events around the world. As VIV expands their reach - namely by hosting VIV Middle East & Africa 2016 in Abu Dhabi for the first time in February - it’s timely to understand the views of the man who is at the helm of both the expansion and changing role of this exhibition provider.
See the full interview
A sixth generation miller and self-proclaimed man of “many hats,” Mr Wright’s primary responsibility is to ensure that the day-to–day running of the company remains smooth, although he particularly focuses on the commercial side of the business. Mr Wright still resides in the quaint Mill House which stands on site at Wright’s Mill, Ponders End, Enfield - a site which has roots traceable all the way back to 1087. In fact, whilst driving into the mill you pass the house, a veritable monument of milling history, which has been inhabited by six generations of the Wright family for the past 149 years. It is the house in which Mr Wright was brought up, which is still in fact his family home, and which was previously inhabited by his great-great grandfather, so it’s got a “few ghosts running around the place!”
See the full interview
Other than Aidan Connolly’s main role of Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President of Corporate Accounts with Alltech, Mr Connolly also works “hand-in-hand” with their Director of Research, Dr. Karl Dawson, in developing the next generation of technologies for Alltech.
As well as being the well-known architect of Alltech’s annual global feed survey, which assesses global feed tonnage in more than 130 countries, Mr Connolly is also responsible for organising Alltech’s ONE symposium as well as their internal management/leadership development programs.
A graduate of University College Dublin with an MBS in International Marketing, Mr. Connolly is now an adjunct professor of marketing at that very same institution. He is also a board member of IFIF, IAMA, the National Chicken Council, the National Turkey Federation, and a former board member of FEFANA.
Milling and Grain magazine met with Mr Connolly recently to discuss recent developments at Alltech, as well as any plans or strategies that the company has going forward.
See the full interview
Gary Huddleston - American Feed Industry Association’s manager of feed safety and environmental affairs
Gary Huddleston is the American Feed Industry Association’s manager of feed safety and environmental affairs.
Huddleston currently manages AFIA’s efforts surrounding regulatory issues involving the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation.
He also works in collaboration with Dr. Henry Turlington, AFIA director of quality and manufacturing regulatory affairs, to develop and coordinate AFIA’s education and training programs. As the world’s largest organisation devoted exclusively to representing the business, legislative and regulatory interests of the animal feed industry and its suppliers, AFIA will be hosting a free Feed Production Education Program on Thursday 28 January 2016, as part of the International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta, USA.
Franciscis ‘Franky’ Welirang - Chairman of APTINDO
Indonesia is a country of complexity - through its geography, economy and, not least, its diverse population. The root cause of this complexity is largely down to the country’s make up; of five large islands including the main one of Java that is at its centre both geographically and economically and its many thousands of smaller islands. The country has a population in excess of 250 million of which some 90 million live on Java and is proving to be one of the most challenging growth areas in South East Asia.
Franciscus ‘Franky’ Welirang is the Chairman of APTINDO, the Association of Flour Producers in Indonesia and Director of PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk, better known for it division Bogasari Flour Mills which was formed in 1971 and of which at 64-year-old Mr Welirang is Director in Charge. Milling and Grain had the opportunity to meet him in Jakarta at IAOM’s 6th Annual Southeast Asia District Conference in early.
Note: Indonesia supports over 55,000 small medium enterprises (SME) processing flour base product and 200 modern big manufacturers such as biscuits, noodles and bread industries and 31 milling companies of which have flourmills providing their own production. Future development is likely to happen earlier in the East of the country once the current economic condition improve.
Dr Béatrice Conde-Petit - Food Safety Officer, Bühler
Food Safety Officer, Dr Béatrice Conde-Petit is an expert in food science and technology and also holds the position of scientific head of Bühler’s Analytical Services. She joined Bühler in 2008 and is a key member of the Bühler Food Safety Initiative - driving strategic innovation projects in the field of food safety. Béatrice received her Master’s Degree and PhD from ETH Zurich in Switzerland. Before joining Bühler, Béatrice worked at ETH Zürich for 20 years as a researcher, lecturer and consultant to the food industry and governmental organisations.
See the full interview
Claudio Zavatta - CEO of Golfetto
Sangati
The Pavan Group are among the worldwide leaders, in the design and engineering of technologies and integrated product lines for cereal-based food. Operating in the food industry as global suppliers of industrial solutions, from the handling of raw materials to the final packaging, the group operates through eight prestigious brands: Golfetto Sangati, Pavan, Mapimpianti, Montoni, Toresani, Foodmac, Stiavelli, Dizma and Pizeta, all leading Italian brands in the food processing industry. Mr Claudio Zavatta commenced his career with the Pavan Group in 1983. As CEO of Golfetto Sangati, he explains how people and an innovative approach remain at the very core of the company’s success.
See the full interview
Gary Huddleston is the American Feed Industry Association’s manager of feed safety and environmental affairs.
Huddleston currently manages AFIA’s efforts surrounding regulatory issues involving the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation.
He also works in collaboration with Dr. Henry Turlington, AFIA director of quality and manufacturing regulatory affairs, to develop and coordinate AFIA’s education and training programs. As the world’s largest organisation devoted exclusively to representing the business, legislative and regulatory interests of the animal feed industry and its suppliers, AFIA will be hosting a free Feed Production Education Program on Thursday 28 January 2016, as part of the International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta, USA.
Indonesia is a country of complexity - through its geography, economy and, not least, its diverse population. The root cause of this complexity is largely down to the country’s make up; of five large islands including the main one of Java that is at its centre both geographically and economically and its many thousands of smaller islands. The country has a population in excess of 250 million of which some 90 million live on Java and is proving to be one of the most challenging growth areas in South East Asia.
Franciscus ‘Franky’ Welirang is the Chairman of APTINDO, the Association of Flour Producers in Indonesia and Director of PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk, better known for it division Bogasari Flour Mills which was formed in 1971 and of which at 64-year-old Mr Welirang is Director in Charge. Milling and Grain had the opportunity to meet him in Jakarta at IAOM’s 6th Annual Southeast Asia District Conference in early.
Note: Indonesia supports over 55,000 small medium enterprises (SME) processing flour base product and 200 modern big manufacturers such as biscuits, noodles and bread industries and 31 milling companies of which have flourmills providing their own production. Future development is likely to happen earlier in the East of the country once the current economic condition improve.
Food Safety Officer, Dr Béatrice Conde-Petit is an expert in food science and technology and also holds the position of scientific head of Bühler’s Analytical Services. She joined Bühler in 2008 and is a key member of the Bühler Food Safety Initiative - driving strategic innovation projects in the field of food safety. Béatrice received her Master’s Degree and PhD from ETH Zurich in Switzerland. Before joining Bühler, Béatrice worked at ETH Zürich for 20 years as a researcher, lecturer and consultant to the food industry and governmental organisations.
See the full interview
The Pavan Group are among the worldwide leaders, in the design and engineering of technologies and integrated product lines for cereal-based food. Operating in the food industry as global suppliers of industrial solutions, from the handling of raw materials to the final packaging, the group operates through eight prestigious brands: Golfetto Sangati, Pavan, Mapimpianti, Montoni, Toresani, Foodmac, Stiavelli, Dizma and Pizeta, all leading Italian brands in the food processing industry. Mr Claudio Zavatta commenced his career with the Pavan Group in 1983. As CEO of Golfetto Sangati, he explains how people and an innovative approach remain at the very core of the company’s success.
See the full interview
Victam is one of the world’s largest and foremost international events for animal feed ingredients processing technology, biomass-pelleting systems, flour milling and grain processing. The 2015 event marks a very special year, it is the 50th anniversary of the exhibition which will once again combine the FIAAP, VICTAM and GRAPAS exhibitions, and their respective conferences under one roof at Koelnmesse in Cologne. Henk van de Bunt has been General Manager of the show since 1999.
See the full interview
Mühlenchemie, specialists for enzyme-containing compounds for pasta flours, has opened a trials laboratory for pasta and is considerably expanding its efforts in this field. The German company sees the interlocking of expertise in raw materials and plant and equipment as a promising way to advance the development of innovations and product optimisations for the pasta market. Dr Lutz Popper studied at the Technical University, Berlin between 1979-85. He holds a Ph.D in food technology. He has been a scientific director at the Stern Wywiol Group since 1993 and is also head of R&D. Milling and Grain Magazine spoke to Dr Popper about the latest developments and rising to challenges in the industry.
See the full interview
Yoshimasa Tomoyasu originates from Hiroshima. Having joined Satake as an engineer, he was engaged on a series of projects supplying flour mills. Rising to the position of Manager of the Flour Milling Division, in 2007 he was appointed General Manager of the Asia Business Division. He is now an Executive Officer of Satake Corporation, and concurrently President of Satake Australia Pty, Ltd.
See the full interview
In September last year Johannes Wick took over the reigns of Bühler’s Grain Milling Business Area - one of five newly organised business areas within the grains & food company. With a non-milling background, Johannes Wick today heads up one of the most advanced milling process design and equipment manufacturing facilities globally along with its distribution and marketing responsibilities. Milling and Grain magazine was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview Mr Wick just prior to his official introduction as Head of Grain Milling in late August 2014. It is a milestone for MAG to start 2015 by publishing this key interview on a futuristic outlook for the flour milling industry.
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Joel Newman is the American Feed Industry Association’s president, CEO and corporate treasurer. Newman has more than three decades of diverse executive experience in agribusiness, with United Cooperative Farmers, Maple Leaf Foods and Agway. He brought an exciting new vision to the association when he joined in 2004 and has effectively led the membership and staff through a landmark era of change. Newman represents AFIA on international issues and is a director of the International Feed Industry Federation, headquartered in Germany. He holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from West Virginia University and a Master of Business Administration in finance and marketing from Syracuse University.
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Guido Grassi, the Knight of the order of Merit for Labour, founded Ocrim in 1945. Today, Ocrim remains an Italian company; the Antolini family owns the stock of which Alberto Antolini is the Chief Executive Officer, his brother Sergio the Vice-Chairman and his father, Primo Antolini, the chairman. Servicing the agri-food chain, Ocrim operates in the milling sector through the construction of mills processing wheat, corn, cereals and animal feed. Coupled with its ‘Italian made’ heritage, Ocrim prides itself on investment and attention paid to the training of future generations through its Milling Technology school, situated in Cremona which has been in existence for over 50 years, training millers from all over the world.
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Volkmar Wywiol is the owner of Mühlenchemie – a manufacturer of flour improvers – in Ahrensburg, near Hamburg, and the initiator of the FlourWorld Museum, an attraction unique of its kind in the world. In this interview Volkmar Wywiol explains what motivated him to do something out of the ordinary for the international milling community.
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Gerard Klein Essink is Director at Bridge2Food, which is located in Bilthoven, The Netherlands. The Bridge2Food company was founded in 2002 to provide research & consultancy services in fast-moving consumer categories. In recent years, international recognition has led to us developing platforms on food category trends such Sports & Performance Nutrition, Healthy Ageing, Healthy & Nutritional Bars, Ingredients with a specific protein focus and on Food Technology for food technology professionals.
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we talk to the secretary of nabim - Nigel Bennett. nabim has three principle functions to promote the flour milling industry's views to government, parliamentarians, regulators, the media and other interested bodies; to improve the understanding of the operational requirements of the flour milling sector; to provide information and advice to its members on a wide range of subjects affecting flour milling.
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Exhibitions, or any kind of physical b2b meeting platforms, have always played a significant role in pushing industries forward. The annual fairs that most Western countries had in the 19th and 20th centuries, the World expo's, industry trade shows... They have all been playing one central role: to unite peers who will watch out for innovations presented and set directions for future technology developments. That hasn't changed and will not change, I am sure. Meeting platforms haven't lost their relevance, although many of you foresee a decreasing role following the introduction of online match-making concepts. But hey, can you list 3 successful digital initiatives that just did what a physical meeting used to do? I don't think you'll get far. Of course, print and online serve a relevant purpose, though quite different from the value of face to face meetings. It's no surprise that publishers increasingly start developing meeting concepts. One cannot do without.
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Adifo’s founder and former CEO Piet De Lille (PDL), and current R&D manager Reinhart De Lille (RDL) (father and son), give their personal views on 40 years of developing this leading Belgium based, software company that serves the milling industry. They highlight milestones the feed and food industry has already passed and, above all, what does the future hold? A unique double interview.
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Paul Davis is the Vice Principal & Professor of Agricultural Systems for the Royal Agricultural University in the UK. Professor Davies has considerable experience of crop production systems and crop science, and has developed a particular understanding of agricultural development. He has had extensive research, training and extension experience both in the UK and overseas. His international experience has been gained mainly in Asia; in Central and Eastern Europe and, on occasion, in South America. Professor Davies is well known in the UK crop protection industry, and parts of the food sector, for his expertise in education and training development. He is from a farming background, and has a particular interest in technology transfer and the application of new technology in agriculture and food production.
Professor Davies has, in particular, experience of commercial farm development for training and extension, and Agritourism use. Recent involvements include food chain analysis and quality assurance.
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Andreas Flückiger is president of the Middle East and Africa region of Switzerland-based industry leader Bühler AG. He took up his current position in 2011, having led Bühler South America for the previous 10 years.
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Symaga specialises in the design, manufacture and supply of steel silos for storing cereals, oilseeds, grains and pellets, rice for the agriculture, agro-industry, biofuels and biomass industries. With more than 30 years' experience and over 15 million m³ of storage built worldwide, the company is one of the world’s leading storage experts.
But Symaga is not just silos; the company is divided into four individual divisions. The Livestock Division focuses on farm silos and livestock equipment, the Agriculture Division, provides water tanks and vineyard posts, and the Steel department is dedicated to any steel work.
In the Silos division, Symaga supplies a wide range of silos, flat bottom up to 25,000 m³ and hopper silos, reaching 12 m diameter with 45° hopper and 2,700 m³ capacity, completely galvanized and with double welded compression ring.
Alice Neal spoke to Alfonso Garrido, sales director, about the family-run business.
Garrido began his career at the company as a child helping out in the manufacturing department. He has an understanding of all aspects of the company, having spent time working in the logistics department and administration before joining the sales team three years ago. Despite having so much hands-on experience, Garrido understands the value of formal education and has a degree in business administration and speaks several European languages.
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Organised by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF), Livestock Event is the leading event for the UK livestock sector. It presents a unique opportunity for all dairy, beef, sheep, goat, pig and poultry farmers as well as farm managers, stockman, consultants, processors and retailers to see the best livestock, equipment, products and services available in the UK market.
Born in North Yorkshire, Everington studied Agricultural and Food Marketing at Newcastle University. A 24-year career in sales and marketing roles in the agricultural supply industry followed. Everington was appointed RABDF chief executive in 2002.
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International Association of Operatives Millers Mideast & Africa District (IAOM MEA) was formed in 1989 and represents flour and feed millers across the Middle East and Africa. Initially, the district was managed by rotating host countries, meaning the head office changed from one country to another. Since 2006, however, there has been a permanent head office in Muscat, Oman. This has helped to standardise operations and allow the association to offer more services to both members and the region.
GFMT spoke to Ali Habaj, secretary general and treasurer, IAOM MEA, about the association and milling in the Middle East and Africa. Habaj is a well suited for a role within IAOM. He has 14 years experience in the milling industry and is the full time CEO of the Atyab Investments Group which manages many firms in the food industries. The portfolio includes Oman Flour Mills, one of the biggest bakeries in the Middle East, Sohor Poultry and a modern poultry farm. Habaj’s current projects include setting up a new pasta factory and a new flour mill in Oman.
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Since its formation in 1967, the Muyang Group has grown into a prestigious corporation, whose activities cover the whole process of feed manufacturing. From design and development to fabrication and installation of the machinery, Muyang has it covered. Over the years, the company has developed more 100 different series of feed and grain processing machines, which includes an impressive 600 different models.
Headquartered in the famous historical and cultural city of Yangzhou, China, Muyang currently has over 4000 employees, including 1000 technicians and engineers who work across all departments. As one of China's big three equipment suppliers, Muyang is now looking for its share of the international marketplace.
GFMT met up with Mani Qian, assistant president of Muyang at the IPPE show in Atlanta, USA where his company was promoting its range of feed manufacturing equipment. Mani Qian is a dynamic and forthright individual. When you meet him he captures your attention with his ideas and enthusiasm for all things milling.
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2012 was a busy year for ZhengChang. The company changed its name from ZCME to ZhengChang, launched the ‘Pelleting King’ SZLH1068 Pellet Mill and continued its international expansion. Founded in 1918 as an oil and rice factory, ZhengChang’s first mill came to market in 1974. Today, the company is one of the world’s largest feed machinery manufacturers and whole plant builders, with a range of turnkey solutions. Hao Yun, chairman of Shanghai ZhengChang, which is responsible for international sales and projects for the ZhengChang group, talks about the history of the company, its future and the expanding Chinese market.
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