Latest technology unveiled at ProSweets

Drawing together the most influential businesses in the confectionery sector has ensured ProSweets remains  a must-see exhibition. Neill Barston reports from Cologne.

Much like any other major industry trade show around the globe, considerable hype surrounded the buildup to this year’s ProSweets in Germany. Thankfully, from the array of leading companies displaying their latest equipment, products and services, there were an encouraging number of noteworthy developments proving this is a sector that rarely, if ever, stands still.

As the event’s organisers confirmed, there was a record attendance of 20,000 trade visitors across the four days between 28-31 January.

They descended on Cologne from an impressive tally of around 100 countries, underlining the trade show’s considerable reach. However, with pressure remaining on the sector over stagnation of chocolate sales globally, coupled with a growing call for healthier snack and confectionery options, exhibitors responded with key product displays that demonstrated a clear reaction to consumer demands. There was certainly a considerable buzz surrounding the show’s core themes of sustainability in production methods, and delivery of greater machine efficiency.

Another topic making its mark was the development of flexible packaging solutions catering for a growing ‘to go’ snack market that comply with recycling requirements, including consideration of biodegradable materials. In addition, the issue of product reformulation was also addressed with tours of the event that examined how the industry is increasingly looking to develop confectionery with reduced sugar content.

This has stemmed as a direct response to authorities around the world that have placed tackling a growing obesity epidemic as a major priority.

As a result, in the UK, government-backed body Public Health England is seeking a targeted 20 per cent reduction in childrens’ personal intake of sugar over the next two years.

The organisation believes that the food and drinks sector has a major responsibility to deliver in terms of reformulation of a wide range of confectionery products.

In terms of sustainability issues, Loeschpack was among those clearly demonstrating potential options in terms of its LTM-Duo designed for fold wrapping of chocolate bars at up to 180 products a minute in biodegradable film.

The company also demonstrated its awareness for another major trend in advanced hermetically sealed packaging raising the bar regarding production standards. Elsewhere, Bühler demonstrated considerable energy savings with its Nova chocolate processing equipment, with another notable equipment breakthrough has been delivered by Gerhard Schubert, which demonstrated its well-received Flowmodul packaging system. This was first shown last May at Interpack, and it has undergone some further modifications for its full commercial development.

As family member Johannes Schubert explained to Confectionery Production, ProSweets had proved an important platform for the company to meet a host of its customers and offered an opportunity for a first-hand demonstration of its equipment.

This included the introduction of a number of tool attachments for the Flowmodul, which enabled it to handle a diverse amount confectionery goods. As Mr Schubert explained, another major focus for the company had been the implementation of its ‘Grips.world’ system – which tapped into Industry 4.0 concepts of creating intelligent web-based machine efficiency savings, through digital monitoring of equipment maintenance.

Managing director Ralf Schubert revealed that several major orders placed at the show indicated that the company’s focus on Flowmoduls had responded well to industry requirements.

He said: “At the fair, the trade visitors’ interest in this innovation was extremely high.” The flow-wrapping component, which is fully integrated into the TLM picker line, has successfully established itself in the market since its launch in 2016. It packs many different types of products such as candy bars, biscuits, cakes, 3D chocolate figures, yoghurt cups, ice cream, puff pastry and confectionary waffles.

Another machinery manufacturer reporting a successful show was Danish-based Aasted, which said there had been considerable interest in its compact solutions. It offered demonstrations on crystallisation and tempering from the company’s head of innovation, Dennis Holmud. Its equipment spanned everything from tempering systems and cooling tunnels, through to a dedicated enrobing machinery.

Meanwhile, manufacturer Winkler and Dünnebier’s star attractions at this year’s event was its Confec-ECO-D machine. Its concept has been specially designed for start-up companies or small and medium-sized confectionery manufacturers who want to counteract a high manual and labor-intensive share of production by automatic applications in order to increase their turnover.

The machine series consists of three modularly designed execution stages which enable a cost-effective increase in production of high-quality chocolate, pectin, toffee and fondant products.

“Continuous development is not only the recipe for our success as a manufacturer, but also for the confectionery producers using the ConfecECO,” said managing director Rainer Runkel at ProSweets.

Wrapped for success

Italian manufacture CMOPM and CMFIMA introduced two recent developments in its wrapping machineries and primary packaging equipment series.

This included CMFIMA’s V-Pack 3, the new multistyle wrapping machine for round, flat base and asymmetrical products, which combines flexibility, high performances and gentle handling of delicate pralines.

The new equipment represents a solution to be integrated in highly efficient distribution systems by countermoulds. Its gentle product handling allows a significant reduction of cleaning downtimes and a limitation of product damaging and marking”. The company also presented its new No Touch automatic infeed system for its flow-wrappers JT-EVO, for sticky or fragile or irregular shaped products that require a “contact-less” handling.

Within confectionery ingredients exhibitors, UK business Thew Arnott reported a successful return to ProSweets, as the business continues to expand its product range. Abigail Loton, of the company, said: ” This was a second successful year for the company at ProSweets. With the help of the Welsh Government we are widening our exposure to the global confectionery market. Running alongside ISM, the exhibition allows us to meet existing contacts as well as creating new business relationships, which is invaluable.

“As a long standing supplier of ingredients, we are focusing on our AraTAs range of Confectionery Coatings to build a brand that is recognised in its own right. The strength of the relationships that are built at this forum will provide benefits for years to come and the links to the bakery, sports nutrition and snack industries are an added benefit, and we are looking forward to 2019.”

Meanwhile, Mark Lozano, group sales manager for confectionery at tna, explained there had been a positive response to its display, including its Intelliflav 5 seasoning system for consistent product flavouring. He said: “Because of our breadth of offerings within the confectionery industry, we have been getting a lot more interest than what we had previously seen when we were just doing packaging.

“We’re a true systems provider now. We see confectionery as the largest growth opportunity in the coming years, especially in the gummy world – which is planned to grow, as well as the nutraceutical market also being huge – in the US alone, that market is set to grow to $4.2 billion by 2025.

Joel Tschannen, sales director at Swiss-based manufacturer Knobel, explained there had been significant interest in its moulding and depositing equipment.

Among its key models at ProSweets was its KCM Nut hybrid system for one-shot depositing, which is presently being expanded to meet an increase in demand. According to Mr Tschannen, there were a number of significant developments within the company.

He said: “I think this year has been good for the company at ProSweets. The past year has been a great one, we have all the approval for extending our factory and we are very excited about that. Overall, we can feel there are a lot of projects that are going on, so we are very positive about the rest of 2018. We’ve had very good talks with both existing customers and those who are new to us regarding investment, so we believe our economic situation is good.

“What is good for us is that companies now have to think about innovation, about new products, which is good for us. That’s good news for us as a small company that’s flexible in terms of technologies, and we think that this whole change in the industry can give us a boost. People are no longer looking for standard machinery, they are seeking flexible and modular machinery.”

UK group Wymbs Engineering reported a strong performance at this year’s event, highlighting its range of equipment including a high-speed volumetric depositor for the confectionery market.

Director Kevin Wymbs spoke to Confectionery Production and said the event had once again proved a rewarding experience in terms of meeting a range of key decision makers. He said: “The show has offered our principle contact with customers – it’s a good means of touching base with them to build relationships with them. We’ve made some new friends too during the week, and we found out some scoops from the industry that we wouldn’t have done already in terms of firms that have been bought and sold, which has given us an opportunity to introduce ourselves.”

According to Netherlands confectionery manufacturers GEA, its range of machines at ProSweets had been developed for especially high-speed production – which was reflected in the high number of visitors to its stand.

This included its Aquarius FlexFormer Extra High Capacity (XHC) equipment, which is reportedly the fastest lollipop former in its class, while the GEA SmartPacker TwinTube C breaks records for confectionery bagging.

Depositing equipment

Another key highlight was provided by Bosch Confectionery Technology, which introduced its starch-free depositing technique for the production of pure gelatin gummies in silicon moulds.

As the company explained, thanks to a new developed kitchen and depositing features, commercial standard gelatin can be used which allows cooling and demoulding in less than 20 minutes.

According to Bosch, this new technology is especially interesting for companies searching for a starch-free production of e.g. OTC or functional gummies.

In addition, the company has teamed up with Wacker Chemie AG, for a new way to produce chewing gums by using processing and depositing equipment for the jelly production. This gives manufacturers the advantage to produce chewing gum as well as jellies on the same processing and depositing equipment.

Natural flavourings

Another business marking itself out as especially innovative was Netherlands-based GNT, which has continually won plaudits for its Exberry colouring foods series.

The company now works extensively with leading confectionery businesses around the world with its fruit-and vegetable flavouring alternatives that have tapped into consumer demand for clean label and healthier snack options.

Guido de Jager, head of marketing for GNT, explained the show had proved positive in highlighting its present range – which has recently been extended into a savoury formulation, considerably expanding its work. He said: “Colour is actually going to be a key issue in the year to come for confectionery – everyone is talking about sugar reduction, but to distinguish yourself in terms of colours is set to be one of the top trends for the next year.

“Where ingredients come from is becoming more and more important – clean label was already a trend. But the difference is that now consumers are not just asking what does it do for my health, but they’re now asking about the ethical perspectives – are products grown or manufactured locally? Can I understand them? We’re seeing that younger millenials in particular are getting more and more into what it is they are actually eating and drinking.”

New equipment

One of the most eye-catching pieces of equipment at the show was Lareka’s new BTB25 packaging system, which attracted plenty of interest from visitors from around the world. As the Netherlands-based company’s owner, Henk Somers, explained, the business has successfully transitioned into a core focus on confectionery equipment, having previously served the tobacco industry.

Somers said: “There has been double-digit growth in the super premium segment for tablets – for personalised products where you can order things like happy birthday greetings and with bean-to-bar manufacturers.

“We had around 10 enquiries last year for refurbished machines producing at lower speeds, that were from the 1960s and are very hard to find second hand, so we thought let’s make a new machine for this target group.

“The latest equipment packages around 25 bars per minute, when our regular machines are around 150 bars per minute – it has a very big size range, so you can wrap from 25g to 250g bars and is known as the BTB25. “The other big advantage is that it is very versatile, so that you can do a size conversion for different products in around 15 minutes.

This could normally take around half a day to do, so you won’t need two machines,” explained Henk, who said there were other considerable advantages to investing in such a new line including its guaranteed compliance with health and safety regulations compared with older equipment.

He added: “It’s taken around two years in development for our latest machine, and we have now sold four before the exhibition. There has been interest here at ProSweets, so we are very positive about its possibilities.

“It’s good that we now have a full focus on chocolate and confectionery and that’s why were able to create our latest packaging machine. We’ve been involved in a number of projects over the past year, including designing packaging with windows, which has been in demand from supermarkets.”

Meanwhile, in Germany, LoeschPack has been experiencing considerable success with its comprehensive range of confectionery packaging solutions. Dr Thomas Cord, who recently joined as managing director, revealed that the business has positioned itself as a full systems supplier for chocolate, confectionery and gum. Among its core focuses has been in providing consultative services to its customers, with the company displaying a number of packaging systems including its RCB-HS, designed for small chocolate products, and providing a high level of hermetically sealed packs.

Mr Cord said: “For us, it’s the most important show – we are developing our portfolio and business strategy continuously, therefore it is significant for us to present our new equipment ranges to our customers. “Visitors have been fascinated by our company’s hermetically sealing packaging machines, which is a major innovation for the industry. We have a number of niches within wrapping machines that are fast and flexible that have made us a market leader.

The most important thing for us it to be in discussion with our customers, as the cycle from first contact to a signed contract can take anything between six months to four years.” As Dr Cord added, there were presently mixed fortunes in the market – with some segments, notably, the gum sector experiencing a slowdown. However, he said there were more positive signs from its other business areas.

This included the US doing well, as well as Asia, where the market is looking for high-speed, high-end machinery that offers production flexibility.

Major deal

Speaking to Confectionery Production during ProSweets, Bühler consumer foods marketing director Daniel Troxler hailed the event as ‘the biggest show for confectionery’ within Europe.

He believed it set the groundwork for the company’s ambitious expansion plans in acquiring the Haas Group.

Mr Troxler said: “We have our colleagues from Haas here at the show, and this year we’re going to focus on how both companies will integrate with each other.

“This is not an integration of Haas into Bühler, it is as much a case of it being the other way around. We have so many common customers and key accounts, it is a case of learning from each other.

“This is our biggest target for the year in how to manage this. It’s hugely exciting. We had the Haas team participating at the bakery technical conference at Uzwil 10 days ago – everyone came out of the event with huge smiles,” explained the marketing director.

In terms of this year’s event, he said its Nova system, processing chocolate fillings, coatings and bread spreads had been well received, offering 30 per cent energy efficiency savings compared to older alternative equipment.

There had also been significant interest in its Snack Fix system designed for delivering a range of nutritional bars, which further expanded its diversity of machinery.

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