Bühler presses ahead with ‘virtual Interpack’ systems presentations
The Swiss-based Bühler group is set for a virtual showcase of its industry systems and solutions that were due to be demonstrated at Interpack, which has been postponed for a year.
As reported by Confectionery Production, the major packaging and processing event had been due to take place between May 7-13, but the rapid worldwide development of coronavirus has now meant it will be staged next February in Dusseldorf, Germany.
However, Bühler, which has invested significantly in its digital operations, will reveal its latest developments with a ‘virtual Interpack’ which it will host online under the motto “Creating food sensations,” between May 11-15.
It will include web-based showrooms, chats, and webinars to present its new technologies and solutions, which include equipment for the chocolate processing sector, along with lines targeting bakery and snacks markets.
“The interpack 2020, like many tradeshows around the world, has been cancelled to keep people safe and mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. This cautionary decision is a positive step for the health and safety of our customers and employees,” says Germar Wacker, CEO of Bühler’s Consumer Foods business.
“The current challenges require us to explore new ways of reaching out and preparing for the future. In this case by running events digitally and discovering the potential of virtual events. We ask all our customers and interested people to keep the interpack dates in their calendars,” he adds. Within the next days, Bühler will invite everyone who had planned to travel to Düsseldorf to join the company’s virtual booth online, get inspired by new end-product compositions, meet Bühler experts and sales people in chat rooms, or enter technical presentations online.
“There are so many challenges and opportunities in the consumer foods market today that deserve new solutions,” says Germar Wacker. “We want to invite all our customers to explore these solutions in a completely new, virtual format which also allows for individual discussion.”
Energy-efficient solutions
At interpack, Bühler planned to showcase its full range of processing solutions along the entire value chain. Under the motto “Creating food sensations”, the aim was to inspire customers with innovative end products, from chocolate mass to enrobed baked goods, from molded products to wafers and biscuits. Sustainable innovations that help reduce waste, water, and energy usage in the bakery, chocolate, confectionery and roasting industries would have been presented to encourage visitors to contribute to a better future.
At the same time, Bühler wanted to showcase new solutions for food safety, healthy ingredients, and higher efficiency. Since the last interpack three years ago, Bühler has put immense efforts and investments into innovation to meet the growing requirements of the market and of its customers, for example with significantly higher energy-efficient solutions and less waste.
The company added its disappointment at not being able to introduce its latest systems in a face-to-face manner, but it believed the digital launch would enable companies to discover the work that has been going on at the company over the past three years.
“Though the news that interpack has been cancelled means that we will not showcase our latest innovations to customers in person, we will take this occasion to focus on digital communication alternatives, virtual presentations, and online conversations to keep our customers fully up-to-date,” says Wacker.
“In every challenge is an opportunity. In a world of change, perhaps we will discover that virtual tradeshows offer efficient, impressive, and modern platforms to communicate and exchange about the developments and the state-of-the art solutions for a prosperous future of the consumer food markets.”
