World Grain - February 2024 - 55

Our customers feed the world.
That is a noble cause. As a young
man, I didn't know, but over time it
became more important to me.
Stefan Scheiber, CEO, Bühler
equipment engineers. Understanding technology-processes
better does not mean we want to be competing
against our customers. Much rather, we aim at understanding
what they do in their processes much better,
so we can improve our complete solutions. "
This work has evolved into the development of new
technologies for flour-based end products, Scheiber
said, citing biscuits, noodles and wafers as examples.
" Our work is such that we enhance the value chain
other projects. It's about new products and new ways
to design plants. "
Beyond updating machine technology, Scheiber said
Bühler has invested in ways to optimize processes for
a wide range of raw materials that are processed by the
company's machines and technologies.
" We are investing more and more into the knowledge
and skills around application of our plants, processes
and machines, " he said. " We have built up application
centers, research centers where we put our technology in
and basically play with the machines with different raw
materials, different end products. We do that in milling,
chocolate, extrusion technology, baked goods, pasta.
" Raw materials available in the global markets are
so different. Consumer trends and needs are so different.
The machines are one thing, but the applications
of those machines in the context of different products
is very different. We are investing not just in resources
in Uzwil but also in the United States and elsewhere. "
Exploring how different raw materials react and what
end product differences result allows millers to make
process adjustments, Scheiber said.
" Sometimes it is a different setting of the milling
equipment and process, " he said. " Sometimes it's
more on the cleaning side, or the sifting side. Mixing,
blending play an important role. This is not only about
building machines, but very much also about processtechnology-improvements.
For this, Bühler has invested
into food technology engineers in addition to our
World-Grain.com / World Grain / February 2024
from wheat, into flour into the different product sectors, "
he said.
A final milling-related area Scheiber said Bühler is
investing resources is in education and training. He
noted that milling schools support the network of millers
around the world and that this education is even
more important after the coronavirus pandemic.
" The US and other markets have problems recruiting
and retaining well-traded operators, so I think we have
a role to play there as well, " he said. " All of that we do
to support our customers. "
Digital solutions
Bühler is committed to continued advances in
incorporating digital solutions in milling and
the other industries it serves, Scheiber said.
At the same time, he noted that this work
is anything but new. The first programmable
controllers installed in mills
date back about 50 years, to the 1970s.
In recent years, he said Bühler has
made " huge steps " in making more
use of production data from its customers
to " run their mills even more
efficiently, " he said.
" For instance, the most modern mill we
have built, the E3 mill in the UK, measures
17,000 data points every five seconds, " Scheiber
said. " This trend toward digitalization you can see in
other industries as well. It's not per se something extraordinary.
Now you apply these things in modern food processing
as well. As you grow these solutions, you have
to have the electric engineers, the software programmers,
the data science people, the IT protocol owners who say
this is how we communicate with the cloud - it has to
Stefan Scheiber
55
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World Grain - February 2024

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