Munich, September 18, 2018 – A year ago, Haas became a member of the Bühler Group. At iba, the trade fair for the baking and snack industry, Bühler and Haas will show how they have evolved into a unique center of expertise covering integrated systems for the bakery industry. Accordingly, their fair motto is “Creating tomorrow together”. And the launch of the ContiMix™ underscores the integral way of how this new powerhouse of the bakery industry can serve its customers. It combines the mixing and the kneading process, making dough handling easier and more cost-effective for customers.

Haas Group, the world market leader for machinery designed to produce waffles, cookies and other baked goods, and Bühler, te world market leader for grain processing equipment, have joined forces and thus opened up new commercial opportunities: “We now offer solutions meeting all demands and requirements of our customers, be it dough production, shaping, baking, or finishing,” says Johannes Wick, CEO of Bühler’s Grains & Food business. “Customers can turn their product ideas into reality with a trusted contact on the basis of our production solutions,” adds Haas CEO Germar Wacker.

Customers benefit from the combined offering

At this years’ trade fair for the baking and snack industry iba from September 15-20, 2018, Haas and Bühler will demonstrate for the first time why for a year now they have been the center of expertise covering integrated systems for the bakery industry, creating tomorrow together for their customers. Haas customers have now access to more than 100 local Bühler service stations, providing them with quick support. “Maximum uptime and consistently high quality is crucial for us. Together, Bühler and Haas can guarantee both,” says Thomas Gratzer, Head of Production and Technology at Manner. By pooling research and development, Bühler and Haas can now offer even more complex, more productive one-stop solutions to their customers, covering the whole bakery process chain.

The perfect match

Haas and Bühler are a perfect match. The Haas Group produces systems on which all types of waffles, wafers of all shapes, and cookies, cakes and other sweet and savory baked goods are produced on an industrial scale. For its part, more than 70% of all chocolate products worldwide are produced with Bühler solutions, which span the entire processing chain. And Bühler also supplies all the process stages upstream of industrial bakery goods production – from reception and safe storage of raw materials to proportioning and mixing of dry and liquid ingredients as defined by the recipe. And on to the kneading of oven-ready doughs. “This combined machine portfolio offers customers much greater production flexibility and extends the range of solutions along the process chains,” says Germar Wacker. Customers profit from only one interface for integrated value chains, and better line management thanks to integrated automation. But not only that makes it easy to do business with Bühler: “We continue our highly appreciated cooperation with Bühler and Haas, also because our trusted partners within the company have remained the same,” says Thomas Gratzer from Manner.

A world first: ContiMix™

With ContiMix™, Bühler is presenting a continuous twin-screw extruder for the first time at iba. “We have recognized the potential of ContiMix, and have learned that we can make products of higher quality,” says Roberto Strabello, Operations Manager at Forno d’Asolo, the first customer to buy the new extruder. This producer of premium viennoiserie based in the Northern Italian region of Veneto makes its top notch product – croissants – on the ContiMix™ product line with great success. “This novel development combines the mixing and the kneading process,” says Bühler Consumer Foods Product Manager Stefan Hoh. “Customers profit from a more intense taste of the bakery products, higher volumes, and a better crumb texture.” Forno d’Asolo will start production with their second

ContiMix™ line as early as in December 2018.

More taste, more output, and leaner processes for customers

This novel extruder is ideal for the production of consistent laminated doughs for products such as puff pastry sheets, as well as for flat or shaped products. Various configuration options allow customers to rapidly make recipe-based adjustments to the desired dough specifications. Bakery products produced with ContiMix™ have a volume of up to 2,400 kilograms of dough and a more intensive taste. Furthermore, the continuous process makes it possible to eliminate any additional standing time for the dough and the associated dough handling, thus reducing the workflow for customers. Thanks to a greater dough yield of up to 9%, increased plasticity, and the elimination of additional process steps, the ContiMix™ allows direct savings. Bühler is further extending its solution portfolio for industrial bakeries with the JetMix™ hydration module. It is the ideal solution for producing hydrated doughs based on wheat or rye flours. As a result, the mixing and kneading time can be reduced by up to 50%, translating into worktime and energy savings. Depending on the recipe, the module achieves capacities of up to 8 tonnes per hour.

Haas: ecofriendly baking

Haas is presenting SWAKT-ECO, a premium wafer baking oven. Customers use the oven for fully automatic, large-scale industrial production of flat and hollow wafers. The SWAKT-ECO produces up to 60 wafer sheets per minute, that is 1,100 kilograms of wafer blocks. Its revolutionary heating concept slashes gas consumption by up to 25% and emissions by up to 90%. “It is a prime example of how we want to save 30% energy in the production processes of our customers,” says Germar Wacker. Another such solution is the fully automated baking machines of the EWB-R series, which produce exceptionally high numbers of wafer sticks in a very eco-friendly manner.

Opinion leaders in the bakery industry

The best of both companies will be combined in a 1,000 square meter booth with flagships like the ContiMix™ or the SWAKT-ECO oven on display, while other solutions will be showcased digitally or in augmented reality. In the “Inno Lab” visitors will experience the live production of innovative new wafer, biscuit and convenience food products, and they can enjoy delicious tastings. The “Ideation Room” presents news, facts and figures from raw material to finished end products.

Bühler and Haas continue to address the major challenges and trends of the bakery and confectionary industries, thus shaping and creating tomorrow’s bakery solutions together. At their iba breakout sessions, experts from Bühler and Haas and their customers will focus their attention on hotly debated topics such as sugar reduction in baked goods, digital solutions, or regional consumer trends in bakery and confectionery products. We invite you to sign up for tomorrow’s sessions on super foods and dough production at: https://event.buhlergroup.com/iba/breakout-sessions/