“The most important issue required to be considered in the technology selection is to prefer the technology using the local raw materials in widest scope and converting them into the highest quality pasta. It is not true that technology related with application of hard durum semolina functions in the same quality level in case of usage of other different raw materials, such as soft wheat having wide usage area in the world.”     Pavan Group is one of the leading pasta technologies manufacturers in the world. Offering significant part of the technologies needed for any pasta factory centrally, the group has long-term experience in the sector. In order to compare past technologies with current technologies and to gain information about the criteria to be considered by the manufacturers having investment target in the course of technology selection, an interview is conducted with Ricchiuto MAURIZIO, the Commercial Director at Pavan Group. Emphasizing that pasta manufacturing technologies may cause different outcomes with respect to the type of the raw material, Maurizio responded our questions. Mr. Maurizio, what are the expectations of the contemporary pasta producers from pasta Technologies? Could you please evaluate the requests of the pasta producers in line with the requests you receive from your own customers? Pasta is a steady growing business which is becoming more and more competitive. Although volumes increase rapidly, margins remain practically stable or even tend to reduce because of increase of control by large distribution chains of bigger and bigger market shares. Therefore the expectations of pasta producers and of our own customers, in that pasta plants must be more and more efficient in order to improve their margins. What are differences between the contemporary pasta technologies and the pasta Technologies of 10 years ago? What can you tell us about the developments regarding the pasta production technologies within the last 10 years? What type of conveniences do the recent technologies provide to producers? In the last years we have seen a general trend to adopt certain technologies which Pavan had been pursuing and developing since ever, i.e. increase in drying temperatures and contemporaneous reduction of processing time, increase of use of vacuum, attention to friendliness of use and easier maintenance. What should the current pasta producers or investors interested in pasta production business take cognizance of selecting technology while establishing a factory as well as developing their current factories? The most important fact to be considered is the capability to select a technology capable of employing the widest range of locally available raw materials and transform them in the best quality pasta. It is not always true that a technology tailored for utilization of hard durum semolina can perform at the same quality level when utilizing different raw materials such as soft wheat which is the most common raw material employed worldwide. On the contrary Pavan TAS technology (Thermo Active System) is engineered in order to produce the best possible pasta bond on any available raw material: being the cert of the raw material the major certification in pasta production this result is a comprehensive advantage for the customers. What are the sine qua non / indispensable systems and machinery in a pasta production factory? Raw material plant, processing lines (short cut and long cut, nidi, cous cous depending on the local market), packing lines are present in every pasta factory. Pavan is the only manufacturer who produces them all and can therefore obtain an integrate of factory. Obviously ancillaries services (bale and chiller rooms) and laboratories are also indispensable. Also, could you please inform us about the investment costs of the said new Technologies? It is difficult to evaluate since the investment cost depends on the plant output, the level of automation, the organization of packaging in one, two or three shifts per day, etc. As a general remark we can say that it has remained stable or has even decreased in the last few years. Is there any new technology, machine that you introduced to the market within the last 2 years? If yes, could you please inform us about your new technology, machinery? The most significant technical and technological improvement in dry pasta production equipment introduced by Pavan in the last two years is the extension of the range of the TAS short cut lines with the TAS 13/220 series. It was born as the logical solution to place an over 6 tons per hours line in a reduced footprint, mainly from length point of view. To obtain this the classical 1.6 m TAS equipment has been widened to 2.2 meter. Then, to satisfy the needs of flexibility and control over the drying process that all customers are asking, the machine has been reviewed also form these two points of view. As an outcome the drying diagrams that can be programmed on the TAS 13/220 can fit a lot of different shapes and pasta typologies. Thanks to the 5 drying zones and increased number of repeated passages between strong drying and stabilizing zones compared to the other series of TAS dryers the TAS 13/220 represents the peak performing TAS dryer ever made by Pavan.