Lavazza and Brambati’s new Italian facility

When Lavazza was looking for a roasting manufacturer to team up with for its latest plant, it looked no further than its own home ground. In 2013, Lavazza signed a contract with The Brambati Group, based in Codevilla in Northern Italy, for a full turn-key plant operation. The contract, which will be fully supplied by the end of 2014, will see Brambati construct a plant and facility for coffee processing. This will include all civil and engineering works necessary for the installation. This plant will include full automation and control, from the receipt of raw (green) coffee, right through to the feeding of the packaging machines. It will facilitate all areas of the production process including raw coffee cleaning and storage, weighing, dosing, blending, storage, degassing and all modes of product transfer within the plant.
Very important is that the plant will include the latest generation Brambati Roaster. “It’s another realisation of the success of the production philosophies that have characterised this Italian company over the last decade, constantly receiving acclaims in markets around the world,” says Brambati President Fabrizio Brambati. With its long history of operations, The Brambati Group has developed top level expertise in delivering customised systems to its clients, even those with very specific requirements. One of the company’s strengths is its ability to customise its proposals based on the varying requirements and standards of its clientele. Teaming up with Lavazza was a very special project for Brambati. With more than a century of experience, Lavazza has become the symbol of Italian coffee throughout the world. Lavazza has achieved a reputation for consistent, quality coffee thanks to the use of high-quality raw materials and careful attention to its production processes. With this reputation comes the need to enhance and protect the most precious properties of its coffee. In working to some of the highest quality standards in the world, it was a natural fit for Lavazza to look for the most highly developed technologies. This will be achieved with the installation of highly automated systems, allowing for real-time control of all elements of the production process, as well as the storage of raw materials and the finished product. Brambati is careful to take into account the typical problems faced by its clients when it comes to compliance with rules and regulations relating to noise, environmental health and emissions into the atmosphere In designing the plant, Brambati is working closely with Lavazza’s team. Lavazza places attention on every detail to maximise the sensory outcomes of the product. Brambati also understands the need to implement systems that pay particular attention to the preservation of the environment. Lavazza has a long history of looking out for its sustainable footprint. It strives to maintain principles of responsible production. Brambati has proven itself the ideal fit for a roaster who is looking for plants that minimise its environmental impact, considering that quality includes this important factor. The Brambati company, in fact, has collaborated with major Italian universities in this regard. This has led to the development of systems that provide significant energy savings and durable processes, combined with advanced systems for the reduction of emissions and optimisation of electricity and gas consumption. Brambati’s solutions allow the customer to limit emissions released into the atmosphere, without compromising the quality of the product. Chemical, physical and sensory characteristics of roasted beans can suffer if modifications to production processes are extreme. More and more, Brambati is constantly developing and improving its technologies by collaborating with important companies in the coffee industry. Brambati has always relied on the industry to share information to help improve its equipment. This includes requirements relating to product traceability and the precise management of these processes. This work will certainly come in handy in the new plant being developed for Lavazza. The systems will receive data (production orders, master data, etc.) and provide production reports in real time which are aimed at providing traceability using the ERP. The data expressed by this new level of plant automation, which until recently only had the functions of command and control, now allows the collection and integration of all data relating to the qualitative aspects of the finished product, preventative maintenance, optimisation of production cycles and the reduction of energy consumption. These further developments in the field of automation have also allowed Brambati to increase their reliability, functionality and operational safety. The continuous research, and the possibilities offered by advanced information technology, in the use of electronic data, have brought about the accurate collection of all aspects of production data. Technology no longer has the sole function of offering system control. It now gathers the required information to allow the producer to give an identity card to their product, thereby offering maximum traceability. The development and use of new electronic sensors, product monitoring in Brambati systems can guarantee the proper monitoring of the coffee throughout the entire course of processing. This allows for a definitive perfect execution of every stage of the production process.