When Caffitaly was looking to upgrade its production plant, it neededtechnology that would guarantee quality and consistency of its product, while also delivering improvements in energy efficiency. So after examining the market and evaluating all options available to them, the Italian manufacturer of capsule systems and single serve coffee settled on the partnership between coffee processing plant manufacturers Bühler and Petroncini as offering the ideal technical solution to their needs. Bühler is a world leader in the production of coffee products. Based in Uzwil, Switzerland, Bühler has a global footprint, with more than 11,000 employees active in more than 140 countries and more than 70 sales and customer service centers around the world. It also has more than 20 manufacturing sites on five continents. Taking into account factors like product quality, process efficiency, and economy, Bühler coordinates the entire spectrum of processing stages optimally – from handling to roasting to grinding – to meet the needs of its customers. Bühler’s partner, Petroncini Impianti, is an Italian company specialising in coffee roasting technology. This partnership between the two companies provides their customers with the unique benefit of accessing the skills and technology of two world leaders who can offer especially gentle processes for the grinding and storage of roasted and ground coffee, as well as highly sophisticated machines and systems ensuring the best possible treatment of the coffee in every regard. Together, Bühler-Petroncini has built some of the largest coffee processing installations in the world. Bühler-Petroncini offers two completely different roasting technologies: high-end drum roasting technology TMR and the InfinityRoast paddle type roaster. Both technologies feature high-precision profile roasting technology for precise replication of standard and non-traditional master-profiles. Set up in 2004 by a group of entrepreneurs with a shared passion for coffee, Caffitaly is a leader in the the production and sale of coffee capsules, carving a niche for itself in the portioned coffee market thanks to the creation of its own semi-open, combined system for espresso coffee, the Caffitaly System. Now one of the world’s leading companies in the single serve coffee market, Caffitaly provides capsules and coffee machines in more than 70 countries, including Italy, Germany, Portugal, Australia, Brazil, Spain, Sweden, and Israel, among others. Caffitaly’s CEO, Andrea Clementini, says that his team examined all of their growing needs and then went to the marketplace to look for the ideal partner to help them meet these needs with a new upgrade. “Our partnership with Bühler-Petroncini was born as a result of a deep analysis aimed at the construction of a new roasting plant, allowing us to obtain the best technical solutions, in terms of performance and final results,” Clementini tells GCR Magazine- Davide De Cristofaro is the mechanical engineer at Petroncini who managed the project to upgrade the Caffitaly facility. “Caffitaly has based its success in translating Italian-style espresso know how into capsules,” he says. “Petroncini in Italy could offer to Caffitaly process knowhow and state of the art roasting technology on large scale, as the TMR660 with its batch size up to 720 kilograms per batch, it is probably the largest drum roaster available on the market.” With Caffitaly experiencing such rapid growth, needed to increase roasting capacity by adding a roaster with a significant capacity, while also boasting top features in roasting quality, roast reproducibility, automation and control system, sturdiness, reliability, and safety. “Therefore they decided to run extensive trials on an industrial scale in our pilot plant on our TMR660, drum roaster, which has a capacity of 660 kilograms per batch and production of up to 3000 kilograms per hour,” De Cristofaro says. “So my first task was to conduct trials on our roaster to reproduce the desired roasting quality and target taste of Caffitaly.” The trials took place at Petroncini’s Italian site. The first stage was the performace of large-scale roasting trials, which consisted of up to 30 batches, each containing 660 kilograms of green coffee, which were roasted during one day of trials on the test unit at Petroncini. Several trial days were completed in order to test the full range of Caffitaly’s products portfolio. Once Petroncini was able to demonstrate the capacity of its roasters to meet these specifications, Caffitaly decided to place an order for the installation of a TMR660 in their existing plant. Then came the challenge of making the installation of the machine happen in the most efficient way, with the least possible disruption to Caffitaly’s existing business. “So our second task was to study the best integration of such large roaster in their existing line and to manage the project by delivering, installing and starting up the roaster with no impact on their capsules production,” De Cristofaro says. “Due to tight and open cooperation between Petroncini and Caffitaly, it was possible to complete the project with zero production stop for Caffitaly.” In order to achieve this, in the first phase of the installation the roaster was installed connected to an independent green coffee feeding station and to an additional big bag filling station for the roasted coffee. This set-up gave Petroncini the ability to start up and test the roaster parallel to normal production. During a second final step the roaster was connected to the green coffee silos and completely integrated with Caffitaly’s existing production line. In total, the switch over took place in just a couple of days. Caffitaly’s Andrea Clementini says the project was a success in terms of meeting his company’s stated goals. “The Bühler-Petroncini roasting system guarantees an important upgrade in terms of production performances, as well as consistency in in setting our roasting profiles,” he says. “Furthermore, this improvement will allow a relevant reduction of energy costs, another milestone of the sustainability process adopted by Caffitaly.” Clementini adds that the project was so successful that his company intends to continue its working relationship with Bühler-Petroncini. “The cooperation between Caffitaly and Bühler-Petroncini comes out of this important first project, but will carry on into the implementation of a new production plant,” he says. “Such technological collaboration will help us to make more strategic gains into the future.” GCR
Equipment
Processing progress
