Bühler’s Swiss grain innovation centre offers major new research and development opportunities
Buhler's new grain facility has food processing testing facilities. Pic: Buhler
An advanced new grain innovation centre has been officially opened by the Bühler group at its Swiss headquarters, offering significant opportunities for companies across the food sector, including milling-related bakery and snacks markets to research new product ranges, writes Neill Barston.
The freshly-unveiled GIC facility combines high-tech solutions with the company’s long-standing expertise in a space that promotes collaboration, designed to operate across a number of market segments.
It will offer business involved with milling to remain competitive, as well as offering access to the comprehensive Application & Training Center (ATC) hub in Uzwil, which connects entire value chains of manufacturing.
As Confectionery Production has previously reported from the core site in Switzerland, the business is able to offer direct training and research access to related facilities including chocolate production, as well as wider bakery segment equipment and systems that have continued to form a core part of the company’s offering.
Johannes Wick, CEO of Grains & Food at Bühler Group, believed its newly created facilities will have a significant impact across a number of market segments. He said: “The Grain Innovation Centre is the latest addition to Bühler’s expanding network of Application & Training Centres in Uzwil,” says “We cover the entire range of production, from various raw materials to a wide array of finished products. In doing so, we provide our customers with exceptional flexibility and the choices they need to address increasing challenges and revolutionise their markets.”
As Buhler noted, with changes in global grain supply chains, nutritional requirements, transparency of sourcing and pricing pressure, the milling industry faces a challenging environment. These include maintaining flour quality with variable raw materials, improving production and energy efficiency, managing safety issues, or finding and keeping well skilled professionals. Adopting new technologies – such as automation, IoT, and data analytics – and addressing environmental concerns add complexity, while growing consumer demand for healthier and more sustainable products has driven a faster pace of innovation.
For this purpose, Bühler has designed a fresh, modern, and high-tech milling technology facility – the GIC. The new building is the successor to Bühler’s former Grain Technology Centre, which has served the milling industry since 1951. The five-story facility spans 2,000 square meters and features state-of-the-art infrastructure along with over 70 pieces of cutting-edge equipment from Bühler and its partners. The GIC works as a leading-edge arena for customers to experiment, innovate, and find concrete solutions to meet their specific needs.
As the company added, the GIC is equipped with the latest solutions and technologies for processing grain and pulses. Customers can conduct tests on food, as well as animal feed and can develop new processes and solutions in various areas, including cleaning, optical sorting, grinding, sifting, mixing, protein shifting (a mechanical process that increases the protein concentration in plant-based raw materials).
Additionally, they can work on hygienisation and pelleting, as well as dehulling, peeling, and pearling of grains and pulses. “The GIC offers an unparalleled environment where customers can develop tailored processes and witness the extensive capabilities of Bühler’s diverse portfolio firsthand,” says Stefan Birrer, Head of Business Area Milling Solutions at Bühler. “The GIC is not just a facility, it’s a symbol of our commitment to helping customers succeed in an industry that is continuously evolving.”
Food trials encompass a variety of raw materials, including cereals, herbs, spices, and pulses. The GIC includes the technology and expertise to conduct trials on local and ancient grains – raw materials that can play a vital role in improving food security in many countries. Leveraging its extensive know-how in processing, the GIC also offers testing for various other commodities, including coffee, nuts, and insects. Additionally, the Application & Training Center caters to non-food bulk solids, such as plastics and absorbers.
Notably, the side streams generated by the GIC, such as wheat bran and rice husks, corn husk, pea hulls, and screenings from cleaning, will feed Bühler’s Energy Recovery Centre, which provides heating for Bühler offices in Uzwil. Customers can also use this Center to explore the potential of utilizing side streams through energy recovery, which can lead to the reduction of their carbon footprint, waste, and energy costs.
Crucially, the new facilities form part of even wider application capabilities at its core site, forming part of Bühler’s Application & Training Centres hub, which encompasses the four recently launched ATCs – Flavour Creation Centre, Food Creation Centre, Protein Application Centre, and Energy Recovery Centre – which have been in operation for several years, such as the Extrusion Application Centre.
With this innovation hub, Bühler can provide full, farm-to-fork coverage, encompassing entire value chains, an environment that is unique in the market. “Our broad business stretches across the entire protein value chain, and we have meticulously implemented a strategy for partnerships, closing internal gaps and enhancing material flow,” says Rudolf Hofer, Head of the Grain Innovation Centre.
The modernisation project also includes Bühler’s Milling Academy and the Swiss Institute of Feed Technology (SFT), both of which will be housed in a new structure strategically located next to the GIC to increase synergies. This new Milling Academy and the SFT facility will have classrooms, open learning areas, meeting rooms, a customer service corner, new laboratories, a workshop area, and a larger changing room for customers and employees.
The new building will enable Bühler’s team and customers to adapt and develop the skills needed to keep pace with a quickly changing and increasingly challenging work environment. About 1,000 customers and 150 internal employees were trained in more than 120 training courses offered by the Milling Academy and the Swiss Institute of Feed Technology in 2023. The new training facility is due to be operational by January 2025.
