GEA Pavan, Galliera Veneta (PD), Italy, earlier this year successfully handed over a seventh production line for manufacturing breakfast cereals to OBST SA, based in Chelm, Poland. The two companies have been working in close partnership for 20 years. This long lasting collaboration aims to turn marketable ideas into successful cereal products. The recent line addition will allow the Polish company to launch innovative breakfast cereals.

In 1997 OBST ordered its first line from GEA Pavan, creating the beginning of a strong strategic partnership. The business grew and OBST decided to increase production capacity by installing five more lines. With these six GEA Pavan lines, OBST produces 3500t/yr of breakfast cereal and exports into Europe, Africa and Asia.

The new seventh line allows OBST to step into a new product area. Starting with one existing line used for corn flake production, GEA added machinery, transforming the line into one that produces cereal pillows. The die for two-layered whole meal cereals is applied directly to the extrusion head.

 “The GEA Pavan production lines assure high standards of quality and extreme flexibility. These are the most important factors in our success, as we now produce high quality breakfast cereals expressed in a range of 20 different products. We are able to serve the most demanding consumers with specific lines: healthy products, sugar free, with vitamins, wholegrains and also developed ‘super oats’, specifically formulated to reduce cholesterol,” explained Boguslaw Obst, founder of OBST SA.

The development of such a variety of products was also possible thanks to collaboration between the R&D departments of GEA Pavan and OBST. The latter’s R&D department is constantly working on introducing innovative products by analysing the latest developments, technical solutions and innovations in the field of production technology. GEA Pavan’s R&D activities are performed by a team of 30 people including process technicians, analysts and mechanics. Their research is conducted in a test facility located in Italy, which is equipped with three pilot plants and four flexible production lines. There is also a test laboratory.

By testing new formulations at their facility in Italy, the R&D team supported OBST in developing recipes for new products. “This, added to a very interesting balance between costs and quality offered, made us very loyal to GEA Pavan, resulting in us continuing to develop new products and increasing our production capacity,” remarked Boguslaw Obst. www.pavan.com
 

Breakfast cereal extruders installed by GEA Pavan at the OBST factory
 

Sampling of freshly dried corn flakes

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