Bühler, Uzwil, Switzerland, reports that its global network of application centres remains up and running. During the past 12 months, the company has become particularly adept at performing trials with customers, either virtually or within a carefully managed ‘bubble’.

“Twelve months ago, we asked ourselves if we can do factory acceptance tests and remote commissioning of lines, then why are we not doing virtual pilot plant trials together?” commented Ian Roberts, chief technology officer at Bühler Group. “In a time of prolific use of digital technologies, there is no reason that our availability should be a bottleneck in the speed of innovation of our customers.”

In fact, by utilising trial data capture, the Bühler remote visualisation and video streaming, and on-site analytical labs, the Bühler teams work together with customers to plan, run, and adjust trials in real-time. Products are then sent for evaluation at customer sites. The company states that although it is more fun to work side by side, the virtual trials have proved to be so efficient that Bühler will maintain this option even after travel restrictions have been eased.

While Bühler’s application labs in China are running at full capacity with close to 100 trials run with customers in March, it is noteworthy that all Bühler application and trainings centres across Europe and the US have run three to five customer trials per week during the same period, many of them remotely.

Bühler has a global network of application and training centres in 24 locations. The company will open two more food-safe application centres in 2021, with its new joint lab with Givaudan in Singapore opening on 26th April 2021, and its new facility at Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik (DIL) in Germany opening in the second half of the year. “This enables us to be close to our customers and to their markets, but also to provide possibilities for virtual collaboration in the same language and frequently the same time zone,” said Sandra Lutz, global coordinator of Bühler’s application centre network. “We invite our customers and partners to get in touch with us. Your local Bühler sales offices are there to support you to organise this.”

Bühler invites customers, partners, and start-ups to use its global network of application centres as a joint playground to inspire and innovate. They can be used to validate and improve processes, get trainings on the latest technologies, and to co-create new products together with Bühler. The company invests up to 5% of turnover into research and development. In 2020, some 12,500 employees generated a turnover of CHF2.7 billion. As a Swiss family-owned firm, Bühler is active in 140 countries around the world and operates a global network of 100 service facilities, 33 manufacturing sites, and application and training centres in 24 locations. www.buhlergroup.com

 

Sandra Lutz, global coordinator of Bühler’s network of application centres

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