MUNICH — Mergers and acquisitions have accelerated the evolution of the baking industry, and for some, it means what’s old is new again.
Take Coperion, for example. The name itself isn’t new to the industry; its roots date all the way back to the 19th century, when it originally began as Werner & Pfleiderer, one of the pioneers of industrialized bakery equipment. Over time, the company’s evolution brought it in and out of bakery and general food production, but in recent years has primarily functioned in plastics production. But it has now come full circle through a series of acquisitions by Hillenbrand, Coperion’s parent company.
“The strategic decision was made to strengthen Coperion’s capabilities,” said Bettina Koenig, global communications director for Coperion. “With Hillenbrand as our parent company, we were able to bring together food companies that are not only industry leaders but also technology leaders.”
Last year, Coperion launched its Food, Health and Nutrition division, that encompasses Bakon, Baker Perkins, Coperion K-Tron, Diosna, Gabler Engineering, Kemutec, Peerless, Shaffer, Shick Esteve, Unifiller and VMI. It represents a union of brands previously part of Linxis Group, which Hillenbrand acquired in 2022, and subsequent acquisitions, including Schenck Process Food and Performance Materials North America that followed.
Under this umbrella, it now offers global bakery solutions for every pre-oven step in the process.
The integration of these technologies allows Coperion brands to offer solutions for bakery customers in a more streamlined way. During the iba conference, which took place Oct. 22-26 in Munich, key leaders from Coperion sat down with Commercial Baking to dive into how the brands work together.
“Shick Esteve is primarily ingredient automation, and our solutions are focused at the front end of the plant,” said Blake Day, Shick Esteve president and CEO. “That technology is feeding ingredients into a mixer or extrusion process, so working closely with mixing technology available from several of our brands, including Diosna and VMI, allows us to have a very close connection to the entire system and more specifically meet a customer’s needs.”
Having integrated brands with access to Shick Esteve’s North America Technology Center, located in Kansas City enables the brands to innovate together and discover how each individual technology can more effectively work together.
“It brings together the nuances that we see that, at the end of the day, make a great dough,” Day said. “From the Shick Esteve side, we know how the ingredients need to go into the mixer. We understand the timing and the prep involved beforehand. And from the mixing side, the experts of Coperion’s mixing companies understand how dough quality is impacted by the mix time and proper weighing of ingredients as they go into the mixer. When we can understand all of that, we can fine-tune the process upstream instead of trying to direct it in the middle of a batch.”
With a variety of mixing technology in the portfolio, Coperion now offers bakers a range of capabilities and a global footprint.
“Our collection of brands has more mixing technologies than is available in most markets,” said Eric Cruse, general manager of Peerless. “With that expertise, our customers can be confident that we can talk with them about their specific application and provide recommendations suited exactly for them. Because our goal is to always being able to provide what’s best for our customers.”
Additionally, Coperion’s structure provides an avenue for customer feedback that enables overall continuous improvement throughout the portfolio.
“We are a group of companies that built our reputations on service in addition to providing machines to meet market needs.” — Eric Cruse | general manager | Peerless
“When we can approach projects as a group, our customers can offer us more direct input because we are focused on integrating our specific areas of expertise,” Cruse said. “It enables us to get to solutions much more quickly.”
While Coperion’s size and scale is an advantage to bakers in terms of access to resources, the group emphasizes a streamlined customer experience, often with one primary point of contact when a project includes different equipment technologies.
“We have that project management expertise, especially for large projects where Shick Esteve systems are integrated with installations from one of our sister companies,” Day said.
In addition to offering solutions for new installations, the Coperion Food, Health and Nutrition network also provides integrated customer service for existing equipment.
“We are a group of companies that built our reputations on service in addition to providing machines to meet market needs,” Cruse said.
In the Kansas City technology center, technicians for all brands can receive cross-training on technology from any Coperion brand. That benefit becomes twofold: It not only provides more resources for customers, but it also creates professional development opportunities for the group’s workforce, leading to better solutions.
During the iba conference, Coperion showcased equipment from all nine brands, giving attendees a glimpse at how they work together, not only from a technology standpoint but also from a personnel perspective as well.
“The most important asset we have is our people,” Day said. “When we have the ability to work together, we give them opportunities for growth.”
Whether it’s innovation, service or professional development, today’s Coperion is rooted in a foundation that began with solving the need to feed people on a large scale … and has come full circle to create solutions for baking companies around the world, from ingredients to the oven.
“It’s a very high value proposition,” Cruse said. “With all the experience, history and technology integrated into one solution, it’s proven to be a powerful combination for our customers.”
