Miller Magazine Issue:114 June 2019

36 NEWS JUNE 2019 Bühler opens its CUBIC innovation campus After a construction period of 20 months and an invest- ment of about CHF 50 million, Bühler Group officially opened its CUBIC innovation campus with eight Application Centers. “We are with this driving forward our strategy of innovation, training, and development,” says Stefan Scheiber, CEO of Bühler Group. “Together with our customers, partners from industry and science, academia, and start-ups, we are using the CUBIC to conduct research into new and sustainable solutions that we can apply to successful business ventures. And, we are taking a step forward here in providing modern training and development,” says Scheiber. The global challenges associated with nutrition and mo- bility are becoming increasingly urgent. How can we susta- inably feed and provide mobility for a population of nearly 10 billion in 2050? Addressing these issues and responding to them with sustainable, commercially attractive solutions is the goal of the innovation campus. “This is our contribution to transforming the urgent global challenges of our time into solid business solutions together with customers, partners, academia, and start-ups,” says Stefan Scheiber, CEO of Büh- ler Group. “In this campus, we are also promoting new pro- fessional skills and competencies, modern learning and wor- king methods, and collaborating with our partners.” Every year, the company invests a sum in the three-digit millions in research and development (R&D). In 2018, this amounted to CHF 145 million or 4.4% of turnover. The three-story CUBIC is designed to accommodate up to 300 people, and is, in itself, a model of sustainability and in- novation. The building uses 15% less energy than comparab- le structures of its size. Its smart electrochromic glass facade was coated on equipment from Bühler Leybold Optics. This enables Bühler to slash energy consumption for heating and air-conditioning by as much as 50%. Building sensors measu- re carbon dioxide levels, air humidity, temperature, and flow of people to continuously fine-tune the functionality and energy consumption of the CUBIC. On the basis of this smart building concept, Bühler expects to be able to sustainably optimize the operation of the building. The CUBIC complies with the sustainability standards of Leed (Leadership in Ener- gy and Environment Design), which certified the structure by Bühler’s CUBIC campus is designed to accommodate up to 300 people, and is, in itself, a model of sustainability and innovation.Vital elements of the new innovation campus are its eight modernized Application Centers. The ideas of customers and prototypes are tested in the Application Centers, where they are refined up to the point of market maturity.