Miller Magazine Issue: 127 July 2020

24 NEWS MILLER / JULY 2020 sustainable food solutions in North America. The future solutions developed there will help feed a growing popu- lation of nearly 10 billion people in 2050. A unique ins- tallation, the FAC is a playground for the food industry. “Innovation remains the lifeblood for sustainable market success, particularly in the food industry,” says Yannick Gaechter, Director of the new FAC. “New food opportunities are multifaceted and need to be addres- sed with partners across the whole food value chain. This is where the new FAC comes in,” Gaechter adds. “With the FAC, Bühler is helping to create an innovati- on ecosystem by providing predominantly North Ame- rican food companies, start-ups, and academic partners with a platform and the capabilities for creating new products and processes that will help address – from farm to fork, and from bean to burger – not only the current consumer trends, but also our global nutrition challenges in a sustainable way.” Drawing on 160 years of food processing expertise, the new FAC was created as a platform for developing new ways to transform peas, beans, corn, pulses, oats, ancient grains, and many other crops into new food solutions such as flours, snacks, pasta, cereals, and a myriad of extruded products, including plant-based meat analogues. With the goal of building a highly interconnected in- novation ecosystem, Bühler expects that the FAC will become an important resource for the North American food industry as it focuses on the future of food and learns to build a more resilient, agile and sustainable food supply chain. Learning and education is at the core of the FAC. Bühler views the new facility as a place for instructing and understanding technology, food processing, food safety, digitalization, and many other topics. The in- vestment in the FAC further reinforces Bühler's commit- ment to new and innovative approaches to education and workforce development, most notably, the com- pany's internationally recognized apprenticeship prog- ram, which will use the FAC as an educational base. Ad- ditionally, the FAC will act as a training ground for food processing companies wanting to educate their opera- tions and maintenance staff on efficient processing and best practices. "The new FAC stands ready to welcome innovative food processors and other interested orga- nizations, to collaborate, create, and perfect new and sustainable food products as we all address the quickly changing demands of consumers' diets," says Gaechter. During Bühler GO!2020, the company pre- sents ChocoX, a new highly flexible, modular solution for chocolate moulding. Following a “plug-and-produce” concept, the new moulding line, ChocoX (pronounced “Choco Cross”) marks a breakthrough in the industry with its consistent- ly modular approach. ChocoX can be installed on site within a week, reducing implementation time by 80%. ChocoX slashes the time for a line expan- sion by half, compared to previous solutions. Its modular structure allows for great flexibility. Mo- dules can be changed or cleaned in as little as 30 minutes, and rearranging the process chain only takes between 30 to 120 minutes. BUHLER PRESENTS CHOCOX AT VIRTUAL SHOW