OUR BUSINESS - annualreport2017.buhlergroup.com · folio together: process solutions ... and...

OUR BUSINESSAs diverse as Bühler’s end markets may be – from food and feed, to vehicles, printing units, buildings, packaging, lenses, batteries, and much more – two common factors hold its broad portfolio together: process solutions and sustainability.

OUR BUSINESSBühler Annual Report 2017

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We want everyone to have access to healthy food. Although the technolo-gies, process solutions, and applica-tions of Grains & Food may be diverse, they share the same focus − quality and safety. We provide solutions for the processing of grains, pulses, rice, corn, cocoa, nuts, and coffee beans, to name but a few. Bühler’s custom-ers supply foods to more than 2 billion people every day. We want there to be enough food for everyone, and we want to reduce food waste. We want to conserve energy and water, and we want to help reduce the need for sugar and fat in food to address overnutrition and obesity.

Grain Quality & Supply offers safe cleaning, storage, and transport solu-tions for raw materials and solutions for the processing of grains into malt for beer. Milling Solutions combines the optimum grinding and processing of grains and pulses with the highest hygienic standards. Consumer Foods enables confectionery manufacturers to effi ciently produce high-quality end products. Value Nutrition allows energy-effi cient and safe production of pasta, breakfast cereals, and animal feed via extrusion, drying, and feed mills. The newly established Digital Technologies business area uses optical sorting and cloud-based monitoring solutions to ensure that contaminants are removed during processing and the safety of food and feed is documented.

All business areas offer integrated pro-cess solutions for value-added chains from a single source: from green coffee or cocoa beans and harvest-ed grain to roast and ground coffee, chocolate bars, pralines, fl our, noodles, dough, or animal feed. This portfolio is complemented by a global network of service, training, and application centers for our customers around the world. Our training offering helps cus-tomers to operate Bühler systems op-timally to achieve maximum yield and reduced downtime.

GRAINS & FOODAt a glance

75%of global malt processing is covered by Bühler solutions.

65%of the world’s grain is pro-

cessed on Bühler machinery.

30%of global rice and pulse pro-duction is covered by Bühler

solutions. Rice is a staple food for 3 billion people.

About

30%of all breakfast cereals are processed with Bühler technologies.

70%of all chocolate is produced in Bühler plants. 4 million tons of cocoa beans are harvested every year.

40%of industrially-made pasta is produced using Bühler technology.

Grain Quality & Supply

Bühler Grain Quality & Supply provides high-quality and safe solutions for grains, malting and brewery, and rice. Its aim is to increase effi ciency, improve traceability, and reduce food loss.

MillingSolutions

Bühler Milling Solutions delivers state-of-the-art process technology for transforming raw materials such as soft wheat, durum, rye, and maize into high-grade fl our and semolina products.

Value Nutrition

Bühler Value Nutrition is the global solution and technology partner for producers of animal feed, pasta and noodles, vegetable oil, cereals and snacks, and pet food.

Digital Technologies

Bühler Digital Technologies offers sort-ing machines, industrial measuring ma-chines, sensors, control systems, and service-driven products for the food and non-food processing industries.

Consumer Foods

Bühler Consumer Foods provides innovative solutions for the processing of cocoa, nuts, and coffee as well as the manufacturing of chocolate, bakery products, and various bars.

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How various raw materials become high-quality food products: Seven examples of Bühler Grains & Food process technologies

= Where Bühler technologies are involved

Grain Coffee beans

Cleaning, sorting

Cleaning

Grinding

Dosing

Weighing

Mixing

Dough preparation

Extrusion

Baking

Cooling

Enrobing

Decorating,sprinkling

Storage, handling,conveying

Blending

Dosing, mixing

Roasting

Refi ning,conching

Grinding

Forming

Cutting

Tempering

Enrobing

Cooling

Tempering

Depositing

Cooling

Demoulding

HandlingStorage,degassing

Paddyrice

Rice cleaning

Intake, precleaning and storage

Drying

Rice milling

Grading

Supporting element

Bagging andload out

Cooling

Pelleting

Hygienizing

Mixing

Storing

Cooling

Drying

Extrusion

Dough preparation

Cocoa beans

Cleaning, alkalization, debacterizing, roasting

Liquor grinding,pressing

Biscuitproducts

Pasta Feed Roast and ground coffee

Whiterice

Chocolateproducts

Chocolateproducts


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We want to contribute to protecting the climate through the use of energy-effi cient vehicles, machines, and build-ings – and this leitmotif plays an important role in the technologies, process solutions, and applications of Advanced Materials. Lightweight alu-minum or magnesium parts – manufac-tured on die-casting cells – reduce fuel consumption. Vacuum-coated archi-tectural glass for facades – produced on Leybold Optics equipment – makes buildings more energy-effi cient. Bat-tery slurry – manufactured on equip-ment from Grinding & Dispersing – in-creases the range of electric vehicles.

The range of applications the custom-ers of the three business areas serve is virtually endless: fi nely ground pig-ments for paints, printing inks, cos-metics, coatings for sensors, lenses, camera lenses, smartphone screens, precision optics, packaging, engine blocks, oil pans, gear housings, struc-tural parts, and more.

The markets are extremely diverse, but Advanced Materials has one constant factor: mobility. The segment gener-ates around 60% of its sales from the automotive industry.

There are also similarities between the business areas in terms of technology. It always comes down to the most pre-cise material processing with the high-est level of reliability and reproducibility under industrial conditions.

Bühler manufactures high-precision die-casting cells. Its vacuum-coating systems deposit thin fi lms on glass and plastic on a scale measured in nanometers. And wet milling produces dispersions of pigments and particles that are also on a nanometer scale. The business areas not only supply the machines and systems to do this, but also the process expertise – including a worldwide network for training, con-sulting, and services.

ADVANCED MATERIALSAt a glance

of all die-cast

components produced globally are made on Bühler systems.

50%of new cars worldwide have die-cast compo-nents produced with Bühler technology.

30 gigafactories will be running worldwide by 2030. Bühler technologyhas gained market share in the bat-tery segment beyond fi rst-reference installations.

About

60%of all offset inks worldwide are manufactured with Bühler technology.

Nearly

1,000die-casting foundries rely on Bühler day in, day out.

100%of the top 10 packaging ink producers use Bühler

solutions.

Over

60%of all banknote printing inks are made with Bühler machines.

50%of the world’s car taillights and head-lamps are metallized on Bühler machines.

DieCasting

Bühler Die Casting is the global technology partner for all die-casting needs and supports its customers through all phases of their investment.

LeyboldOptics

Bühler Leybold Optics is the special-ist for state-of-the-art development and manufacturing of vacuum deposi-tion equipment.

Some

25%

Grinding & Dispersing

Bühler Grinding & Dispersing offers future-oriented technology and tailor-made solutions for wet-grinding and dispersing processes.

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Aluminum to die-cast parts, pigments to cosmetics: Six examples of Bühler Advanced Materials process technologies

= Where Bühler technologies are involved

Aluminum,magnesium

Die-castcomponents

Dosing

Casting

Marking

Extracting

Active material, conductive additives,

binder, and solvent

Liquid and powder dosing

Material handling

Dissolving

Continuous mixing and dispersing

Filtering

Storage and degassing

Pigments and chemical

materials

Paint and inks,coatings, cosmetics,

agrochemicals

Dosing and weighing

Storage and conveying

Mixing and pre-grinding

Wet grinding

Conditioning, let- down, adjustments

Potting,packaging

Acrylic acid

Diapers

Polymerization

Purifying

Drying

Grinding

Surface crosslinking

Diapermaking

Resin

Eyeglasses

Lens design

Cleaning

Hardcoating

Framing

Edging

Polishing

Surfacing

Anti-refl ective coating

Electrode slurries for batteries

Film

Food packaging material

Film metallizing

Film manufacturing and primary slitting

Slitting

Top coating

Printing

Laminating

Bühler Annual Report 2017

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OUR BUSINESS

YOU’LL BE SUPRISED TO SEE ...

... EVERYWHERE OUR TECHNOLOGIES TOUCH YOUR DAILY LIFE.

GF Beer

GF Chocolate bars and hollow figures

AM Coatings for architectural glasses

AM Die-cast parts for street lamps

GF Flour for a variety of bread and baked goods

Every day, billions of people come into contact with Bühler technologies to cover their basic needs for food and mobility, and more. Our technologies are in your smartphone, solar panels,

diapers, lipstick, banknotes, the foods you eat, and the vehicles you drive. We strive to create innovations for a better world, with a special focus on healthy, safe, and sustainable solutions.

Bühler’s businesses:

Grains & Food GF

Advanced Materials AM

AM Filter for sensors in fitness trackers

AM Coatings for decorative metallizing

This is just a small selection of products made with Bühler technologies.

AM Electronic components for smartphones

GF Solutions for recycling PET bottles

AM Ink for inkjet printers

AM Electrode slurries for residential stationary batteries

AM Color filters for LCD screens

GF Sinking and floating aqua feed

GF Rice

GF Pasta

GF Wheat and gluten-free pasta

AM Die-cast pots and pans

AM Paintsfor houses

AM Inks and coatings for food packaging

AM Lacquersfor furniture

AM Householdceramics

AM Security printing inks and holograms for banknotes

INFOGRAPHIC

AM Lipsticks and nail-polishes

GF Coffee

AM Inks for magazines

AM Metal slurry for solar cells

GF Asian noodles

AM Agrochemicals

AM Automotive coatings

AM Inks and dyes for textiles

AM Electrode slurries for electric car batteries

AM Film capacitors for electric and hybrid vehicles

AM Protective coatings

AM Superabsorbent polymers for diapers

AM Film capacitors for windmills

AM Coatings for windmills

AM Electrode slurries for industrial stationary batteries

AM Coatings for automobile bezels and reflectors

AM Batteries, sensors, and cameras

AM Die-cast parts for cars and scooters

GF Pet food

AM Augmented reality, e.g., head-up display

AM Anti-fingerprint coatings and decorative coatings for eyeglasses and sunglasses

GF Pellets to feed cattle

GF Handling and storage for grain, rice, cocoa, and coffee

AM Coatings for camera lenses

GF Waffles for ice-cream cones

GF Vegetable oil


Our mission is to find ways to feed a growing world popula-tion with healthy and safe food and to translate the sustain-ability issues facing the global food, feed, and automotive industries into opportunities for our customers. To do this, we identified five core topics in 2016 that are decisive for driving change: food and feed safety, nutrition, energy and waste reduction, digitalization and mobility.

Food and feed safetyEach year, an astonishing 10% of the world’s population becomes ill from eating contaminated food, with the World Health Organization noting that children under five are the most-at-risk group. With a quarter of glo-bal grain crops contaminated with dangerous myco-toxins, and overuse of antibiotics in farming leading to critical levels of resistance, it’s plain to see why it’s crucial to address food and feed safety issues.

We have already developed a broad range of tech-nologies to meet this growing challenge, from high- capacity drying after harvest, to cleaning and optical sorting solutions that address contamination of the grain crop, and from there to processing and pack-aging. We continue to explore means to harness the immense opportunities offered by digitalization and cloud solutions to enable far greater traceability and transparency throughout the production process.

Seamless traceability allows customers to track every pro-cess step from field to fork and determine the exact time, location, and ingredients affected in case of any contam-ination. With heightened food and feed safety regulations and the rise of the empowered consumer wanting full trans-parency about what they buy, food and feed processors must be enabled to collect this high-quality track-and-trace data along the entire supply chain. Bühler’s digital and automation solutions make this possible.

In 2017, we launched a new food alert system, which takes food safety information from across the globe and with data analytics distills it into a seamless, easy-to-use tailored solu-tion that gives customers instant, vital information to enable them to make timely and effective responses to food safety risks. Quick understanding of a potential risk could mean the difference between commercial inconvenience and rep-utational disaster. Our Leybold Optics PAK and PAK T series have improved food safety in the packaging industry, with a

OUR SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORKTo safely feed the world, reduce emissions, and promote customer success, Bühler is driven by its core topics.

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thin coating film providing an effective barrier against gases, moisture, odors, and microorganisms, while the Choco-Botic solution has reinvented chocolate lines with fewer stations and components, more hygienic design, and far greater ease of cleaning. Other recent innovations include the PolyFlake flaking mill, which offers signifi-cantly higher standards of hygiene, and the Sortex E BioVision for removing foreign objects from the pro-cessing line.

We are also committed to raising awareness and de-veloping skills through extensive training and educa-tion with a variety of tailored food safety courses for our customers. Bühler also applies these principles in-house: nearly 1,900 employees have participated in our training program to learn about food hazards and hygienic product design, and get an entire over-view of food safety from the point of harvest to the end consumer.

NutritionWith an estimated 840 million people suffering from

hunger and one-third of the developing world’s popula-tion experiencing micronutrient deficiencies, it has never

been more obvious that our global nutrition system has become unsustainable. At the same time, obesity is placing a huge burden on the health systems of the industrialized

– and, increasingly, the developing – world, while popula-tion growth means that by 2050 we’ll need an additional 265 million tonnes of protein to feed more than 9 billion people. No single company can fully address these issues; however, we are in a unique position to make a real differ-ence, because food produced using our technologies serves more than 2 billion people every day.

Bühler takes a collaborative approach to developing innova-tions, pushing research to new levels, and investigating new methods and materials research further with our in-house experts, customers, and partners. To address the need for alternative, sustainable protein sources, solutions will need to be found, and we are exploring alternatives to turn these significant challenges into business opportunities.

Food and feed safetyWe are continuously improving our solutions for the production of safe foods. In 2017, 34% of our R&D projects focused on the topic, and we launched a digital food safety alert system.


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Food fortification is a vital tool in the fight against malnutrition. In 2017 Bühler supplied more than 1,000 microfeeders to local mills and food factories in Pakistan under the lead of the UK-based Food Fortification Programme. It is helping to tackle the high levels of child stunting and malnutrition in the region by adding vitamins and minerals to foods. Around half of Pakistan’s mills will soon be equipped with these solutions. With its 2017 partnership with Protix, one of the world’s leading insect production companies, Bühler will drive the industrial production of animal feed from insects. Insects are reared on food waste, which they efficiently turn into protein. It’s a sustainable, virtuous cycle, as they are the pre- ferred food source for many animals and their by-products become plant fertilizer. The company has already achieved a milestone with the first order for the largest industrial- scale insect processing plant in Europe, which is expected to be fully operational and leading the way in this rapidly developing field by the second half of 2018. Longer-term, Bühler is looking at algae as another potential protein solu-tion. The company supports producers efforts to bring the safest, most nutritious foods to the market. Bühler is also collaborating with its partners and customers to help cut sugar and fat content.

The latter are one of the increasingly popular alternatives used by our customers to provide high-protein, high-fiber meat substitutes, while texturized vegetable proteins are becoming increasingly important alternatives for consumers looking to reduce their meat intake. Known as textrudates, these are made from vegetable raw materials using a cook-ing extrusion process. Bühler has long been at the forefront of producing dry – and now wet – textrudates as meat alter-natives and is expanding its research. Through collaboration with ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Techology), a study has shown that bean isolate, wheat gluten, and sun-flower seeds are also promising alternatives.

Energy and waste reductionImproved energy efficiency isn’t just good for the environ-ment – it’s good for business too. With energy use account-ing for anywhere up to 10% of a company’s total costs, any savings translate directly into better margins. Bühler wants to reduce energy consumption and waste at customer sites and its own by 30% over the next three years, and is con-tinuing to develop machines and partnerships that make a significant contribution to tackling some of the world’s most pressing ecological issues.

Sortex A ColorVision and Sortex E PolyVision enable re- cyclers to sort out different types of plastics that arrive at their sites and produce food-bottle-grade PET flakes at the highest yield in the market. Our new Tubex hopper scale is helping to cut energy costs by more than 95% with an innovative drive and control system that stores energy be-tween driving cycles. Alongside this dramatic saving, cus-tomers also benefit from easy operation, accurate weigh-ing, and minimal maintenance. Among other innovations that are slashing energy consumption are the JetMix flour hydration method and Solano roasting machine, both of which reduce energy use by up to 30%. Bühler’s Prime Masa process for manufacturing Nixtamal corn flour em-ploys steam technology to use 90% less water, while offering a higher yield and eliminating wastewater during the production process without compromising flavor or texture. And the Ecothermatik, a solution for long-cut pasta drying, optimizes thermal energy use to combine low energy con-sumption with top product quality.

A key part of our drive to help create a more sustainable world is a constant commitment to exchanging knowledge and ideas. Bühler is a Diamond Sponsor of MassChallenge, the world’s largest start-up accelerator, and we work closely with Partners in Food Solutions to support food processing entrepreneurs in Africa.

NutritionIn 2017 we exceeded our 2020 target of ensuring that 20% of our food-relevant R&D projects would focus on improving nutrition by 3%. This is just the beginning.

Energy and waste reductionOur goal is to reduce energy and water consumption, carbon emissions, and waste by 30% by 2020. In 2017, we introduced 50 new products and technologies that do just that.

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DigitalizationThe opportunities offered by digitalization enable us to help customers reach new levels of productivity. Digital solutions can help customers cut their energy use and drive down their carbon footprint while also achieving significant cost savings via improved quality, increased differentiation, and reduced downtime, among others. Machines today no lon-ger “merely” produce goods, but also produce valuable data that can revolutionize business. We view digitalization as an enabler for positive progress. With our profound machine and process knowledge, we can offer digital solutions to our customers that go beyond machinery.

Among the wide range of digital innovations we’ve launched in 2017 is TotalSense, which uses digital technology to en-able rice producers to analyze their yield whenever they need to and get a detailed report anywhere in just a few minutes. The purely digital solution is portable, low-cost, and a perfect example of Bühler’s approach to digitalization.

At Networking Days @ Interpack 2017, Bühler launched sev-eral digital innovations, including ChocoGenius – an any-time, anywhere web-based training service to train choco-late line operators. We also released the Smart Chocolate Factory, a self-optimizing digital service for dosing, mixing, refining, and conching. It’s a digital factory that helps cus-tomers achieve a 10% reduction in operating costs and a 10% increase in performance. Another example is AeroPro Moisture Control, which enables clients to closely moni- tor moisture content in their production processes to ensure optimum end results via sensor technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud-based storage architecture. The in-telligent drying solution with real-time, continuous moisture management improves quality and cuts waste. Through this intelligent moisture control, every 1% of moisture gain in a typical feed dryer operation is equivalent to a annual saving of USD 300,000.

IoT technology enables clients to remotely access critical production data practically in real time, and so make cru-cial decisions about machine performance, tolerance levels, and sorting criteria to ensure optimum production. This year saw Bühler launch AnywarePro, which is designed to take complex analysis data produced by an optical sorter and transmit it to whoever needs it, anywhere in the world. That key data provides information to optimize production. It also allows engineers to diagnose and solve system malfunctions remotely, dramatically cutting wasteful downtime.

MobilityNowhere are the sustainability pressures facing the planet more acutely visible than on our roads. As populations and wealth grow in emerging economies, so does the demand for cars. Transport now accounts for 13% of all greenhouse gas emissions, 75% of which comes from road traffic. As demand increases, so does the need for clean, efficient mo-bility solutions, with China now the world’s fastest-growing market for electric cars. In 2017 around 800,000 electric vehicles were sold there, a number that’s expected to reach 5 million by 2020, with global sales predicted to reach the 60 million mark a decade later.

Bühler is playing a key role, having developed a unique continuous mixing process to produce a key component in batteries: the electrode slurry for the positive and negative poles in the battery. With this, the industry is able to enhance the production of batteries and their energy density. With the opening of the Lishen plant in Suzhou, Bühler was able to demonstrate the industrial scalability of this new technology. Our traditional die-casting methods are also in high demand, as they enable the production of lightweight engine blocks and structural components, which cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions. With a 10% reduction in weight delivering as much as an 8% improvement in fuel efficiency, the bene-fits for the planet and the bottom line are immense.

DigitalizationDigital solutions will help us – and our customers – improve quality, reduce waste, energy, and downtime. We currently have over 50 digital services in development.

MobilityWe contribute to making cars lighter with our die-casting systems, and electric vehicles more energy efficient with our new electrode slurry solution.


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INNOVATIONS FOR A BETTER WORLDBühler continues to lead the way in harnessing the potential of new technologies.

Innovation has been at the very center of Bühler’s activities for more than 150 years, from the earliest days of mecha-nized food production to today’s ever-evolving digital world. The company invests as much as 5% of its turnover in re-search and development each year, and works in close col-laboration with customers, suppliers, start-ups, and leading academic institutions to continually drive innovation and help meet its ambitious sustainability goals.

Key elements of this are the company’s Innovation Chal- lenges and Networking Days, which allow extensive collab-oration with scientists, staff, industry partners, students, and start-ups, all of whom are able to bring fresh perspectives to help turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s opportunities. The 2017 Networking Days brought together 750 people to discuss sustainability and nutrition. This year, Bühler will hold its first Networking Days event dedicated to Advanced Ma-terials, with a focus on the lithium-ion battery business and how it can make mobility more sustainable.

Collaboration is keyOne of the key drivers of Bühler’s ongoing innovation is its close working relationship with a whole range of networks. Among the major institutions Bühler collaborates with are ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), University College London, Imperial College London, the University of

St. G alle n (HSG), Kansas State University, and the UNITECH university network. Its strategic partnerships include the EIT Food Accelerator Network, Partners in Food Solutions, Africa Improved Foods, and leading start-up accelerator MassChallenge. Alumni of the latter alone have so far raised more than USD 2 billion, generated over USD 900 million in revenue, and created more than 65,000 jobs. In 2017, Bühler began working with the Swiss Data Science Center, a joint venture between EPFL and ETH Zurich, which accel-erates the adoption of data science and machine-learning techniques in the industrial sector.

Another successful collaboration was the founding of the joint venture Bühler Insect Technology Solutions together with Protix, a leading insect production company based in the Netherlands, to address the world’s growing protein gap with a sustainable protein source − insects. It’s an ideal partnership as Bühler provides its expertise in developing scalable, cost-effective industrial processing solutions for food and feed, and Protix has 10 years of experience in the field of insect breeding, rearing, and processing.

The opening of a new production, research, and develop-ment center in Changzhou, China, was another highlight. It specializes in processing equipment and complete plants for animal and aqua feed and pet food. Its large application center is dedicated to animal nutrition.

Agriculture Storage Transportation Primary processing Secondary processing Retailer Consumer

Digital value chainDigitalization drives transparency, effi ciency, and performance across the entire food value chain.

= Bühler IoT solutions

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Working side by side The company is investing CHF 50 million in the CUBIC innovation campus at its Uzwil headquarters, where the industry’s smartest minds will come together in an open atmosphere in state-of-the-art application labs to create innovations for a better world. The expanded and modern- ized Bakery Innovation Center is where the Bühler knowl-edge gained from decades in the industry is applied to a whole range of creative, customized solutions.

The best facilities need the best staff, and each year Bühler trains nearly 600 apprentices in Switzerland, Germany, China, India, and the US, while the ClassUnlimited teach-ing concept allows apprentices to spend months gaining valuable experience abroad while still taking classes via live

The CUBIC innovation campus will be a space for people to meet and create solutions for a better world.

camera links. Bühler’s African Milling School provides peer-less training for the continent’s next generation of millers, equipping them with the knowledge to process grain into high-value products.

Challenging timesThe world is facing unprecedented challenges. Bühler part-nered with UNITECH to invite young people to participate in the Carbon Footprint Challenge 2017, an ideas forum for creating a more sustainable future. This generated more than a hundred proposals, and the teams behind the best were invited to Uzwil to work on their ideas and pitch them to partner companies. The winners, Counting Carbon, from Trinity College Dublin, have their sights on changing consumer behavior with transparent labeling that features


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InnovationIn 2017, we achieved our 2020 sustain ability target of running 50% of R&D projects in collaboration with our business partners.

carbon footprint information. They are now working in the MassChallenge accelerator and already have a number of big-name companies behind them.

Bühler is center stage in the rapidly growing e-mobility marketplace and its drive to cut emissions and improve air quality. The sector is experiencing phenomenal growth, and Bühler’s unique mixing process for electrode slurries is dra-matically boosting the quality of lithium-ion batteries and al-lowing vehicles to travel up to a third farther than those with conventional batteries. In 2017 Bühler also commissioned a new plant with four industrial-scale production lines for battery slurry for Lishen, one of the largest battery manu-facturers in China.

Digital futures The key driver of innovation across all sectors, however, is digitalization. Bühler has been at the forefront, establishing the Urs Bühler Innovation Fund three years ago to support development in key areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT). The company sees digitalization as a key enabler and genuine driver of value. When harnessed properly, the potential of digital innovations is immense, not just in dramatically cutting waste, downtime, operating costs, and energy use, but also improving quality, safety, and productivity, and boosting the bottom line.

In just three years from now, it’s estimated that 28 billion “things” will be connected to the Internet, with sensors mon-itoring and tracking data sent to the cloud to be converted into “smart” information, then transferred back to become real-time action. It’s in this intelligent gathering and leverag-ing of data that the true value of IoT lies.

The easy availability of low-cost sensors, low-cost data transfer, and unlimited cloud storage are potential game changers for food industry efficiency, for example, with the ability to revolutionize monitoring and optimization processes, improve productivity and transparency, and create

a far more sustainable industry. Real-time monitoring and control mean that even the most modest benefits can ac-cumulate into substantial gains over the course of a year. In terms of reducing unplanned downtime, machine-learning algorithms can predict where and when failures will occur, allowing customers to schedule maintenance activities to avoid any interruption to production schedules.

Bühler never loses sight of the fact that technology is an enabler rather than a solution in itself, and will always work closely with customers to develop exactly the right solution.

Complete commitmentBoth Bühler’s management and board are fully committed to driving a digitalization strategy that utilizes the immense business value potential of IoT technology. The technology is developing at an exponential rate.

One of Bühler’s recent groundbreaking digital solutions that harnesses IoT technology to offer revolutionary user benefits is the TotalSense rice analyzer. This allows users to virtually send grains to the cloud for a full quality analysis in under two minutes, meaning producers can analyze their yield any-where and at any time. All users need to do is place samples in a special tool and upload a picture via smartphone to receive a detailed report. TotalSense came out of a Bühler Challenge organized in partnership with UNITECH.

Then there’s AnywarePro, a diagnostic tool that sorts com-plex production analysis data and again transmits it to the cloud for access by anyone with permission on their phone, tablet, or computer. Initially introduced for rice mills, it is now being rolled out to any food or non-food production lines using an optical sorter, taking all the complex analysis data and providing feedback to a customized dashboard.

Cloud-based data analytics solution, myAssist, helps to streamline milling production processes and maximize pro-ductivity, while integrated robotic technology plays a central

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role in ChocoBotic, which is reinventing traditional moulding methods with more hygienically designed lines that are free of chains and their lubricants, and have fewer stations and components. The increased flexibility offers customers ad-justable process times, makes cleaning simpler, and allows for easily extended modules.

There’s also Smart Chocolate Factory, a self-optimizing dig-ital service for dosing, mixing, refining, and conching lines. This “digital factory” is able to boost a line’s quality and performance, giving customers both a 10% reduction in operating costs and a 10% increase in performance. Bühler’s state-of-the art food safety alert system is able to apply data analytics to an immense amount of worldwide sources to provide the most accurate, up-to-date information available. Data searches are made through an intuitive and easily navigated dashboard, with analysis available by prod-uct, country, time period, data source, or risk type, reducing a complex process that may once have taken hours or even days to a matter of moments.

The power of networks Digitalization technology is developing at an extraordinary pace, and those organizations that fail to fully embrace the potential will inevitably be left behind. Digitalization is an on-going – and highly complex – journey, which is why a broad network of strong partnerships with other industries, aca-demia, and start-ups is vital to staying ahead of the game and maximizing the opportunities. Bühler thinks far beyond the realm of simple machine solutions to create genuine val-ue for its customers.

The digitalized world is very much the “new normal”, and Bühler has positioned itself centerstage. This, combined with its profound process expertise and knowledge gained from decades of experience, makes it uniquely placed to offer its customers a truly competitive advantage.

With 150 years of process technology behind it, an expert team of in-house data analysis scientists, and a truly global physical infrastructure, Bühler is able to offer unrivaled digi-talization possibilities. It’s time to explore the future together.

Digital solutions, implemented correctly, can reduce waste, energy, and downtime; improve quality; and boost the bottom line.


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OUR EMPLOYEESA key element of our sustainability approach is the promotion and training of our staff.

At Bühler, we recognize it is our employees that make us the success that we are. It is their innovation and creativity that give life to future products, and it is their entrepreneur-ship and corporate insight that bring those products to mar-ket. But no company can just hope these skills will emerge. We all need support to become the best we can be, and at Bühler, we believe it is our role to help our colleagues achieve just that with training and development.

The kind of training we provide depends on an indivi- dual’s ambition and career stage. Which is why Bühler en-sures it delivers tailored career development to the right people when they will benefit most. One such initiative, which we are proud to be running for the first time this year, is the Bühler Excelerator. One of Bühler’s great as-sets is the breadth of its global reach, with thousands of

employees spread across different continents. It gives us access to some of the best talents the world has to offer. Through Excelerator, Bühler is preparing for future challenges by nurturing these talents into our next generation of leaders. Each year, employees are nominated for a two-day assessment program from which 20 candidates are selected. Each successful candidate receives their own unique development plan to build on strengths and galva-nize leadership qualities.

Developing leadershipSuccessful companies need strength. The Master of Bühler Management (MBM) program ensures that it is not just our leaders, but also our future senior managers who are well equipped with the entrepreneurial agility, corporate under-standing, and creativity to ensure Bühler’s ongoing success.

The 2017 Bühler apprentices from Switzerland.

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First launched in 2012, the MBM involves the selection of around 30 candidates from a pool of nominees around the globe. Drawn from across Bühler’s regions and busi-ness portfolios, they will have demonstrated the drive to win and a curiosity to learn. The 12-month program in-volves both virtual learning and active classroom partici-pation. Candidates attend week-long themed training programs at different international locations, covering subjects such as innovation, leadership, and entrepreneurship. The participants are required to identify and develop potential business opportunities, with the course culminating in a proj-ect presentation to the Bühler Executive Board. The inter-national program helps candidates develop cross-boundary networks while appreciating the strength that comes with cultural diversity.

Helmut Heiken, Service Engineer.

Mike Muriithi, Service Automation Engineer. Bianca Sissing, Lead Project Engineer.

Alfred Zou, Team Leader Engineering.

Bühler has been a pioneer in vocational training for over 100 years. In 1915 Albert Bürkler began his training in me-chanics as the first apprentice. Since then, approximately 7,700 young men and women have completed an appren-ticeship at Bühler.

Today, about 1,000 former apprentices are still working with the company. Bühler has managed to keep the retention rate steady at around 73% over the years. For the past decade it has been applying the highly successful Swiss apprentice-ship model across the globe. About 600 apprentices enroll in 12 different vocational courses at Bühler around the world each year, 292 of them in Switzerland. Our sites in Germany, Austria, China, India, Brazil, the US, and South Africa like-wise provide vocational training.


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Bühler training is based on the Swiss system of dual ed-ucation, combining work in the classroom with hands-on practical experience in a Bühler plant. Apprentices receive a salary and social benefits, and their training needs covered. It means that graduates start their careers prepared and debt-free, while Bühler benefits from hiring an already highly skilled workforce.

The next generation of managersA fourth and equally important development pipeline is aimed at the smartest and brightest leaving business schools and universities. The Bühler Management Trainee Program takes seven trainees a year and fast-tracks them through the Bühler corporate experience on a path to senior management and even leadership. They work in different plants, are introduced to clients, and learn about all aspects of entrepreneurship. Over the three-year program they are provided with the broadest insight into the company from the shop floor to the highest decision-making arenas. For a year students will work as assistants to the Executive Board or to a regional head, gaining a unique insight into the highest level of corporate decision-making. This is no normal training program. This is the best a company can offer.

Bühler was voted Switzerland’s Most Attractive Employer 2017 in the products and services category. Each year, the international recruitment research company Universum surveys engineering and business students to see which companies are perceived as the most attractive potential employers. Bühler topped the field when it comes to what we produce. We also received Silver in a Best Machine Tool Employer recruitment survey across Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.

Equally important is how our own employees judge our per-formance, as it helps us attract and retain the best talent. When comparing what we do well to what our staff think is important that we do well, there is a pleasing fit. When surveyed, 67% said having exciting products and services was the most important corporate quality for a company

to have. When staff were asked to rate Bühler’s qualities, producing exciting products and services was rated our greatest strength.

These accolades show us that our efforts to maintain the values we have acquired as a Swiss family-run business are paying off. Once potential employees get to know about us, they understand the very special culture we try to gen-erate, where staff arrive for work each day enthused and empowered by the opportunities we offer across the globe to our more than 10,900 employees.

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Employees who supported the 2017 Networking Days @ Interpack in Düsseldorf.

An inclusive approachIt is because of that global reach that Bühler has made diver-sity and inclusion ever-increasing objectives. As a company with 140 locations around the world, we understand the strength, creativity, and imagination that a culturally diverse workforce brings to an international enterprise.

Our training and recruitment programs hire the best can-didates from around the world, and place importance on filling management positions with local candidates whenever possible. We want to further increase diversity across

the company in all aspects of what we do. Therefore, we brought together business groups in 2017 to create road maps on how we can improve gender balance and inclusion at all echelons of the company.

All employees have equal rights, and regardless of gender, origin, nationality, ethnicity, or age, we strive to collaborate with respect and candor. We want physical disability to be properly supported, with every new building being disability- friendly. At Bühler we believe in creating an inclusive culture so that all talents are allowed to flourish.


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