Italy’s most international Food & Beverage exhibition

More than 2,500 exhibitors from some 40 countries and over 80,000 professional visitors from more than 140 nations are expected: TUTTOFOOD is the no-miss event in Milan, the capital of Italian lifestyle and one of the world’s gourmet capitals.

TUTTOFOOD is the international B2B show dedicated to food & beverage and organised by Fiera Milano from 6th to 9th may 2019. More than 2,500 exhibitors from some 40 countries and over 80,000 professional visitors from more than 140 nations are expected. 32 countries have already confirmed their presence at the next edition, with important and numerous groups from Spain, Greece, Portugal, the United Kingdom, China and the USA.

Confirming the international character of the event, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently issued an important acknowledgement that certifies TUTTOFOOD as the only Italian event in the agri-food sector capable of guaranteeing an effective contribution to U.S. exports, the organizer informed.

The ability to evolve, innovate and naturally expand product offerings is the focus of the 2019 edition. New areas are also dedicated to nutritional traditions, TUTTOKOSHER and TUTTOHALAL, consolidating the event’s international character.

The new product categories will be included in the sectors of the most consolidated areas of the event. Focus on the delicatessen and gastronomy world at TUTTODELI, the world of preserves with TUTTOBAKERY, TUTTOGROCERY; TUTTOSWEET, offering confirmation for the world of sweets and oven-baked products, while TUTTOPASTA consolidates the dry pasta segment with the expansion of historical producers and a focus on fresh pasta. This edition has two new entries TUTTOFROZEN and TUTTOSEAFOOD, sections dedicated to frozen food and fish products, and the two historic pavilions dedicated to dairy products and fresh and cured meats, TUTTODAIRY and TUTTOMEAT, are characterised by increasing product innovation.

Evolution Plaza

It is this year’s biggest innovation, incorporated into a single authentic “digital village” with the TUTTODIGITAL part of the exhibition. This is the place where the latest digital trends are studied in depth, with technologies that look to the future 4.0: from product traceability to the use of "bolder" technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and solutions that are attentive to services such as accounting –on the fundamental theme of payments – or delivery, which is destined to grow even more. Evolution Plaza is also the space where companies and research centres can experiment and dialogue with each other.

Milano Food City

The appointment with the fuorisalone and the Milanese week dedicated to food is back too: this year, Milan Food City, from 3 to 9 May, focuses on solidarity, involving the whole city in a collective commitment. Gathered around the same vision, Comune di Milano, Camera di Commercio di Milano Monza Brianza Lodi, Coldiretti Lombardia, Confcommercio Milano Lodi Monza e Brianza, Fiera Milano, Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli and Fondazione Umberto Veronesi: a week of meetings, debates, talks, shows, live performances, cultural-gastronomic experiences and visits to key places in and around Milan, with hundreds of meetings open to everyone.

For more information visit: www.tuttofood.it/en +++

Optimized process step

Hard to clean, inaccurate and sensors that constantly failed to operate – a major bakery in the Netherlands struggled with these problems when transporting a dough bowl. The solution was to install a new bowl transport system.

+ Occasionally, the small things are what ensure big changes, or even just optimize the production operation. The production manager of a large bakery in the Netherlands complained to Ton Hoogendam, Managing Director of H2 automatisering b.v. in ’s Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, about constant production interruptions on the bread roll line. The breakdowns were caused by the mixing plant’s bowl transport system. A mixing system consisting of two bottomoutlet mixers provides a continuous supply of dough to the bread roll line. This involves fully automatic metering of the main raw materials directly into the bowl. For a few recipes, further raw materials and/or baking agents are weighed in by hand. Mixing and outgoing transport of the finished dough also takes place fully automatically. However, there were recurring problems caused by flour dust and dough residues. The sensors broke down, and the bowl transport system was also very hard to clean, as the production manager, whose business we are not allowed to name for competition reasons, confirmed to our editorial staff when they visited the site.

High cleaning costs

The position of the compressed air cylinder, which was responsible for transporting and positioning the bowl, caused increased cleaning costs. The cylinder was installed such a short distance (approx. 1 cm) above the floor that the staff were scarcely able to clean the narrow gap between the floor and the compressed air cylinder. They also had to clean the compressed air connections and a rail system, which also increased the cleaning costs.

The transport system’s reliability was also unsatisfactory, because the position of the transport bowl that holds the dough after mixing and carries it to the bowl tipper was often very inaccurate. The plant then reported a malfunction, and the staff had to adjust the bowl. According to information from the bakery, this was also due to the use of compressed air, which interfered with the precise working of the bowl transport system and simply did not operate accurately enough. All of these problems were handed over to Ton Hoogendam. The Dutchman accepted the challenge, and a new system was developed and installed within a short time.

transport bowl is filled with fully-kneaded dough through the bottom outlet. The bowl is then transported to the bowl tipper and emptied. Afterwards the system picks up the transport bowl and moves it back again. The bowl is positioned, refilled with dough, then transported to the bowl tipper. This is how a continuous supply of dough to the bread roll plant is ensured.

Ton Hoogendam explains: “The advantage is that a closed design is now involved. There is no longer any compressed air cylinder, and the rail system has also become superfluous.” This has considerably reduced the cleaning effort for the bakery’s staff.

Easy integration

Integrating the new plant into the bakery’s existing controller caused no problems, because H2 had already implemented the production operation’s controller from the flour silos to the dough make-up and dough division. There was also no need to buy a new transport bowl, since H2 made use of the existing fixing system using two steel pins, which also made modifications to the transport bowl unnecessary. There were no limitations on the transport system’s speed either. According to Ton Hoogendam: “The new bowl transport system was even able to work must faster compared to the compressed air system, and enabled more bowls to be included.”

The new system has been in use since mid-2018, and according to the bakery there has been no malfunction yet, with the bakery working two shifts on five days per week. Ton Hoogendam is convinced that the plant is so robust that it is even possible to operate 24/7 without any problems.

Bowl Transport H2.0

The new bowl transport system is made almost entirely of stainless steel. The compressed air drive system was also replaced by an electric drive with a maintenance-free sterile frequency-controlled electric motor. The motor, which has no fan or cooling slots, now drives a toothed belt reinforced with steel wires. The toothed belt in turn moves a stainless steel triangle that projects from under the coated cover and fixes and moves the transport bowl. This allows the transport bowl to be positioned under the respective mixing bowl. The

The bakery’s operators are also pleased because the new bowl transport system has ensured that there are significantly fewer production breakdowns. The plant is also much quieter than the compressed air system, and also uses less energy, which has allowed this process step to be optimized further in the production procedure.

Videos of the new installation can be seen on the H2 automatisering b.v. web site: www.h2auto.nl. +++