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SILOS & DOSING
The solution is time KAAK has recently added the expertise of Silowacht to its ‘silo to truck’ solution portfolio, expanding its product range with silo construction and ingredient dosing. These processes add to the existing expertise of the Dutch group and complete its range in the
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essential processes leading up to mixing.
KAAK’s recent acquisition of Silowacht, a specialist with more than 30 years of experience and an annual turnover in excess of EUR7m, falls in line with the company’s vertical integration strategy, with the motto ‘from silo to truck’. Silowacht, with its production facility located in Zwolle, the Netherlands, specializes in processes complementary to those covered in KAAK’s Terborg headquarters. The companies can now respond to the current trend towards longer bowl rest, with solutions for proofing and accurate dosing. 35 staff are employed at Silowacht and the day-to-day operations remain under the management of Jules Plevier. As KAAK was welcoming their new colleagues to the Group in March, Aart-Jan Hartman, chief commercial officer, KAAK, and Jules Plevier, the managing director of Silowacht, granted us an interview to share the details about their combined expertise and how they are planning to work together going forward. KAAK’s ‘silo to truck’ promise, simple as it may sound, implies many aspects in which the company can be of service throughout the processing chain. This is why the companies that have joined the group specialize in various segments of bakery manufacturing, from the start, with silo construction, through distribution to mixers, proofing, baking, cooling/ freezing, and even packaging and crate handling – to the truck. “KAAK is aiming to provide solutions ranging from full lines and even the architecture of the entire bakery, complete solutions. This is how the KAAK Group has been developing for the past 20-30 years with automation,
www.bakingbiscuit.com 02/2021
Silowacht
+ Founded 32 years ago + 35 employees + Located in Zwolle, the Netherlands + Provides silo service and maintenance, solutions for dosing solids, liquids and micro-ingredients
+ As a part of the KAAK Group, with all disciplines in-house, from engineering to turnkey delivery
including automation, the focus for the coming years will be on the complete process, from ‘silo to truck’.
following the directions set since our launch, 175 years ago,” KAAK’s CCO shared. ‘From silo to mixer’ Silowacht company expands KAAK’s expertise in the silo-tomixer segment; a big shift over the past few years in the growing importance of the technology before the proofer meant the timing for the new addition was just right, we learn. There are many drivers of this trend, including eco-concerns, traceability, and product reformulations to remove artificial ingredients, Hartman underlines. “The result of all these dynamics is that we need more time; it is nature’s best ally and always the best solution to everything, bread-making included,” he explains what he sees as a key ingredient in baking that indicates a natural process. The
