Tradition meets innovation

BRAMBATI I PROFILE

Italian company Brambati, supplier of turnkey plants for the food industry, has further increased its focus on the innovations required by constantly evolving market environments. Company President Fabrizio Brambati spoke to Romana Moares about how the company has adapted during Covid, and why he is very optimistic for Brambati’s future.

Set up by Francesco Brambati in 1945, Brambati has evolved into an engineering master in its field. Today it boasts huge – and ever-growing – experience, knowledge and reliability in its sector. Now run by the third generation, the company designs, supplies and installs turnkey food processing plants and equipment, complete with control and automation systems, with most being designed for the coffee roasting sector.

We spoke to Fabrizio Brambati in 2020, in the first months of the global pandemic, and now we have come back to see how the company has adjusted its operations and its offering to new market conditions.

“We have continued on our journey of growing the customer base as well as further supporting our R&D to innovate our range in line with our customers’ requirements,” said Mr Brambati, adding that each of the company’s systems is a design that incorporates technology, engineering and computer science.

Close to the customer

One of Brambati’s most emotional moments of last year was the company’s participation in the HostMilano exhibition, a major show for the hospitality sector, which physically took place in October 2021. At the company’s stand, Brambati showcased its recent innovations and demonstrated a remotely controlled roaster in its Brambati Advanced Food Lab, which has obtained the SCA Premier Training Campus certification.

The Food Lab, opened in 2018, is a prime example of Brambati’s continuing innovation focus. It serves as a centre of research and development on technology for food product processing, and is also available for the company’s customers as required.

“After the lockdowns, periods of isolation and remote working, the Milan exhibition indeed was a major event, and a glimpse into what life may look like again once some kind of normality returns,” Mr Brambati remarked. “We were able to demonstrate how the business has been enhanced during the pandemic, with its increased focus on the technical aspects of the machines as well as on a higher degree of flexibility, as required by the current market.”

A deep customer focus has always been one of the company’s differentiators, and Brambati has managed to stay close to its customers over the last two years – despite the travel restrictions and other business limitations – as well as maintaining a high level of trust. The systems were duly supplied to customers as agreed, and the company held a number of webinars and sessions online so that customers felt Brambati was always at their side.

Technical excellence

Generally speaking, Brambati is a company that supplies coffee processing plants. The range of Brambati’s roasters includes machines capable of roasting 5kg of beans per batch for customers at the smaller end of the market, up to 600 kg per batch for the largest machine. They can supply state-of-the-art roasters that are equipped with extremely advanced managing software or a simplified version, both allowing a full control of the roasting process and great flexibility in setting parameters and recipes. Everything is done in accordance to the specific exigencies of the customer.

Brambati can deliver complete turnkey plants for the coffee industry from the reception of green coffee, through to the feeding of packaging machines, with management systems for the different stages of cleaning, storage, weighing, blending, roasting, conveying, grinding and degassing.

Coffee plants account for the largest proportion of revenues, but the company also produces plants for handling other

BRAMBATI I PROFILE

raw materials to be utilised in general food production, such as for pasta, biscuits, bread and other general foodstuffs. Brambati’s machines represent the peak of their class, and are present on all the continents of the world.

“Innovation was already a key theme during the time when the company was run by my father and uncle,” commented Mr Brambati. “Our machines are being improved all the time, with the current focus being on digitisation and remote control. Over the last two years, we have further improved this feature, specifically the remote control software, which is now more accurate. In addition, we have now completed the development of predictive maintenance software that will make a big difference to customers’ operating costs.”

Sustainability, confirmed Mr Brambati, is another company focus – but the Managing Director was keen to highlight that this has always been high on the agenda, long before the term became fashionable.

“Companies are now investing in sustainability and we are no different, being a holder of Ecovadis Gold. Internally, we have introduced a number of environmental measures such as the installation of photovoltaic cells and minimising material waste; we are pushing the concept of sustainability throughout the whole of our supply chain.”

He added: “Externally, our R&D team reflects customers’ requirements in innovated machines with reduced emissions and low energy consumption, while providing the same performance or even better.”

The right direction

Mr Brambati affirmed that despite continuing challenges arisen from the pandemic, such as increased raw material costs and a general shortage of materials, the company has won new customers in new markets. This is a business that is striving for constant growth.

“Our plants last a long time, so growth is secured by increasing the number of customers. Despite the pandemic, 2021 was a successful year for us – we delivered our first plant to Armenia, and confirmed our presence in the Far and Middle East, with also the first plant supplied to Kuwait, a new country for us. We also continue to be very strong in Europe.”

Innovation was already a key theme during the time when the company was run by my father and uncle “ “

He added: “Of course, Italy is our reference market, but for example France was a very active market last year. Overall, our machines have been installed in over 70 countries.”

Mr Brambati confirmed that coffee plants remained the strongest business line in 2021, but other segments generated positive results as well. Brambati supplied its first complete plant for soya processing, a new market for the company and equipment and machinery for raw material handling and dosing for the well-known general food processing sector.

He concluded: “We are confident that we are going in the right direction, as verified by the increasing number of new customers, as well as repeated purchases from existing customers. Strengthened by these two difficult years, we are set to grow the business in years to come.” n