FRITSCH was acquired by the MULTIVAC group and with that it joined a network of resources helping it thrive. These include everything from R&D to day-to-day operations, with the information exchange going both ways. Guido Spix, Group President, MULTIVAC and Frank Gabriel, Managing Director, FRITSCH explain how the companies help each other to grow together.
Mihu: To show how the two companies are growing together, it would be interesting to learn how they came together in the first place. Why did MULTIVAC acquire FRITSCH, considering the types of technology each specializes in developing?
Guido Spix: FRITSCH was well known at MULTIVAC, from a large number of projects involving both companies in the past. A good example is the packaging of pretzels for baking stations. MULTIVAC’S strategy to grow as a solution provider in processing has been complimented in an excellent way with the acquisition of FRITSCH. The information that FRITSCH was available for acquisition came to us by chance. However, we immediately saw the opportunities in the acquisition, starting with the similarities in engineering between the two companies. While the industries we serve are different, from an engineering standpoint the companies are closely related. We realized from the beginning that the idea of having both companies under one roof was going to work out perfectly.
And last but not least, I am proud to say that MULTIVAC is an outstanding mechanical engineering company. We very quickly recognized that FRITSCH, an extremely innovative company, could benefit from our ‘operational excellence’. Innovation is a very important part of our overall strategy. Both companies are leaders in their fields with innovative products. We work systematically on joint solutions, both in automation and technology.
Frank Gabriel: During MULTIVAC’s due diligence process, it became apparent that FRITSCH had wonderful expertise in innovative solutions, in bakery products, and the high-quality of the end products – for which they had earned respect in the market.
There was also potential for further improvement, areas where MULTIVAC could provide feasible solutions with an immediate positive impact on FRITSCH’s business, such as access to a global production network, co-developments, or international sales and service, just to name a few. We were able to directly integrate these benefits into our daily work, especially in what Mr. Spix referred to as ‘operational excellence’ and in mechanical engineering. FRITSCH enjoyed some benefits right after the acquisition, such as access to wet-cleaning, wash-down design, which is very well-known in the meat and packaging industries and is seeing a rise in demand in bakery. We could immediately adapt this knowledge from the MULTIVAC Group. Weighing technologies are another similar example. Now we can invest the time saved in further high-end products and customer-specific innovations. Conversely, MULTIVAC were able to gain further insights into the design of complete lines, as customers in the food industry prefer more and more complete lines, to reduce complexity and focus on their core business. We could see from the beginning that this is a good fit.
Mihu: FRITSCH has already introduced new technology developments to the market since its acquisition by MULTIVAC. How do the R&D teams at the two companies collaborate?
Guido Spix: We have an innovation strategy for our company. MULTIVAC has been a known solution provider for many years, and so has FRITSCH. MULTIVAC implemented an agile development process very successfully many years ago and has repeatedly adapted and improved it to new boundary conditions. We also introduced this innovation strategy at FRITSCH immediately after the takeover. We have a combination of engineering and digitalization that also works perfectly for FRITSCH. Moreover, we focus on sustainability in packaging, which is something that FRITSCH customers are now increasingly looking for as well. The first resulting products have already been successfully delivered to customers. There is a lively exchange and good cooperation in all technical areas. For me, this must by no means be a one-way street. The parent company has learned a few things from FRITSCH. Both companies are really growing together.
Regarding ‘operational excellence’, I can proudly say that MULTIVAC ranks high. We work extensively on having very well-designed processes for operations, starting with the R&D process, right up to customer delivery. In this regard, FRITSCH was not process-oriented as much in their business and they could learn easily from and adopt the ideas we had at MULTIVAC. We found a group of people at FRITSCH who are open to this support, to clearly define the processes. This is working out very, very well.
“Looking at the growth potential of FRITSCH, it is going to be one of the big ships of the Group very soon.”
Guido Spix, Group President, MULTIVAC
A well-coordinated fleet
Mihu: And how did R&D adjust from FRITSCH’s perspective?
Frank Gabriel: The adaption of the new R&D process offered us a full view of the complete product life cycle and expanded our focus beyond launching products to the market. The next steps were to have them available worldwide and to provide service. It helps us to collaborate and synchronize information with the teams from MULTIVAC worldwide. In this way, we could significantly improve our time-to-market.
We also gained access to established MULTIVAC technologies, such as weighing solutions, which were quickly adapted to the special needs of the bakery environment. It’s easy, simple and without boundaries to collaborate and adapt existing solutions within the same family.
Guido Spix: MULTIVAC is a huge company, with Eur 1.5 bn turnover, which is why it may be seen as one huge ship navigating a world of markets in a straight line. That is not correct. We are a group of small companies, ‘speedboats’, as we call them; we have a ‘speedboat’ for TVI meat portioning and a ‘speedboat’ for tray sealing technology, for example; and, among them, a ‘speedboat’ called FRITSCH. These are all smaller companies, which are used to handling smaller businesses. FRITSCH fit right into this ‘fleet’ of smaller, ‘speedboat’ businesses, and we were prepared to handle it as such. It was not something new to MULTIVAC; it wasn’t a ‘big ship’ taking over a smaller company, but rather FRITSCH joined an agile fleet of several other smaller businesses. Quite the opposite: looking at the growth potential of FRITSCH, it is going to be one of the big ships of the Group very soon. We are very delighted about the journey.
Mihu: That is a great analogy! In line with this idea, it appears the benefit for each company is in the network of small ‘speedboats’. What does each stand to learn from the others?
Frank Gabriel: In this analogy, we are, indeed, a ‘speedboat’ connecting to a network of ships. MULTIVAC is providing the communication system and the radar and the process optimization. When you spread a network, you gain more eyes throughout the ocean. One key success factor for the takeover was that both companies shared similar values and culture, with a focus on learning, expertise, and innovation. From the beginning, all discussions and collaborations were at eye level, still acknowledging the differences in the different market segments. Our teams quickly identified the strengths of each party and the potential of generating further product and process innovation. This paid off immediately, as our newly co-developed PROGRESSA bread stands to show. Our MULTIVAC colleagues are also learning from our expertise in creating big lines.
“It’s easy, simple and without boundaries to collaborate and adapt existing solutions within the same family.”
Frank Gabriel, Managing Director, FRITSCH
The work behind innovations
Mihu: The common drive for all of the Group’s ‘speedboats’ is in their views on innovation. What are the priorities for innovation at FRITSCH and MULTIVAC, respectively?
Guido Spix: The biggest strength of the MULTIVAC Group is its worldwide sales network. We are working globally with our own people. With FRITSCH, we just add to the technologies and product portfolios that we offer through this network. In addition, we now have a common R&D process with the same criteria on how to find the right products for our portfolio development and innovative ideas. We also have a significant amount of standardized methods (e.g., for purchasing components), a common framework for our software and our digitalization, and we use the same tools. We do not need to invent anything from scratch and can instead focus on having the right technology and innovating for each specific market.
Frank Gabriel: It is also important to mention our view on innovation and what we gain from collaborating with MULTIVAC. Aside from the benefits related to technical features, we were also able to get closer to our customers. We already had the dough handling expertise, but now we can listen to more customers in more parts of the world, for information about real production needs. This in itself helps us to further our innovations and to assess the needs of multiple customers, compare similarities in demands and support with special requests in different parts of the world. Having this comprehensive view of our customers helps us tailor new innovations according to aspects we learn.
PROGRESSA by FRITSCH, a MULTIVAC company
Mihu: One of the solutions FRITSCH recently launched is the PROGRESSA bread, the first release of the two teams working together. What were the steps in developing and perfecting it? Please share a timeline and the project stages, starting with the contouring of the concept and the work of the teams involved.
Frank Gabriel: FRITSCH had the idea for the PROGRESSA bread. The cornerstone for this project was laid in 2020, when we saw the chance to enter a new market of high demand for end-product quality, soft-dough products, and the highest flexibility in equipment for mid-size production volumes. This was during the pandemic, with the target of developing it in less than two years. Based on our established technologies from the IMPRESSA lines, our FRITSCH experts had great ideas on how to adapt those for mid-size production requirements. We also wanted to integrate newly-acquired expertise from the MULTIVAC family, such as wash-down design for fast cleaning, common line control and the high-accuracy weighing technology. Every department, from customer experience to final assembly, was highly motivated to get involved and to prove that a machine like this can be developed within the set timeframe; I am proud of this achievement. We were even ready to show it to the market in autumn 2021, and we released it for sale in March 2022. This is how the PROGRESSA bread was created, as a result of great teamwork and a very successful collaboration with our MULTIVAC colleagues.
Guido Spix: We worked together on the development of the PROGRESSA bread. The idea, the concept, and the market analysis to assess the need for this type of equipment – all came from FRITSCH. Then, they were able to choose from all the resources available at MULTIVAC. This is how the weighing technology was incorporated. The development team also asked for support in the wash-down capabilities of the machine and in hygienic design. They also received support in manufacturing certain components. This is how the network of all the companies within the MULTIVAC group works. FRITSCH was able to benefit from being a part of this network and its resources. The weighing technology, for example, involved a bit more than a simple adaptation of existing technology. Our company MULTIVAC Marking and Inspection developed a special solution according to the requirements coming from the FRITSCH development department. This is the workflow between all our companies and business units. FRITSCH was particularly receptive to taking over and implementing available technologies, compared to the older Group members.
EUR 35 m – the value of the orders FRITSCH received in Q1, 2022
Mihu: How did the two teams cooperate on this project? What priorities were brought to the drawing board and what challenges need dedicated solutions?
Guido Spix: MULTIVAC is a group of companies working very closely together. Taking advantage of synergies is part of our DNA. There are barely any days where there are no visitors from FRITSCH in Wolfertschwenden and vice versa, now that the restrictions have been lifted. We have working groups in many fields: digitalization, software framework, hygienic design, strategic procurement, CAD, and PDM, to name some of them. In Sofia, we have a group of engineers working for FRITSCH and for other MULTIVAC companies.
Besides that, FRITSCH becomes part of the MULTIVAC Production Network. MULTIVAC has always had a high percentage of in-house manufacturing. Today, we have 13 production sites, and one additional site is under construction in India.
The R&D management of the whole group meets every three months. In these meetings, we share best practices and future projects. We have a group-wide developing process, the same innovation strategy, no overlapping portfolios, the same tools, a high percentage of the same components and suppliers, etc.
So, collaboration is not something that is focused on a single project; it is part of our daily work.
Mihu: You mentioned several working groups, by specialization. What does FRITSCH bring on board for them, and what type of information does it receive, in turn?
Frank Gabriel: Looking at digitalization, for example, FRITSCH, in 2018 had already showcased some solutions at the last trade shows before the pandemic, which were rewarded for their merits. We were not beginners in this area. After joining MULTIVAC, we learned we could adapt solutions from their corresponding team, including hardware, architecture and frameworks. We benefitted from some tailwind in our sailboat from them, which we had not experienced before as a standalone company.
Guido Spix: During the acquisition phase, there was a very important rule: when FRITSCH is asking for support, they are free to choose from the solutions, ideas, and processes, which are offered and not imposed on them. This culture of supporting the other members is shared in the entire network. Each working group collaborates within the Group, and, more often than not, each has solutions they can easily offer to the others, so they do not need to recreate them. This is not to say that all companies must be the same; on the contrary, each solution must fit the specific business. We need to make sure that, when things are the same, they are this way because it makes us stronger.
Mihu: How did FRITSCH join MULTIVAC’s global production network?
Guido Spix: Sheet metal production and pre-assembly will come closer together in this network. MULTIVAC has always had a high level of in-house production, in packaging in particular. We have three dedicated factories, in Germany, Austria and Bulgaria. We always supported the other Group members with manufacturing capacities, and the same now applies to FRITSCH. As we develop new factories, such as the one currently being built in India, it is also part of the plan that FRITSCH produces certain products. We are using this network for all our business units.
Mihu: What are the topics of the R&D management group meetings, and how are strategies approached?
Guido Spix: We recently held our R&D management meeting, in person. 50 members of the Group met over two days. We had in-depth conversations about our development process, and shared best practices. The newest innovations were presented and showcased in a small exhibition. We ensured there are no double developments among the different groups, which is the most important aspect, in my view. It was also a networking occasion for our engineers.
Frank Gabriel: It was the first time we had been able to meet everyone in person since we joined. It was great to also see and get to know each other. It will help with day-to-day work to know who our colleagues are and what they are working on, for personal contacts. I was there, and I was proud to see the good collaboration with FRITSCH was among the best practices presented.
40% – the sales growth FRITSCH recorded in 2021
Mihu: What did everyone most want to learn about FRITSCH?
Frank Gabriel: Everyone was very interested in how the bakery industry works, what are its defining characteristics and its special challenges. The first consideration we had to explain regarding dough handling is that we deal with a living product, which changes over time. In this respect, digitalization is an important aspect, to prevent inadvertent line stops that could result in tons of dough being removed from the line and scrapped.
Guido Spix: While delivering packaging equipment to bakeries, we learned that the baking process must not be stopped, unlike the meat industry, where there is no problem doing so. Finding ways to deal with this aspect has been an ongoing topic of conversation at MULTIVAC. It is critically important not to stop the process. We now have a better understanding of this requirement.
Working together, every day
Mihu: How are specialists at FRITSCH and MULTIVAC working together to develop new projects? How was this workflow set in place?
Guido Spix: The people know each other now, and the working groups are settled, between the headquarters and FRITSCH and within the whole network. For example, a new type of HMI is needed in all our technologies, so everybody needs to work together on such a project to ensure it will fit all the demands. And it works very well.
Frank Gabriel: The specialists developing the weighting technology, for example, are now operating in the bakery industry and keep its requirements in mind when they design new products. In the future, the technology will simply be adapted to our needs and not be built from the ground up.
The basis for all current and future developments at FRITSCH is our overarching innovation strategy. It is closely interlinked with the other companies in the MULTIVAC Group. Nevertheless, it offers sufficient flexibility to respond to customer requirements and market changes. Agile development methods and the introduction of MULTIVAC‘s new development process have enabled us to significantly reduce development times and thus time-to-market.
Mihu: How will a bakery benefit from the resources of a multinational group such as MULTIVAC when beginning collaboration with FRITSCH (ordering and installing, then servicing)?
Guido Spix: The developing process always starts with close communication with our customers and our sales and service organization. MULTIVAC has more than 2,500 sales and service people worldwide in 83 own daughter companies. We are globally present in more than 160 countries.
When it comes to commissioning and after-sales service, we are always close to the customer with local people, decentralized spare part stock and regional experts for all our technologies. They are closely connected with all types of digital tools and equipment with the experts at the production sites.
Frank Gabriel: Having access to MULTIVAC’s global network means, first of all, that the sales and service teams will speak the same language and are in the same time zone as our customers, bringing us closer to them. In addition, the solutions we can offer are now more customer-oriented, because we can find custom technologies for our needs in the network. During the pandemic especially, it was a huge advantage to have teams already in the countries where we needed to be, as we could not travel.
1.5 bn EUR – MULTIVAC’s annual turnover
Co-developing new solutions
Mihu: What is the strategy for developing a custom solution together?
Frank Gabriel: The customer need stems from the end product. The specific needs are defined in our World of Bakery, according to the expectations from the product. Other requirements are factored in, related to aspects such as the output, the product’s shape, or taste. Then, we determine the technical solution needed for the customer. We now have a broader set of technologies and resources to apply to our lines.
In parallel to additional customer requirements, FRITSCH continues to launch new developments in a targeted manner to serve new market segments and to close existing gaps in our product portfolio. However, an essential criterion for all new developments always remains the connection to our digital solutions as well as offering significant added value in terms of sustainability and resource-saving. Our PROGRESSA bread is a good demonstration of this approach.
Guido Spix: There is also a very important rule coming from MULTIVAC: reliability is a priority. We never leave a customer’s side before all issues are settled. Customers now recognize that this comes from FRITSCH as well, in addition to its innovations.
Mihu: Automation is one of the underlying innovation drivers in all areas of production. What are the latest advances in this regard, at FRITSCH and MULTIVAC?
Guido Spix: Back in 2007, we decided to open our new systems business, to develop ourselves solutions that were missing on the market for operations such as wash-down and improved hygiene, both core requirements in the meat/fresh food industry. MULTIVAC has been developing its own robotics solutions ever since, and is now a global leader in the field of hygiene and the wash-down capability of robots. This is valuable know-how that is also sought after in the bakery industry. We now have a wide variety of hygienic robots and the capabilities to build production lines with a high level of automation, whereas FRITSCH can build large, complex production lines that can incorporate a high percentage of third-party products.
Frank Gabriel: At FRITSCH, we already had several automation and robotic solutions in our portfolio, to cater to rising demands. Bread is a unique product in this regard: it should look hand-made; but, there are no hands to make it. As a result, you have to be very creative in the automation process so that the end product still looks hand-made.
Our automatic pretzel twister has been on the market for more than two decades, and with our robots for croissant bending or product decoration, we offer further robotics for process automation. And there is more to come. With MULTIVAC, we do have the chance now to combine our expertise and further expand our field of operations. Additionally, we see high demand in the implementation of the SMART Services, including predictive maintenance functionalities. This will be one of our next steps for further collaboration in respect of line automation.
Mihu: The next step in automation leads to building smart factories. How can FRITSCH and MULTIVAC contribute to smart production factories together?
Guido Spix: In the age of Industry 4.0, machines and lines are becoming increasingly complex, also in food production. This fuels the request for further smart factory solutions. With our digital solutions across the entire product portfolio, we are supporting our customers in further improving their productivity by keeping production processes optimized and running as smoothly as possible.
In a time where production processes become even more complex and complicated, our SMART Services are designed to simplify the operation of our machines and lines. We offer, for example, a MULITVAC Pack Pilot that automatically adjusts the machine for different film types via a cloud service.
We are part of the Industry 4.0 Alliance and other groups, to ensure that third-party components can be integrated into our lines. We have developed MULTIVAC Line Control, where third parties can also connect, even our competitors.
A vast number of services are available on the ‘My MULTIVAC’ platform. Hundreds of customers are already connected; the connectivity we offer to our customers is also available – within limitations – for retrofits.
Frank Gabriel: FRITSCH presented its prototype for SMART Services at iba, in 2018. Together with our colleagues from MULTIVAC, we further developed our former dashboard into a full set of digital solutions, which we now call SMART Production Insights. This solution is already in place for several customers with immense success. Many hours of unplanned downtimes can be avoided, and hidden unproductivity can be detected. We further co-developed predictive maintenance solutions, which are already being tested with some customers, from which we are receiving incredibly positive feedback. The factory becomes smarter with these tools, and can ‘tell’ our customers what is happening and what is likely to happen in production, to avoid downtimes.
Mihu: What innovations (features, equipment, process-
related) can we expect in the near future?
Guido Spix: MULTIVAC’s Group innovation strategy comprises four essential aspects: merging digitalization and engineering, sustainability, and the solution-providing business. We want to be recognized as a solution provider and not just as a machine builder. We have the capabilities and we can be a solution provider for our customers.
Frank Gabriel: In general, we see increasing demand for the possibility of faster (wet) cleaning, also with high pressure, and further development of our functionalities in terms of flexibility and adaptability, as well as an expansion of our product portfolio across all market segments. In addition, we will place great emphasis on internationalization, digitalization, and sustainability in all new developments in the future. We are already working on great solutions today and our reservoir of further ideas and projects is well filled. I can promise you: you will be surprised. You can look forward to it!
Smart Production Insights for INTER EUROPOL
In Marki, a small town on the outskirts of Poland’s capital Warsaw, the bakery company INTER EUROPOL is writing its own success story, to which production systems from FRITSCH have contributed. Project manager Rüdiger Stollmeier has played a significant role in this. He has increased the equipment’s efficiency with FRITSCH’s Smart Production Insights (SPI), which were installed on the company’s two IMPRESSA bread lines at the second company location in Malopole.
FRITSCH has been offering this digital solution for selected lines since last fall. Smart Production Insights allow – via Internet connection and cloud – a real-time and very
detailed overview of the most important performance data of plants such as the IMPRESSA bread.
All important KPIs at a glance
Stollmeier is primarily interested in the view of the dashboard, with all the information available. On a graph, for example, he can read the overall plant effectiveness in the form of a bar chart, by shift. This ultimately shows where improvements can be made. Another SPI overview shows how the plant has performed over the past 24 hours in a simple tabular display with a traffic light system. And it does so in five-minute increments: a green field indicates smooth production, a yellow field signals minor malfunctions, and a red field indicates the plant has come to a standstill in the five-minute interval. For cleaning and maintenance work, there is blue as an additional color.
SPI not only displays errors but also generates warnings if individual components are running hot or threatening to fail. This allows shift managers and technicians to react in time and avoid potential downtime.
SPI also provides a precise overview of when, where and which of the regularly scheduled tasks are due. FRITSCH has precisely defined the maintenance tasks and intervals, which mostly depend on the runtime of the plant, in a user manual. In this way, maintenance is carried out faster, downtimes are reduced and efficiency is increased.
After running the SPI tool on two lines, INTER EUROPOL is planning to retrofit its other plants soon.
