_____________________________ GEA United States
Cutting-edge capabilities
To accelerate product development in this field , GEA is building a new test center in Janesville , Wisconsin . “ The new site in Janesville will be a center of excellence , prioritizing new food ,” Timothy elaborates . “ With the overall technical responsibility for this project , I ’ m super excited about it and not a day goes by where I don ’ t think about the new facility . This site will differ from our others , as it is not only a dedicated test center for single unit operations but will be capable of end-to-end processing from raw material to a finished ingredient .
“ We ’ re installing mixing and blending capabilities , membrane filtration and centrifugation technologies , and thermal processing facilities , as well as bioreactors to enable bioprocessing . Our aim is to be able to take raw material from a customer and design an experiment that will go through each of these unit operations to deliver a quality final product that meets customers ’ requirements .”
“ We ’ re currently on target with the project ; the concrete is poured , the building is going up , and we ’ re in the final stages of equipment design , which will then be installed , commissioned , and tested . We ’ re aiming to be fully operational by mid-2025 , and we ’ re looking forward to showcasing our capabilities with new customer projects and collaborations .
“ The new site has also allowed us to work with our existing supply network , as we can showcase some of our strategic suppliers ’ products in our test center ,” he says . “ The site will act as a fully functioning showroom where customers can come and see the equipment , components , or technologies at work .”
GEA ’ s new US site also aligns with the company ’ s sustainability goals . “ With our purpose of ‘ engineering for a better world ,’ we take sustainability very seriously ,” Timothy states . “ Our new test center is located on a brand-new campus that is built to all current GEA environmental standards and policies . We ’ ve also installed an electric steam boiler to supply our in-process heat without the use of fossil fuels on site .”
As our conversation draws to a close , Timothy concludes : “ The Mission 26 strategy is well known across the company and is based on seven pillars . New Food is one of these seven pillars , which gave us the momentum to launch the test center in Wisconsin . The new site will be a platform for several innovations and collaborations , bringing us opportunities to create a solid pipeline of customer testing . As we gain trust and show off our new capabilities , we expect to enable our customers to execute projects that wouldn ’ t have been possible without the new facility .” ■
www . gea . com / en / unitedstates
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