In 2010 the Pavan Group acquired the acrivities of the GBS Group creating the company Golfetto Sangati as the result of a merger between the “Golfetto”, “Sangati” and “Berga” brands, leading Italian companies for the engineering and building of cereal, rice and animal feed milling plants, storage and grain handling terminals in harbors. With the experience of 80 years of these brands, today Golfetto Sangati has approximately 600 working mills all over the world.

 Claudio Zavatta, CEO of Golfetto Sangati said that Golfetto Sangati has realized 90% of the Italian installations and emphasized that globally speaking the market share is approximately around 10%. We talked to Claudio Zavatta who states that Golfetto Sangati provides assistance almost all over the world, particularly in Central and South America, Africa and Europe and also new cooperation have been started during the recent years also in Asia and Middle East, with the aim to be closer and closer to their customers about Golfetto Sangati’s establishment story, targets and machines that it will launch. We take the details from Zavatta…

 Pavan Group is a worldwide provider of process technology solutions to the ever changing demands that are challenging the food industry. Could you please tell us the history of Pavan Group and how it headed to its success? Pavan was founded in 1946 by the Pavan brothers, as small workshop manufacturing machinery for dry pasta. One year later they exhibited at Milan’s Trade Fair the first semi-automatic press. The company which grew during the decades built new manufacturing plants and became a worldwide leader in the 70’s. In 1987, with the arrival of new shareholders led by Prof. Ferro and Dr. Cavagnis, Pavan gave a further boost to its business, becoming a thoroughly international company with new branches in USA, Russia, Poland, Mexico, Argentina and Japan. But what distinguished this phase of the Pavan history happened during the 90’s with a strategy of external acquisitions that led the Group to strengthen its leadership position: Montoni Trafile (dies&cutting systems), Toresani (Fresh pasta machinery), Foodmac (ready meals) and Stiavelli (packaging systems) were acquired. Later, two more companies were acquired: Dizma (flow-pack packaging systems) and Golfetto Sangati (handling, storage and milling plants for cereals). Since 2010 Pavan Group is the only one offering the complete production chain, starting from cereal handling and milling, up to the finished and packed product.

 When and why Pavan Group decided to establish Golfetto Sangati which is one of the leading companies in milling engineering and grain handling industries worldwide? In February 2010 the Pavan Group acquired the acrivities of the GBS Group creating the company Golfetto Sangati as the result of a merger between the “Golfetto”, “Sangati” and “Berga” brands, leading Italian companies for the engineering and building of cereal, rice and animal feed milling plants, storage and grain handling terminals in harbors.

 These brands have more than 80 years of experience, building facilities across the world with a capacity from 30 to 1,500 tons per day. The company has technological know-how in the engineering of new and existing plants, in the design of automated systems from the storage of the raw materials, to the cleaning, milling and final packaging.

 The Golfetto Sangati brand is experienced in the design and engineering of single machines and complete milling plants, rice mills, animal feed mills, storage silos, and handling terminals for ship loading and unloading. This merger of these brands has integrated the technical, productive and sales structure to create the perfect blend between the know-how and the leadership.

 Could you talk about Golfetto Sangati’s technological solutions? What can you say about the innovations, different and innovative solutions that you have brought to the milling industry? Golfetto Sangati, as a pioneer of the milling industry, introduced several technical and technological cutting-edge innovations. I will give you three examples of this innovative approach. Golfetto Sangati launched the first 10-channel plansichter integrated into the same frame of the 8-channel. It has been the first to introduce the belts instead of the gears for the power transmission to the rolling mills. Then, it was the first to apply 300 mm milling rolls for soft wheat processing. These innovations were largely appreciated by the market and sometimes marked a new general tendency in mechanical design of milling machinery.

 Could you give us some information about your place both in Italy and world milling industry and your share in milling market? How many countries have you reached and how many turn-key plants have you installed? Today Golfetto Sangati has approximately 600 working mills all over the world. Concerning market share, if we consider the last 5 years we can affirm that GS has realized 90% of the Italian installations; globally speaking the market share is approximately around 10%.

 Could you inform us about your organization abroad? In which countries do you have agencies, partnerships or offices Thanks to a long term relationship with GS agents and to the capillary network developed by Pavan Group, GS can provide assistance almost all over the world, particularly in Central and South America, Africa and Europe. New cooperation has been started during the recent years also in Asia and Middle East, with the aim to be closer and closer to our customers.

 Do you provide training for the staff who will work in production after you complete the installation of a factory or machine? Could you give us some information about your works on this issue? The management of a milling plant is not an easy matter. That’s why during assembly and commissioning of the plant, Golfetto Sangati’s engineers work together with the customer’s technicians in order to provide knowledge and expertise to the people that will be in charge of running the plant. This is a very important phase as it allows the customer to be autonomous in utilizing Golfetto Sangati machinery at best. This is why the company invests in deeply training his own engineers that must acquire a total expertise on plants and a good capacity of problem solving.

 Also, Golfetto Sangati provides a wide range of handling and storage systems. What could you tell us about these systems? How many port installations do you have all around the world? Regarding the handling sector, Golfetto Sangati is a point of reference for the design and construction of complete ship loading and unloading systems for ports. The company designed and built more than 50 port installations all around the world (Italy, France, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Kenya, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Vietnam, Indonesia, China...) and has a leading role in the technological progress from the first pneumatic unloaders to the latest mechanical loaders/unloaders.

 The company provides a wide range of handling and storage systems, loading and unloading systems on wheels or tracks relying on the best technical concepts, with handling capacity ranging from 50 to 2000 t/h.

 Could you tell us about the innovations that you have developed recently and the advantages & gains that these innovations provided to the industry? Innovative technologies must be need serious R&D studies. Could you tell us about Golfetto Sangati’s works on this issue? A recent innovation we could talk about is the new Semolina HP55. Evolved from the proven Semolina HP50, the HP55 has innovative features that place it at the top of its category for the accuracy in the classification of semolina, extraction efficiency, productive capacity and functional efficiency.

 Considering that the classification process of semolina flour occurs primarily vertically by passing quickly through the sieves, our design team modified the positioning of the sieve frames normally used in traditional purifiers to take advantage of this concept. By configuring the purifier to have four rows of superimposed sieves, each composed of three sieves, the separation efficiency of the semolina flour is considerably more precise. Furthermore, the purification surface of the HP55 has been increased by 20% due to utilizing 550mm square sieves.

 Despite the increase of the sifting surface, the newly designed configuration of the sieves allowed the overall footprint of the machine to be reduced by 12%. In addition to saving floor space within the mill, the reduction in size contributes to reducing the energy requirement for the eccentric movement of the machine.

 Given the different internal distribution of the sieves and the reduction in machine length, the air flow distribution is much more uniform and more easily controlled across the length of the machine.

 To maximize the purification efficiency of the Semolina, there are four air-flow adjustment points per sieve length on the Semolina HP55 which enables the miller to precisely control the air flow and maximize the performance based on the current mill operating conditions.

 Apart from this example, the aim of Golfetto Sangati’s R&D is to design machinery with lower and lower energy utilization, long-term reliability, more efficiency and able to assure higher quality to the finished product. This is what the market appreciates and what we’re aiming to reach every day.

 What do you think about the reasons why millers choose the technologies of Golfetto Sangati? What kind of advantages and gains does a miller have when he/she prefers Golfetto Sangati in order to renovate its technology or establish a new plant? In short, what do you promise to the millers? Golfetto Sangati’s promise is simple but substantial: to be project partner and assist the customer during the entire process. From the first design draft up to the commissioning and even after for the entire life of the line, Golfetto Sangati works in order to assure to reach the most important targets for the miller: quality, hygiene, efficiency and of course the good return on the investment done.

 So, the customer can have one unique referent that knows the complete project and can find out the most effective solution, both in terms of quality of the finished product, and for what concerns the rational development of the project.

 Millers know that Golfetto Sangati can count on a long-term expertise and that the installations running all over the world represent a guarantee of the reliability of this partner/supplier. Furthermore, being part of the Pavan Group is a strong guarantee in terms of financial stability and strength.

 What would you like to add about your future plans? Future plans are basically oriented to develop a couple of innovative machines that will be launched in the first half of 2018 and to dedicate more resources to the business area of ship loading and unloading systems for ports. The turnover had a double-digit growth during the last 5 years: this means more potential to further grow and invest with the aim to provide more efficient and innovative solutions to our customers.