“Golfetto Sangati is now part of GEA, a market and technology leader in food processing equipment with a global network. Thanks to a strong local presence of GEA in markets like Africa, Philippines and Vietnam, and to a specific project of commercial synergy, Golfetto Sangati will be closer to the millers of these markets, bringing its technology to more people.”

Sergio PASSARO

Golfetto Sangati - Area Manager for Italy, Russia and Balkan Area

Golfetto Sangati exports its products all over the world, having built 5.000 plants in 130 countries. It is a member of GEA, one of the largest suppliers for the food processing industry in the world. In this issue, our guest for Technology Platform is Mr. Sergio Passaro, Golfetto Sangati’s Area Manager for Italy, Russia and Balkan area. Mr. Passaro talked about the company, their vision and future plans to Miller Magazine. “We are very strong in Italy, Latin America and North Africa, especially Algeria and Morocco. In the last five years, Golfetto Sangati provided approximately 60 percent of Plants, Machinery and Equipment for flour milling sold in the Italian market. Strengthened by our membership of the GEA group, we can now count on a technical, commercial and financial structure that enables us to achieve our ambitious customer-satisfaction objectives.”

Here are Mr. Passaro’s answers to our questions:

Could you please provide us with some brief background information on Golfetto Sangati and its activities? Golfetto Sangati became a member of the Pavan Group in 2010, acquired by GEA in 2017. GEA is one of the largest suppliers of process technology for the food industry, employing about 17,500 people worldwide. In 2017, it generated a turnover of 4.6 billion Euros.

The Golfetto Sangati brand represents now the heritage of GBS GROUP, founded in 2000 from the merge of three historical Italian manufacturers of milling equipment and cereal handling systems: Golfetto (founded in 1923), Sangati (1929) and Berga (1952). The company develops, builds and installs turnkey plants of durum and wheat mills, maize mills, animal feed plants, rice mills, ship loadings and unloading systems, storage systems for raw materials and finished products.

Where are the most intensive markets and region for you? Is there any focus region for your company? Even though we operate worldwide, we are specifically focusing towards Far Eastern Countries where the fastest population growth increases the demand for wheat-based foodstuffs.

You participated in Congress of Russia Flour and Cereal Companies in Moscow at the end of the September and made a presentation there. That shows your interest in the Russian market. How do you evaluate the Russian market? Russia is a big market. It has a large population to feed. For example, in Moscow, there are 17 million residents plus 3 million commuters. Considering that as an average each person eats 40 grams of bread per day, the quantity of the flour needed here in Moscow is very high. Furthermore, many old mills need modernization. Our aim is to support the market with state-of-the-art technology even though the competition is very strong.

Could you please tell us the new projects that you have completed recently? The last contract closed under my competence is for a flour production facility based in Faenza, Italy. This is a greenfield project for a mill with a grinding capacity of 300 tons/day. A very significant project that will be completed at the end of this year.

We are also developing and delivering other new mills in Haiti, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Poland, Israel, Cameroun.

I would like to highlight that we have signed a contract with an important Malaysian industrial group for the supply of 16 complete milling plants with capacity ranging from 600 to 750 Tons / day, to be installed in China. Five of these plants have already been shipped.

You have a huge experience in the milling sector. What kind of changes have you experienced in the milling sector in recent years? In the milling industry automation is a very important topic: millers don’t have time to manually control and adjust the machines and require a highly automatized plant that can work without interruptions 24/7; a reduction of the efforts related to maintenance is another crucial topic. This means that it is necessary to design and supply efficient machinery set with optimal grinding diagrams.

Energy consumption is another primary topic: expenses for electricity is among the most significant costs to run a mill, together with work force and raw materials. Hence, when designing a new machine, the focus must be on the optimization of power utilization. Golfetto Sangati provides highly sophisticated processes and automation solutions with great results in terms of cost control, efficiency and product quality.

Last but not the least, hygiene and safety: by a complete compliance to the most stringent regulations, Golfetto Sangati manufactures machinery that can assure highest levels of hygiene and safety.

As you mentioned earlier Golfetto Sangati is now a member of German GEA. How did this acquisition affect the brand? You are right, Golfetto Sangati, as the entire Pavan Group, is part of GEA since the last quarter of 2017. The acquisition is giving a concrete boost to the company: innovation in designing new machines is going to enlarge the range of our offer, manufacturing units are being reorganized in order to assure higher efficiency, the sales and aftersales network is being strengthened through the close cooperation with GEA’s existing structure.

Is there anything you would like to add? The most important thing for us is customer satisfaction. We work with Italian heart, technology and style. Our passion, competency and professionalism make the difference in our projects and proposals. Strengthened by our membership of the GEA group, we can now count on a technical, commercial and financial structure that enables us to achieve our ambitious customer-satisfaction objectives.