Research & Development
Every year, Buhler invests some 50 million Swiss francs in research and development. Far more than 200 employees working in interdisciplinary research teams are constantly in quest of innovative solutions. Most of our innovations are developed in-house, but many are also the result of our close collaboration with customers and cooperation ventures with numerous universities, institutes of technology, and research institutes. Here are some examples:
... New rubber production process
Buhler applies extrusion as a flexible process for upgrading foods and animal feeds, but also for implementing continuous processes for nonfood applications. Our continuous rubber production process using a ring extruder replaces the batch process applied up to now.
... Control, simulation, understanding of phenomena
Intelligent control engineering solutions such as fuzzy logic, neural networks, or expert systems are capable of controlling even complex systems to ensure that the quality parameters of the end products are maintained. We have invested significant funds in exploiting the potential of these methods. For example, a pasta production line is now automatically controlled so that the finished pasta will have the optimal moisture content, the right color, and minimum breakage. This type of automatic process control is also suitable for various other Buhler process technologies.
