For many years, Winkler und Dünnebier Süßwarenmaschinen GmbH (WDS) has been a regular exhibitor at the industry’s leading international trade fairs. This made it all the more gratifying when, after two years, ProSweets Cologne 2022 opened its doors to industry experts once again on January 30, 2022. “From the very beginning, being close to the customer has been one of the most important instruments for communicating and explaining our technical innovations without ‘friction losses’. It also helps us to recognise changing market requirements and new trends,” says Rainer Runkel, Managing Director of WDS.
Main part:
New markets, new machines, new products
WDS presents itself at ProSweets with several key topics. With its self-image as a solution partner for confectionery manufacturers, the WDS Technical Centre offers customers a full range of services to turn a product idea into a successful product launch. This includes, among other things, the latest depositor sections, which use innovative depositing processes to enable product developments that were unthinkable just a few years ago.
The company also addressed the constantly growing market for OTC confectionery at ProSweets, focusing in particular on the trend-setting utilisation of technologies and benefits of chocolate plants for the production of gum and jelly. The WDS plants ConfecECO, ConfecPRO and ConfecVARIO can produce jelly products in polycarbonate moulds. The process is modern and particularly hygienic. It’s also highly efficient and, because the products are demoulded regimented, it’s ideal for further product treatment.
Under the motto “activate your candy”, WDS highlighted its label sweetOTC, demonstrating how WDS customers successfully open up new growth markets with OTC confectionery.
“We support our customers from the idea to the finished product,” explains Ralf Hübner, Sales Manager at WDS, “which means from product development to customised production processes, exact dosing to perfect, hygienic and GMP-compliant production with our plants.”
For the OTC confectionery market, WDS optimises established plant technologies and develops them further with careful consideration of customer requirements and applicable regulations. Two plant types in particular lend themselves to the series production of OTC confectionery.
“The ConfecECO gives our customers the right tool to start series production. With three expansion stages, this plant type can produce filled and solid chocolate and gum & jelly products, with and without ingredients, in a small to medium output quantity. We developed the ConfecPRO plant for those who want to produce the same product on a large scale – in this case we’re looking at a high to very high production capacity,” says Ralf Hübner.
Customised production lines for every need
Industry visitors at the WDS trade fair stand also had the opportunity to find out about other WDS plant types and services via large-format monitors. This included, for example, the innovative ConfecVARIO machine concept. ConfecVARIO plants can produce a wide range of chocolate and jelly products in a chainless plant with an innovative transport system.
WDS has implemented a generation change for many plant types, allowing customers to choose from an interesting product range of modern plant types for gum, jelly and chocolate that set new standards in efficiency, hygiene and product handling.
As Rainer Runkel, Managing Director of WDS, puts it:
“These new and continued developments resulted, among other things, from the findings we made based on our close proximity to our customers and the market. There has been a shift in demand from large-capacity plants for specific products to flexible, modular, future-oriented plants that can be adapted to specific products at a later date.”
At your side for the entire life of the machine
Many industry visitors at ProSweets took the opportunity to learn more about the new digital WDS service “LifeCycleCare”. “With our LifeCycleCare service concept, we offer our customers real added value in the area of digital service and remote maintenance and are at their side for the entire life of the machine, especially after purchasing a new machine,” explains Service Manager Matthias Triesch. The innovative service concept encompasses remote maintenance services from commissioning to troubleshooting and production optimisation. Customers benefit from the constantly available WDS expert network, fast, preparation-free digital support with the Hearbeat function and the highest, certified security standards for remote services with encryption and regulated responsibilities.
As an additional digital service, WDS is also presenting itself as a partner of the new, pioneering SweetConnect platform. Several manufacturers in the confectionery industry have joined forces to develop a comprehensive industry platform for the centralised control and monitoring of entire production lines.
Read more of the latest products in our new edition here: January 2022 Single Issue form – International Confectionery Magazine (in-confectionery.com)
Media contact
Roshini Bains,
Editor, International Confectionery
Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823 922
Email: editor@in-confectionery.com
