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News

Interview: Pier Luigi Merusi, FBR-Elpo

06/11/2024 - Madeleine Royère-Koonings

Sophie Colvine and Madeleine Royère met with Mr Merusi when visiting the tomato fields and factories in Italy in September. He agreed to an interview and here are his thoughts on technology, innovation and the future.

First of all, could you introduce yourself and tell us about the history of FBR-Elpo?

I began working in this field exactly 50 years ago. I joined FBR in 1973 and I spent my career starting from the first experiences after my degree in engineering until now, always in this field and in the same company. At the end of the 70s – beginning of the 80s I took over the company together with some shareholders, all employees like me; we updated the name in NUOVA FBR (NEW FBR) and, occupying the position of the CEO, the company grew up for the further decade. The beginning of the 90s also marked the start of the acquisition time, as investments group were trying to take profit from the virtuous and fruitful realities of those times, and we became a part of ALTECH group, which also acquired ELPO, hence the fusion in the name still known today. Even if I have always been holding some directional roles, the ownership of the company passed through different properties until nowadays, with the Cecchi’s family.

What do you think were the most important technological innovations for the tomato processing sector since you started in this industry?

When I joined FBR, it was a family-run business with few employees, but full of innovative ideas for the food sector and with the drive to begin real progress in the development, above all in the tomato processing, extended to all its derivates: peeling, concentration, sterilization, hot and aseptic filling.
Hence, we had the chance to be a significant protagonist in the shifts from the:

Mechanical to the thermophysical peeling
Introduction of the Hot-break systems
Evaporation through simple-effect bowl to the forced-circulation concentration in multiple effects and then with steam recompression.
Hot filling to aseptic filling

What role played FBR-ELPO in these innovations?

Model of an FBR evaporator from the 80s

In these three sectors FBR-ELPO has always been playing a first-rate role in the:

peeling, with the first thermophysical peelers by means of steam recovery.
Concentrators with every kind of model of evaporators to reach all the biggest evaporative features with energy saving.
Aseptic (in detail sterilization and filling), where, since those years, we have been holding a leader position also thanks to the working out of the Bag In Box machines for little bags (5 / 10 / 20 l) which represents the buttonhole flower in this sector.

Which new technologies do you foresee emerging for the processing tomato sector in the next few years?

Certainly the energetic saving (in terms of thermo-recompression for the steam, that translates into water reduction, and of installed power) both in the free-standing machines and in the complete lines are a winning point together with the systems of improvement of the organoleptic qualities. New technologies regarding product sterilization (i.e. radio frequency, high pressures, etc.) and new technologies for the sterilization of the packaging (pulsating light, electronic beam, etc.)

What are the main requests made by tomato processors today to the equipment sector?

In general, the request for furthered automation, aimed at production control, personnel saving, possibility to monitor and trace all the critical parameters and another request is for organoleptic qualities as close as possible to the initial product.

FBR-Elpo recently integrated Logicon into its group, as made Food Trading in the past. How will it change the services you offer our sector?

The entrance of this enterprise in the group allows us to provide a 360° service to the customer, from the processing to the packaging and, in the end, until the sale of the semifinished product.
How can you help the tomato sector fight climate change and be more sustainable?
We can help the tomato sector fight change paying particular attention to energetic consumption, to the CO₂ emissions. These points represent the greater impact on industrial sustainability and FBR-ELPO is already working to design some equipment with these features. Reducing all the consumption trying to reuse the tomato scraps as much as possible.

How do you see the equipment sector evolving in the next few years?

The future will evolve in the aseptic filling, in its varying different forms. A big competition coming from all over the world, trying to be technologically one step further from the competition. In particular way in the sterilization technologies and in the new typology of packaging.

And how do you see your company evolving in the next few years?

I see our company evolving surely in the portion devoted to packaging, and special attention will involve the service system: remote problem solving, predictivity of preventive maintenance. The only way to succeed is being innovative and trying to prepare tailor-made solutions; we cannot think of producing in series. In the study of the sterilization and filling technologies and in the new packaging.

How do you define success in your industry?

Devotion, care for the customer, continuous updates to the technical and technological changes. Selling, installing and starting up long-lasting plants.
Development of the customer loyalty and proposal of new solution that were not present on the market before

What does “being competitive” mean for you and how can you be competitive?

This is a wide answer; you may be competitive in many ways. Definitely the first meaning that comes easily is the economic one, so the best compromise to get a good quality at the lowest price; but it may hide some critical points (poor quality in terms of raw material, workmanship, service, etc.). Hence, we believe that the best way to be competitive is with the reliability of our products, of the widespread range of services we can offer, that may be difficult to explain as it stands in our own nature (making our customer satisfied, making available the possibility of testing some products that still need to be conceived, or cooperating with our clients to find the processing solution most suitable for them), making everyone’s job pleasant. All this can be assured by the technology that we use in the manufacturing and for the rest of the equipment life, being always connected even on remote.

New investment is often expensive, can old factories be retrofitted easily?

Theoretically, anything is possible, but we need to evaluate case by case and sometimes the investment for the retrofit is not so different from the one required for a brand-new purchase. Basically, we need to understand together with the customer which is their goal to check the impact of their choice; we need to consider also some relevant aspects like, once again, the energetic saving, if they look for a higher potentiality in full and, of course, the feasibility, as the equipment and the parts to overhaul it could be discontinued.
Yes, they can be retrofitted, it just depends on their state and their age.
Yes, for us it is easy, and this happens often, representing remarkable business for us. The machines we produce are long-lasting (as they are made of stainless steel) and therefore they are still fit for their revamping because the machine still has its value, but it may be improved technologically.

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