A "stirrvolution" from Quakenbrück
Quakenbrück. To the layman, it looks as if the mixture is being shaken rather than stirred. But the expert knows that mixing different ingredients is a science in itself. This is precisely the challenge that the hs-Tumbler company from Quakenbrück has taken up and developed a revolutionary trajectory mixing system based on research at the German Institute of Food Technologies in Quakenbrück (DIL). During a visit, Thomas Serries, Head of Corporate Services of the Osnabrück District Economic Development Department, was convinced of the potential of the new system.
To the layman, it looks as if the system is being shaken rather than stirred.
Company founder Bernhard Hukelmann was head of automation technology at DIL for many years before he set out on his own a few years ago with a novel mixing and blending system. "This system has its history in food processing, especially meat processing," Hukelmann explains the background. "Here, a so-called tumbler is used at a specific process point. This is, in simple terms, a kind of very big mixing machine that is used to condition the meat for further processing with liquid seasoning, for example." The problem with this, he said, is that the process can take many hours, making it a major challenge in terms of hygiene and cleaning.
The new system from hs-Tumbler takes the mixing process to a whole new level. Hukelmann's shear force tumbler (this is where the name hs-Tumbler comes from) eliminates and completely replaces all stirring, mixing and kneading instruments. Instead, the process vessel, with the contents to be mixed, is brought into a very fast two-dimensional curved path in the device. In this way, the shear forces do not only process a small part of the process volume, as in previous systems, but permanently process the entire contents.
A process that would otherwise take many hours can thus be shortened to just a few seconds. At the same time, this is very gentle on the product. "Thanks to the new system, a static batch process can be transformed into a flow process, thus offering companies great savings potential," says Hukelmann. No wonder, therefore, that the managing partner has already received many inquiries from the meat industry.
A process that would otherwise take many hours can be shortened to just a few seconds.
CEO Peter Stellbrink also sees the great potential of the device for other industries and diverse applications: "There is a megatrend towards individualization. Our device in compact form can be used in large kitchens for the rapid production of a wide variety of dishes such as salads, pizzas, etc.. Here, too, with an immense process speed. But there are also many areas of application in pharmacies, perfumeries or in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries." It is therefore not without reason that people like to talk about a "stirrvolution," Stellbrink smiles.
In view of the wide range of possible applications, the company is pursuing a two-pronged strategy and has developed both a large-scale device for industrial purposes and a "compact device" for applications with smaller process volumes to market maturity. The results that hs-Tumbler has documented in the laboratory so far are "magical results" for many of its potential customers, which cannot be achieved in this way today.
" We need employees for a wide variety of business areas."
* Bernhard Hukelmann, company founder
With the market launch, the young company is now facing new challenges: "At the moment, we are very intensively occupied with the topic of personnel, because we need employees for the most diverse company areas," says company founder Hukelmann, shedding light on the current situation. Production, service and sales have to be built up in unison and the team of currently nine people has to be expanded quickly. A point in which also the economic development of the district, WIGOS, wants to support with its skilled workers office. "It's great to see the dynamism with which the company has taken off from its foundation," says Thomas Serries from the WIGOS corporate service, and promises the company the support of the business development agency for the future.
"I think hs-Tumbler has found the perfect premises for starting up a business in the BIQ Business and Innovation Park, which is operated jointly by the district of Osnabrück and the joint municipality of Artland, in the immediate vicinity of the DIL." With the WIGOS impulse consulting "Digital Market Development", the company has already been supported on its way and will gladly continue to accompany it in "stirring up" the meat industry and other sectors."
