IMA Coffee Hub on its partnership with Esko Australia and how its roasting technology can benefit the Australian market.
Forming good partnerships is often the key to business success. They begin with a shared vision and, through the power of collaboration, push boundaries and accelerate industry.
In the world of coffee, strong partnerships play a pivotal role in the supply chain. With increasing economic and environmental strains on the sector, it’s more important than ever for key coffee players to come together to continue its growth and prosperity.
Leading by example, Italian roasting, processing, and packaging systems manufacturer IMA Coffee partnered with turnkey processing and packaging provider Esko Australia to provide IMA Petroncini roasting technology to the specialty coffee markets of Australia and New Zealand.
“Esko Australia has a track record of providing customised packaging solutions to coffee companies in the region. When we were introduced to Esko by one of our long-term partners, we thought the partnership would be a good fit for customers who want Esko to manage end-to-end projects and combine it with IMA Coffee technology,” says Matteo Barbarossa, Business Development Manager and Coffee Expert at IMA Coffee.
Matteo and team believe that, with a 24-year history representing European equipment manufacturers in the Australian and New Zealand markets, Esko is the ideal match for IMA Coffee thanks to a shared principle of innovation and customer focus.
“At Esko Australia, our main goal is to provide innovative and customised solutions for our customers. We work collaboratively with the customer and suppliers to provide the best experience possible,” says JJ Wong, Engineer and Business Development Manager at Esko.
“IMA Coffee shares the same customer-focused values and consistently demonstrates willingness to look at all requests, such as finding solutions for height and space limitations in some of Melbourne’s heritage buildings. With the bulk of our projects being repeat customers, this is a testament to our success.
“The Petroncini brand is 100 years old and under the new management of IMA Coffee. We can see how it has used its wealth of knowledge and experience to offer complete end-to-end solutions. It is the perfect combination of old and new.”
According to JJ, the strength of Petroncini’s roasters lies in the indirect heat cast-iron drum.
“There is no better endorsement of a brand than when I meet roasters who are passionate about their 10-, 30-, or even 60-year-old roaster that they are still using or have used. The cast-iron drum remains the core of the Petroncini roaster today,” he says.
Matteo believes the Petroncini TTA traditional model is the most popular in the market. The cast-iron drum acts as a heat sink to transfer huge amounts of heat evenly across the beans as they roast. He says that the drum, combined with IMA’s Opera30 control system, gives the operator precise control of burner power, airflow, and drum rotation, making it the ideal solution to customise flavour profiles to suit the Australian palate.
“This unique feature allows the end user to fine-tune their roasting method of transferring heat to the bean, achieving a perfect balance between convection and conduction. The beans are roasted with an indirect flame, which gives a lot of heat without the hot spot,” says Matteo.
The Automation feature of the Opera30 software is designed to deliver consistency batch after batch.
“Our new Opera30 allows roasters to customise recipes and process parameters in a flexible and quick way, managing the curve either by temperature or time variables to obtain the desired sensory profiles. This guarantees consistency and quality in the end product,” he says.
For roasters scaling up or larger roasters looking for energy efficiency and technological edge, IMA has developed the TMR modular roasters.
“The TMR models are customisable modular drum roasters with a range of 60 to 90 per cent convection to 40 to 10 per cent conduction ratio – this is a great technological achievement for a drum roaster. TMR models are suitable for a wide range of coffee roasting profiles, with a capacity to roast from 1000 to 3600 kilograms per hour,” says Matteo.
“TMR is the first drum roasting machine series engineered with the Recirculation and Heat Recovery System. Using just one burner, the TMR models save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On average, the TMR saves 30 to 40 per cent more energy compared to traditional roasters.”
At the heart of the TMR series is control software Orchestra, which continuously adjusts the burner and airflow to achieve up to 30 set-points in the roasting profile and the time interval in which to reach it.
“Through the various set-points, Orchestra displays a simulation of the roasting profile and the estimated ending time, enabling the operator to preview the result,” says Matteo.
IMA’s current and future developments are on display in the IMA Coffee Lab, a 2000-square-metre facility opened in Italy in 2021.
“The IMA Coffee Lab is a visualisation of a full industrial pilot plant within the factory. It demonstrates everything IMA Coffee can produce on a production scale from green coffee intake to our two types of roasting options, and different packaging machines for single-serve and vertical bags. The product analysis lab, tasting room, and coffee academy complete the brand custom-oriented vision of the IMA Coffee Lab,” says Matteo.
“Customers can visit to test the Coffee Control Room, a plant control system tailored to suit the productive needs of medium-size and industrial plants. It enables users to carefully trace and monitor production lines through its smart features. This helps to monitor and control overall plant production, from green intake to packaging section.”
JJ says that, with the investment made in the Coffee Lab, potential customers in Australia and New Zealand can validate the different technologies before committing.
IMA Coffee and Esko are working to re-establish the IMA Petroncini brand by delivering technological innovations that will help Australian and New Zealand roasters to step up their game and win in the market.
For more information, visit ima.it/coffee
This article appears in the October/November 2024 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.