Heat and Control on how its turnkey solutions help coffee roasters protect the quality of their product – and ultimately their margins.
Coffee roasters are dialled into everything that happens to get the best out of their beans. From green bean sourcing, roast profiles, to grind size, it’s a process that demands intense focus. Yet what happens after this – how the coffee reaches the retail shelf untainted – often gets less attention despite carrying major risks to quality, compliance and profitability.
The post-roast stage is where small inefficiencies can scale into significant losses. Air leaks can turn premium roasts stale, metal fragments from grinders can halt production or trigger recalls, and even minor inconsistencies in fill weights across thousands of bags can quickly erode margins.
Heat and Control is one company addressing these challenges with turnkey solutions for coffee operations of all sizes in Australia.
Freshness, contamination, and precision are the decisive factors in roasted coffee production, according to Robert Marguccio, Packaging & Inspection Systems Business Manager within Heat and Control’s Australian operations.
He says industry figures may recall Heat and Control established its presence in coffee through its association with PROBAT Coffee Roasters, supplying high-end systems to large scale coffee manufacturers. Alongside this, the company also supported a broader range of coffee businesses – a role it continues today – delivering integrated inspection, weighing and packaging solutions to help bring roasted, ground, and instant coffee products to the market. This foundation has continued to evolve over time, expanding to include horizontal packaging technologies, and complete end-of-line solutions.
non-destructive and are unaffected by
one-way degassing valves on coffee bags. Image: Heat and Control.
“We’re reintroducing ourselves to the coffee market and ensuring smaller and startup roasters understand the full scope of support available beyond the roaster itself,” says Robert. “It’s a big part of why we will be exhibiting at the Melbourne International Coffee Expo in March 2026.”
Delving into those key components of roasted coffee production, Robert starts with freshness, noting that packaging integrity plays a critical role in preserving coffee quality. Oxipack leak detection solutions are one patented method for testing coffee bags, capsules, and pods. The process is also non-destructive, removing the need for submerging packaged products in water as part of random spot checks.
“The rise of one-way degassing valves has made seal testing more complex, but the Oxipack solution blocks the valve during inspection, allowing accurate leak detection across coffee bags,” he says.
In the context of contamination, Robert says the inspection process is another critical step in protecting both consumer safety and brand reputation.
“Metal fragments are a known risk in coffee and that’s where our CEIA Metal Detectors come in,” he says.
“The beauty of CEIA is they’re the only metal detectors on the market using multispectrum, multi-frequency technology simultaneously, reducing product effect errors and false rejects, along with achieving high sensitivity for better detection capabilities. CEIA is represented exclusively by Heat and Control in Australia, and the brand is trusted globally in military, aviation, and high-security environments, including airport screening and on Air Force One.”
In cases where coffee is sealed in foil bags, there are two options available: one is to use CEIA metal detection systems as the product is dropped into the bag, or to use x-ray systems available from Ishida. Both are sold and supported exclusively by Heat and Control. In both cases, Heat and Control also has test facilities in Australia that can help customers explore “what results can be expected”, giving full reports so they can make informed purchasing and business decisions.
Beyond inspection and packaging integrity, precision is the third key factor for coffee processors seeking to balance quality, compliance and cost. “As raw material costs continue to rise, minimising ‘giveaway’ is becoming an increasing priority,” Robert says.
With a strong focus on automation, solutions like Ishida check weighing equipment can verify package weight and detect missing components. In coffee applications, Ishida Multihead Weigher & Baggers are said to offer high-speed, precise weighing and bagging. Coffee is weighed by the multihead weigher selecting the best combination from the available 14 weigh hoppers on a circular machine. The computer selects normally three buckets that’ll get closest to the target weight.
“We can get to within 0.1 grams of in minimum graduation of precision. It can maintain this accuracy while producing 60 to 80 coffee bags per minute,” Robert says. “The weigher is performing 1200 permutations per second, identifying the optimum combination. Some of our customers have recouped their ROI in months – after that it’s pure profit.”
He says Heat and Control supports customers at different stages of growth, from individual equipment installations that can be added to over time, through to fully integrated processing lines.
“With more than 75 years experience, Heat and Control has a strong local presence in Australia, with more than 270 people on the ground, including engineering and project management experts,” he says.
“We take a consultative approach, working closely with customers to identify the right solution for their operation. Turnkey integration, backed by strong service allows the company to recommend a range of technologies, as requirements evolve. When the best solution sits outside of our portfolio, customers are directed to other suppliers.”
Looking ahead, Robert sees opportunities for Heat and Control to continue expanding into end-of-line automation solutions. This includes horizontal pouching technology from Volpak, where packaging starts as a roll of film and is formed into stand-up coffee pouches with zippers or refill packs. Systems are available across a wide performance range, from speeds of only 60 packs per minute, through to models capable of producing up to 400 products per minute. Smaller operations can also be supported with machines that open, fill, and seal pre-made pouches.
Once packaged bags are boxed, palletised, wrapped, and prepared for transport, coffee products then require significant manual handling. Robert notes that new robotic solutions are on the horizon to address this, with more details to be revealed in the future.
Heat and Control will showcase its latest and most innovative solutions for coffee and tea processing, conveying, weighing, packaging, inspection, and coating and flavouring at the MICE tradeshow on booth #D14 taking place 26 – 28 March, 2026.
For more information, visit heatandcontrol.com
This article appears in the February 2026 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
