Bühler Group recently sold its flour ingredient business to Bakels, the Swiss group that manufactures and distributes innovative bakery ingredients and application solutions.
Following the inking and closing of the agreement, 70 employees of Bühler Guangzhou are moving to the new owner with immediate effect. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the selling price.
All shares of China-based Buhler Bangsheng Food Ingredients (Guangzhou) Co Ltd have been signed over to Bakels Group.
“With Bakels, we have found an excellent owner and strategic partner for flour ingredient solutions,” stated Johannes Wick, chief executive officer, grains and food business, Bühler.
Bakels is a Swiss enterprise with more than 2,750 employees. Its main focus is on ingredients for bakery and confectionery.
“Flour ingredients have been a missing link in our portfolio so far,” said Armin Ulrich, chairman, Bakels.
“We are excited to close that gap now by taking over Bühler’s well-positioned business and strengthen our position in China,” he added.
“Bakels will partner with Bühler to develop the flour ingredients business,” Ulrich said.
The two companies will cooperate strategically to offer flour ingredient solutions under Bakels’ lead to milling and bakery customers.
A niche for Bühler
Bühler has been active within the flour ingredient business since 2010. During this time, the company has gained great expertise and excellent customer relations.
The business proved profitable over the last years, focussing mainly on the Chinese market.
Be it the growing demand for baked foods, increasing food safety levels, or the rise of highly nutritional food, the outlook of the flour ingredient business looks very positive.
Bühler’s strategic direction sees process solutions and customer services at its core.
“Bühler has been active in the flour ingredients business to understand the entire value chain in order to provide better consulting capabilities throughout the life cycle of assets. Now we can do this even better, thanks to our professional partner who is active in a large array of segments,” stated Wick.
“We are convinced that this business can unleash its full potential on a global scale, with Bakels as owner and Bühler as a strategic partner,” he added.
Bischof elected as new EBBK member
The Swiss Federal Council has elected Andreas Bischof, head of apprenticeship, Bühler Group, to the extra-parliamentary Federal Vocational Training Commission (EBBK). He is thus the representative for vocational training matters of the Swiss Association of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Industries (MEM Industries) at the federal level – a first for the industry.
In his function at Bühler Group, he leads 600 apprentices at 25 locations in four continents. The Federal Council has elected him to the 15-member extra-parliamentary Federal Vocational Training Commission for the term of office 2020-2023.
As the delegate of the Swiss Association of MEM Industries, Bischof is now the representative of a high-technology industry that trains almost 20,000 apprentices in Switzerland. At the same time, he is the first representative to become a member of the Commission for the MEM Industries.
New skills needed for the future
“I look forward to addressing the industry’s requirements at the federal level,” stated Bischof, adding that vocational training was currently experiencing rapid changes.
“In addition to expert knowledge and hands-on abilities, increasing importance is being placed on digital skills, project management, professional mobility, lifelong learning, and pronounced social competencies – and this not only for the companies, but especially for the apprentices’ later careers,” stated Bischof.
He added that in order to take such insights into account in the vocational training activities of an organisation, they must be given the significance they deserve.
Bischof that Christof Oswald, as head of human resources, gave special attention to the latest developments in training early on.
“In agreement with the Executive Board, he gives us the leeway we need to develop ideas and then to put them into practice once we have carefully thought out all the implications right to the end,” he added.
Oswald was convinced that Bühler’s expertise benefits all vocational training in Switzerland.
“It is important that we ensure the attractiveness of vocational training throughout Switzerland, in particular in our education-intensive industry. We closely track our apprentices’ and employees’ requirements and needs and then address them,” he stated.
Oswald added that Bischof could bring Bühler Group’s vast experience in vocational training to EBBK, and also show how companies can retain their employees.
A total of 29 per cent of all Swiss Bühler employees have completed their vocational training at Bühler. The company has been training apprentices since 1915. At present, the 8,000th apprentice has started his first apprenticeship year as a polymechanic.
Vocational training from Arbon to abroad
Following his apprenticeship as a machinery draftsman, Bischof became a vocational training teacher at a school in Arbon, Switzerland. At the same time, he acted for almost 20 years as a part-time instructor in the development departments of various companies.
In 2009, he took charge of vocational training at Bühler Group. Since then, the team around Oswald and Bischof has further developed innovative approaches into the apprenticeship training, for instance integrating periods that young people can spend abroad.
Qualified apprentices interested in training stints abroad may spend several months of their training outside Switzerland, for example in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, South Africa, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, France or the United States.
Since the introduction of this programme, some 200 apprentices have spent several months of their vocational training at a Bühler location outside Switzerland. This offers young people a chance to directly experience different cultures and languages.
It enhances their professional and social skills, broadens their minds, and makes them fit for their jobs in the international environment that Bühler offers.
Class Unlimited – Implemented throughout the company
The learners abroad follow the vocational school instructions in Switzerland without interruption. While abroad, they have access to the lessons being taught in Switzerland live with a camera in a learning environment with state-of-the-art technology. This distance-learning concept is called Class Unlimited.
Bühler has developed it together with the Wil-Uzwil Vocational and Continuing Education Center (BZWU). This form of teaching was a novelty in vocational training and was awarded the Leonardo European Corporate Learning Award in 2014.
In its new CUBIC innovation campus, the Bühler Group has further developed this concept, offering it to employees as well.
Class Unlimited 3.0 primarily trains Bühler teams. For example, automation experts can train live on systems across continents, while Bühler saves CO2 emissions, travel expenses, and travel time.
What the Federal Vocational Training Commission does
The EBBK advises the State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SBFI) on matters related to the development and coordination of vocational training and its alignment with general education and development policies.
It assesses projects for the development of vocational training as well as applications for funding of special services provided in the public interest. The purpose of this is to ensure broad support for development and promotional policies.
The Commission, which is elected by the Swiss Federal Council, includes representatives from the Swiss confederation, the cantons, associations, and businesses.
