TFT explained that it has recently received a request from a customer to help out with trials to substitute trans fats from its product. To help them out, it developed the TFT Temp Twin Barrel, which crystallises the new substitutes of trans fatty acids faster than any of the conventional systems thanks to its large surface area. It produces more crystals, more quickly in a range of products, such as wafer creams and biscuit creams. The TFT Twin Barrel has the same building length yet around five times the surface area of a conventional machine. Cooling time between production and handling the product in packaging can be reduced by around 30%. As Marion Tanis-Kooistra said, “We offer a practical incentive to bakery and confectionery producers looking to move away from artery-clogging ingredients.”
Over recent years, the company noticed that smaller manufacturers have progressively switched from batch production to continuous production. This has been a growth opportunity for TFT. On the other hand, several big family bakeries or confectioners have been sold to corporate companies, which has marked a big change in the way business is done. “Working with such large corporates can be frustrating as it is sometimes difficult to get the solution that we have worked so hard to achieve, together with floor engineers approved at superior levels. In fact, the bigger the company, the less ‘fine tuning’ between the players there seems to be. Call us oldfashioned, but we like values such as honesty, integrity, commitment and trustworthiness,” said Peter Tanis.
In the future, cooperation between the key players will be essential, TFT said. “Our clients should not have to search to find suppliers for different parts of their process.” TFT will work with all suppliers but it does, however, cherish and cultivate cooperation with a number of suppliers of front and back end equipment that share same the values and philosophy; for instance, Machine Builders & Design, the supplier of the Cookie Capper for sandwiched cookies or Hebenstreit for the production of wafers. “Frankness and integrity about what we all can and cannot do will be vital. We all have a responsibility toward each other. We may make machines but we also eat what’s made on them,” said Peter Tanis. This includes protecting the earth that we live on. In fact, Peter Tanis feels verys strongly about this. “Organic food will be getting more important as it is the only way we’ll ever survive. It is an illusion to believe that humanity will thrive on pesticides and genetically modified foods! Healthy foods and wellness trends are not a hype but a slow awakening”, he said.
The company is working towards sustainability. Its equipment is designed so that the client can switch to a new type of product easily, which means that the company does not need to abandon equipment that is still of good quality and can run for another few years. TFT added that their equipment can sometimes be found on the second hand market, so it actually gets recycled.
Asked about its medium to long term plans, TFT said that its mission is to make life easier for manufacturers by providing and developing technological solutions, full process control, guaranteed consistent end products, while simplifying existing processes. “Most importantly, our clients must be able to turn to us for creative consumer product ideas,” concluded Peter Tanis.
