SiccaDania is a Danish Process Engineering company that offers turnkey solutions for food processing plants covering a wide spectrum of applications from Dairy & Food to Starch & Proteins, Coffee & Tea, as well as Nutraceuticals and Pharmaceuticals.
SiccaDania’s equipment portfolio comprises of state-of-the-art Spray Dryers, Evaporators & UHT plants. According to Mikael Warren Larsen, Managing Director of SiccaDania SEA Pte Ltd, “Our new groundbreaking Freeze Drying Technology offers outstanding value for our customers and the lowest TCO in the market. We also have a range of Liquid Processing Equipment including Vacuum Mixers and High Shear Mixers.”
SiccaDania Group A/S was incorporated in Denmark in 2014. In 2017, it went a step further by opening its regional headquarter for the Asian region in Singapore, SiccaDania (SEA) Pte Ltd, to be closer to its regional clients.
AFBR gets the opportunity to interview Mr Mikael Warren Larsen to identify major trends in the food and beverage industry as well as recent developments for the SiccaDania group in this region. The following are the excerpts from the interview with him:
What are the 2-3 major trends in the F&B industry that you see rapidly developing, and how could SiccaDania be part of this growth story?
The growing global demand for IC (Instant Coffee) provides an opportunity for our customers to utilise SiccaDania’s groundbreaking Freeze Drying Technology. Our freeze drying technology are specifically developed for clean and hygienic processing and incremental capacity increases with minimal Capex investments. This makes our value proposition significantly better for customers than what is currently available in the market.
Through close dialogue with our customers, we strive to understand the critical business case justifications and are thus able to optimise ROI and payback periods. Our Freeze Drying Technology provides the latest equipment and combined with SiccaDania’s experienced project teams, we will ensure that our customers receive the best solution for their needs.
With the ever increasing global population, one of the most important tasks we have as a responsible vendor is to develop alternative sustainable food supplies. One of the cornerstones in this strategy is the further development of alternative proteins.
Interestingly, SiccaDania is part of a new project initiated by the European commission to develop new alternative proteins. A range of highly innovative new protein foods made from plants, fungi, and others will soon emerge from the #SmartProtein Project. The primary focus of the project is to help build a future-proof protein supply by creating nutritious and sustainable alternative proteins.
Our process equipment such as spray dryers and Zeta Dryers are well suited to cater to this industry. Some of the more popular types of plant proteins are soy, followed by pea protein where its demand is growing exponentially. Our technologies can help companies to achieve success in this segment by producing a high quality product with a high quality taste and color profile – a current challenge for producers.
Could you provide us with 1 or 2 case studies on companies in Asia that have used SiccaDania (spray drying) technology solutions and have benefited from these implementations ?
In 2017, we signed a contract with a large company in the Philippines to supply a complete process line with wet processing and spray drying for the processing and drying of coconut cream powder. The plant was located in the provinces close to the raw material. Through close cooperation with the customer, we managed to overcome the challenging logistics in the remote area and deliver, install and commission the plant ‘on-time’ and ‘on-budget’.
We are currently working on a large project in Indonesia with a multinational with a large presence in Asia. SiccaDania supplies turn-key solution for the manufacturing of infant formula ingredients. The main equipment comprises of wet processing, powder handling, vacuum mixing and spray drying. Due to the critically high demand for food safety in this sensitive product, the plant is designed with the most stringent quality controls and features a 100% hygienic fully CIPable design.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, how will SiccaDania adapt to the current environment and what can it do for the F&B industry in general?
Our colleagues in the Technology HQ in Denmark are back and fully operational and are supporting our European and American customers.
SiccaDania SEA, on the other hand, has been classified by the Singapore government as an OEM provider of services to the essential industry, which means we are able to continue to work and support our Asian customers as well. All of course while observing the relevant guidelines provided by the various government agencies. One change is that due to these measures, we have set-up a virtual staggered organisation, where we now work and communicate more from remote locations. Also, more customer meetings are conducted via Zoom, Teams or other cloud based platforms.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the growing importance of smart-working and shone a light on the opportunities which exist with increased automation. SiccaDania’s systems are designed with a high degree of automation to harness the opportunity and provide added value to our customers
What can SiccaDania offer to the industry which will add value to the manufacturing line or to the company brands/products etc in general?
We are a full-service Vendor. We engineer, design, manufacture, install and commission your plant to your satisfaction. Once the plant is taken over, we provide first class ‘After Sales & Service’ for the lifespan of the plants. Our plants are tailormade to the customers’ requirements and feature our energy efficiency enhancing technologies. These ensure our plants are highly energy efficient with a low overall TCO, plus we provide a precise design for each individual customer needs.
Also, our Starch & Protein Division is a front runner when it comes to innovation. Our One-In-All-Out revolutionises and optimises the traditional value chain of starch projects by providing significant water savings and turning waste and bi-products into value stream at the same time.
The one-in-all-out concept aims to optimise revenues in situations like increasing demand for raw material in a growing industry, climate influences and problems with plant diseases. The concept aims at full crop utilisation by producing all the winnable components, thereby contributing to our customers’ profitability, growth, innovation and sustainability.
