Alfa Laval, a world leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling – is opening a state-of-the-art Application and Innovation Centre in Kolding, Denmark.
The centre will reinforce the company’s technology leadership within hygienic fluid handling and put Alfa Laval squarely at the forefront of customer engagement, product innovation and optimization of customers’ processes.
Investing in the new 1,600-square-metre Application and Innovation Centre supports Alfa Laval’s strategic focus of accelerating product innovation and driving customer preference for Alfa Laval pumps, valves, and cleaning and mixing equipment used in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
“It’s all about taking our customers’ production to the next level,” according to Mikkel Nordkvist, vice president, Hygienic Fluid Handling, head of industry management.
“Customers can see – either in person or by live link – how Alfa Laval equipment performs under actual operating conditions. Conducting trials with Alfa Laval industry experts provides verification of higher yield, improved hygiene, and sustainable cost reductions by saving energy, water and cleaning media. It’s a golden opportunity to validate overall performance.”
Alfa Laval vice preident of hygienic fluid handling and head of research and development, Rikke Kau Breinholt, said the centre provides a unique environment to develop tomorrow’s fluid handling technologies and equipment.
He said multiple testbeds with advanced hardware and software enable the company to drive innovation by conducting rigorous proof-of-concept experiments on new equipment for the food and pharma industries at many duty points under close-to-actual conditions.
“Moreover, with insights from customer trials, we can further refine our equipment and are able to introduce new customer-centric products and product enhancements to the market faster than before,” he said.
“Accelerating product development and innovation, in turn, means that we can deliver more value to our customers.”
Alfa Laval now has several global competence and test centres, including four in Denmark; in Soborg (decanters for food and water applications), in Aalborg (marine applications), in Nakskov (membrane filtration applications), and now in Kolding (fluid handling).
Alfa Laval has 17,500 employees in 100 countries.