"Nova Pan" banks on loyal customers in 2009

Ciprian Brebeanu: "It is impossible to make any predictions for 2009. We will continue to track the corporate trend of cutting costs, and developing output".

Cornelia Angelescu

At the recently concluded Indagra Food fair held at Romexpo, "Nova Pan" presented an innovative baking system which features automated loading and unloading. "It is a system intended for the baking industry and bakeries, which can be tailored to fit the customer"s needs, according to the required output and the available space. It is made by Czech based company "Kornfeil", and we have an exclusive distribution agreement for Romania", said Ciprian Brebeanu, General Manager of "Nova Pan".

This new system relies on a special technology, which recovers around 97% of the heat given off by the ovens and purifies the air resulting from the baking process. Thus, the heat given off, which can reach 250 degrees Celsius, can be used for heating and warming water, for the heat and steam used in the manufacture process, for air conditioning of the work areas by means of a Yazaki system and even to generate electricity. This type of installation meets the European environmental guidelines.

Ciprian Brebeanu said: "The EC allocates sizeable funds for this type of systems. The Czech Republic attracted considerable funding for implementing this type of system in the food manufacturing industry, which could prove extremely useful in Romania as well, because it is not only extremely lucrative for the bakery industry, but also from an environmental angle".

Also new from "Nova Pan" are the spiral based cooling-freezing-leavening systems for bakery and pastry products and for the food industry in general. Italian company Tecnopool has been producing this equipment for 15 years already, and "Nova Pan" is the official distributor for Romania.

"Nova Pan" also presented traditional solutions for the bakery industry: The equipment on display included mixing, splitting, shaping, slicing, multiple solutions for wrapping and sealing. All the equipment is imported from Italy and Spain.

"We are currently experiencing a 15-20% drop in bread consumption", Ciprian Brebeanu said, "and it"s not because people eat less bread, but rather because people don"t throw away bread that is one day old anymore. It is however a good lesson, but the downside is that bakers refrain from making new investments, and their ability to stay in business is stretched to the limit".

Deputy Director of "Nova Pan", Gabriela Poteraş, and Ciprian Brebeanu, General Manager, consider that 2009 will most likely be a difficult year. They estimate that the drought will compound the effects of the economic crisis, which will indirectly affect bakers, which have a direct stake in the evolution of the wheat-flour-bread circuit. The price of wheat will most likely go up and this will cause investments in the bakery sector to shrink even further.

"Nova Pan" has a large range of bakery equipment in its Braşov showroom on permanent display. The company"s showroom, offices, warehouse and repair shop span 4500 sqm and potential customers can view, test and buy all the equipment featured in the company"s catalog.