HANOI, Vietnam – In December 2018, the Vietnamese Tinnghia Group inaugurated a state-of-the-art instant coffee plant with a festive ceremony: the technology and know-how come from Neuhaus Neotec and Devex, two established German companies in the coffee processing sector, which belong to the Kahl Group.
Vietnam is the world’s second largest green coffee supplier. The fact that the Southeast Asian country also processes and refines coffee in the country itself in order to promote and maintain value creation in the country is a relatively recent and state-sponsored trend.
In the coming years, large capacities in instant coffee production will be created in Vietnam. Neuhaus Neotec benefits from this development in particular as an established supplier of efficient roasting technology.
Neuhaus Neotec, as one of the world’s leading suppliers of roasting and grinding plants, maintains long-standing, good contacts to the Vietnamese coffee industry and supplies leading companies with coffee process equipment. The two North German sister companies were pleased to be awarded the contract to build a complete instant coffee plant for the Vietnamese Tinnghia Group near the Vietnamese capital.
The fully automated and computer controlled plant was implemented by a cooperation between Neuhaus Neotec and its sister company Devex as well as their strategic partners in Scandinavia and Vietnam. For the new plant, Neuhaus Neotec supplied both the powerful grinder and the hot-air roaster, which is equipped with special roasting technology for carrying out even very dark roasts for all coffee qualities.
The process technology specialist Devex supplied the plants for extraction, aroma recovery and extract concentration as well as freeze drying.
Largely Dimensioned
Construction of the new coffee factory started in the 1st quarter of 2017. After 20 months of construction, technical installation and test operation, the instant coffee factory was inaugurated with a festive ceremony on 8 December 2018. According to the company, the investment sum for the first expansion phase of the plant on the 5.4-hectare site in the Dong Nai Province Industrial Park was USD 30 million.
In an initial production phase, 3,200 tonnes of coffee products are to be produced. It is planned to increase production to 5,000 tonnes by the end of 2019. After a further expansion phase, a total of 10,000 tons per year are to be produced by the end of 2021.
The state-of-the-art coffee plant with a closed production cycle complies with the standards of the FSSC2200 Food Safety System.
Ground roasted coffee and soluble coffee are produced – both spray-dried and freeze-dried. In addition to the local market, the coffees are to be exported primarily to North America, Europe and some Asia-Pacific countries.
The Neuhaus Neotec RG 100 roaster and silo for roasted coffee (Copyright all photos: Neuhaus Neotec)
Advanced Technology Convinces
The ability of Devex and Neuhaus Neotec to ensure maximum flexibility in the processing of a wide variety of products thanks to the most advanced technology was a criterion for the cooperation between Tinnghia Coffee Corporation and the two companies of the Kahl Group.
“We were able to convince the customer with the most advanced technology, low energy consumption and best process conditions for the manufacture of his product,” summarises Devex Managing Director Ulrich Nieße. “Our unique performance in terms of roasting, aroma technology and the options for setting parameters such as colour, particle size distribution and bulk density for the final product have set us apart from the competition and convinced our customer.”
In order to guarantee optimum and smooth production of the new plants, local production employees were intensively trained on site. Devex accompanied the production for half a year after commissioning. With the new instant coffee factory, Tinnghia Coffee Corporation sees itself well equipped not only to satisfy the needs of consumers with its coffee products, but also to act and produce sustainably with regard to economic, social and environmental aspects.
