OCCHIOBELLO, Italy – IMF, a leading Italian coffee roasting equipment manufacturer based in Occhiobello in the province of Rovigo, is celebrating 30 years in business. For this occasion, we interviewed Alessandro Garbin, CEO of IMF, Lorenzo Maria Mosca, chief technical department, Roberto Pedini, sales coordinator business development, and Dr. Giorgio Maria Mosca, area sales manager of the brand.
In the introduction and at the end of the interview, Alessandro Garbin makes an appointment for all “insiders” to visit the Occhiobello factory from 10 a.m. on Friday 20th September 2024, to be followed by the presentation of IMF, that on that day celebrates its first 30 years of activity.
Introduction by Alessandro Garbin, shareholder and CEO of IMF S.r.l.
Reaching these first 30 years of activity of IMF, an Italian company that designs, manufactures and installs coffee roasting machines and systems and that has now also established itself on international markets, is a great source of pride for me.
It gives me great pleasure to see the determination and passion that have always distinguished me in all these years of work in all my collaborators, in the workforce, in their daily work and also in their wish to celebrate our 30th anniversary by holding an event at the company today, Thursday 19, and tomorrow, Friday 20 September. It makes me all the more proud to see that I have been able to pass on a working philosophy that has enabled us to achieve so many positive results and reach so many milestones.
It is therefore with great pleasure and excitement that I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at IMF in Occhiobello for a visit to our production sites so that you can have an interesting and, we hope, enjoyable experience.
IMF has been designing and manufacturing roasters since 1994: how has this equipment evolved since then?
Lorenzo Maria Mosca, engineer, Chief Technical Department
The roasters produced by IMF, from the very beginning, have always been characterised and identified by their own particular technology; that means that, although one of our machines may be called a drum roaster, it could be defined as a hybrid, since the external heat generator is used to obtain an air convection method with the extraordinary result of obtaining all the positive aspects of both the drum and hot air machines on the final quality of the coffee.
Already born with an innovative and advanced technology from the thermodynamic cycle point of view, in fact, the main evolutions and developments that have taken place in the last decade have focused on important issues, such as energy savings, with solutions that have made for a considerable reduction in consumption and CO2 emissions.
Important innovations have been applied, for example, to the management and automation of the control system of the roasters, both in the smallest and in the industrial-sized ones, developing increasingly effective integrated software also with the help of artificial intelligence, thus guaranteeing greater consistency of quality through faithful repeatability of the roasting processes during all shifts.
Also from a safety point of view, particularly in industrial-sized roasters, tools and equipment have been put in place to reduce risks and accidents at work, not least with the possibility of being constantly connected via the internet in order to benefit from continuous remote support and technical service.
IMF distinguishes between artisanal and industrial roasters: apart from size, what are the main differences between the two types?
Roberto Pedini, Sales Coordinator Business Development
Another trait of IMF is that it has actually adopted its own product strategy, meaning that it has not differentiated the standards and technological content in its roasters in products of different ranges, such as entry level or professional; in fact, both the small roasting machines for micro roastery businesses and the medium and industrial ones have the same equipment in terms of both thermodynamic cycles and control systems, i.e. process automation and roasting profile management.
Similarly, all IMF models are equipped with an indirect clean hot air convection cooking system, which, thanks to a single, dual-function heat generation boiler, generates the thermal energy required for the roasting process and, at the same time, treats the smoke produced by roasting in order to reduce emissions into the atmosphere.
With this strategic choice, IMF wants to provide all operators, regardless of the size and type of company they operate in, with the same highly professional tool that would allow them to get the most out of their raw material.
IMF also builds complete plants: what do they include? What are the advantages of choosing an entire line born in the same factory?
Giorgio Maria Mosca, Area Sales Manager
In addition to manufacturing a wide range of roasting machines, the main process machine that is indispensable for coffee roasters, ranging from the smallest, particularly suitable for micro roastery businesses and micro batches for so-called specialty coffee, to the largest for coffee industries requiring high productivity and low production costs, IMF has specialised in designing and building complete plants and lines for coffee processing; by complete plant, briefly, we mean what is needed from reception of the raw product to final processing, including transport, sorting, storage, and roasting, all more or less automated depending on the customer’s needs.
The complete line is always a good solution for the customer, but even more so for those new investors starting out in the coffee business; it is a considerable advantage to have a single point of contact responsible for the entire project. If this supplier can also act as a consultant – as is the case at IMF thanks to the profound knowledge of green coffee of Alessandro Garbin himself, who has been in the industry for three generations and has a long experience of coffee transformation processes in the roasting industry – the service becomes truly complete.
Today the goals are sustainability and energy savings: how does IMF face up to this double challenge? What does the future of coffee roasters look like? Can you share some insights with us?
Roberto Pedini, Sales Coordinator Business Development
IMF has always been sensitive and attentive to these important issues; these are challenges we are currently facing and with which both the coffee roasting sector and all production and raw material processing have been grappling for quite some time. This is why we have always relied on an integrated roasting and smoke treatment process for all our roasting machines that will make it possible to use less fuel, thus also reducing CO2 emissions. IMF is constantly researching new technical solutions that are part of the technological transition that is now required for all production processes.
IMF’s goal for the future is to increasingly reduce the use of fossil fuels, through alternative sources, be they renewables – such as photovoltaics and wind power combined to produce the electricity needed to power the electric motors of the roasting machines – or alternative fuels – such as hydrogen for the burners that produce the thermal energy needed for the roasting process.
We have already started applying and testing these technologies, but, for the sake of intellectual honesty, we must also say that their concrete application is reserved for small-scale machines, as the energy requirements for industrial machines used in large-scale industry are considerable; therefore, at the moment, these hydrogen production plants, which in any case require electricity, and the infrastructure, that leaves much to be desired, do not yet make industrial-scale realisations economically viable.
It is a given, in any case, that the use of software increasingly supported by artificial intelligence will progressively characterise advanced technological solutions aimed at improving the quality aspects of the final product and the machine-operator interface relationship.
At the same time, however, we are aware and convinced that the path towards the future passes through greater sustainability, so we are committed to do our best to be more eco-friendly than this unique world we have for the time being.
