The KRONEN Freshcut Seminar is a unique event in South America, where every two years more than 100 experts from the industry meet. It offers a platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences between experts. For the third time now, KRONEN organised the Freshcut Technical Seminar in Bogotá together with Juan Neustadtel SAS, the exclusive KRONEN representation in Colombia. More than 55 companies from 12 countries came to this event at the end of 2019 and contributed their competences from the Freshcut sector within the seminar.
This time, the first day of the seminar took place at the Andinapack exhibition centre and included informative presentations by experts from various fields: Chris Glasow (Owner Ultraperf, Canada) spoke about the latest developments in the field of packaging films for fresh produce; Clive Champion (Consultant CCP, UK) explained how hygiene and care in freshcut production lines are essential for success. Mariano Pereyra (Technical Consultant, Chile) shared his experience in repositioning a company team to drive production growth and new product development.
Wide range of seminar presentations
After lunch, which provided further opportunities for exchanges between the participants, the presentations continued with Ms Hildegard Töpfer (Töpfer Salads, Germany) giving insights into her 35 years of experience in the industry. The closing speaker of the day was Johannes Günther, Managing Director and Sales Manager of KRONEN GmbH, who presented new technologies in food processing, adapted to the modern requirements of the freshcut industry, and gave an overview of current customer as well as research and development projects.
After the presentations, the participants visited the Juan Neustadtel SAS booth at the Andinapack, an international processing and packaging exhibition for the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, which took place in Bogotá at that time and where live demonstrations of the KRONEN GS10-2 were shown. There the participants also met Juan Esteban Ocampo from Juan Neustadtel SAS and Juan Lindmayer from KRONEN, who were intensively involved in the organisation of the seminar.
At the end of the day, KRONEN invited all participants to a dinner and a show on one of the skyscrapers in Bogotá, where the participants enjoyed a wonderful view of the city as well as local and international dishes with wines from Chile and Argentina. Of course, the Latin American music invited to dance and the participants enjoyed a pleasant evening with interesting conversations. 
Visits to production facilities
On the second day of the seminar, all international visitors were invited on a guided tour of several Freshcut production facilities. During the tour of the production lines, the participants had the opportunity to see different KRONEN processing lines in operation: several GS 10 / GS10-2 belt slicers, different types of GEWA washing machines, KS-100 PLUS spinners and a KUJ V dicer, pin and disc slicer and a potato peeling machine PL 25 as well as a packaging station of the KRONEN partner GKS.
The organizers draw a very positive conclusion, as many qualified visitors attended the seminar to exchange experiences and knowledge, but also to share nice moments in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. It was inspiring to see how small producers at the beginning of their business activities could exchange ideas with long-standing companies like potters and participants could learn from each other.
Exchange of knowledge and experience
KRONEN regularly organises expert lectures also in Germany. In 2020 the next Sales Meeting and the next Customer Day will take place, where knowledge and experiences can be exchanged with experts from all over the world.
For more information: www.kronen.eu