GEA Group

Bruno Sonego is the Director of Automation and controls at GEA Group. He is in charge of keeping the department’s calendar up to date, making sure projects are delivered, and creating appropriate KPIs to assess the department’s performance.

Could you please walk me through the journey you have had and your current role and responsibility?

My penchant for manufacturing started when I was pursuing my degree in Brazil and I made my specification in robotics engineering in South Korea. Thereon, I started working in a national food manufacturing company that makes massive freezer equipment to store up to 40 tons of meat per day. Following this work experience, I joined hands with GEA Group as a process engineer. Currently, as Director of Automation and Controls at GEA Group, I am solely responsible for managing and developing a team of electrical designers and controls engineers and co-ordinate projects execution in design phase with in a multi-disciplinary environment.

We are globally one of the biggest manufacturers of machines specifically focused on food segments such as liquids and powders. One in each three cups of coffee and one in each two cups of milk are made by GEA machinery. When coming to frozen food, we are a small division of food processing including baking, cooking, frying, and packing yet highly profitable. Every machine in it has a different segment within our company. Currently, I am taking over the engineering sector with technologies scattered on New Zealand, India, Brazil, Netherlands, and Canada. All our engineers are operating in one location for the project execution and in 98 countries for installation, commissioning and service.

Would you like to share about the culture garnered at GEA Group?

We are mainly focused on engineering to order many customizations for the customer. We are well evaluated in the market as a company that works above all to meet customer demands. Our culture lies in the way leaders, from CEO down the line, sell and manage portfolio of products. We are changing ourselves flexibly in working with small and even large companies over the amount of bureaucracy. While people are very much against change, sometimes I find it challenging to prepare experienced and new employees in these changing environments. It is a hard thing to implement in the core of the business. This year, we are planning to invest in persons to increase the value of the employee and create a big difference in their salary. In the wake of work from home norms, the quality of work- life balance is also drastically impacted for which employees must promote flexibility on their work schedules and program themselves to organize activities without silos.

How has the manufacturing landscape evolved over the years and what are the latest manufacturing technologies you leverage?

The manufacturing industry is witnessing huge improvement in the industry 4.0 even as it is not fully utilized and defined. Companies are adopting technologies like big data to gather more information and perform better. The trend line for manufacturing space is heading upward with more competition among companies adding value to their machines and data.

"We are heavily entrenched into the 3D printing sector that we are capable of prototyping any machinery, transforming any ideas or concepts into reality"

We leverage these trends in mechanical engineering and prototyping to bring a development in the way machines use smart design. Our design team uses AI to create mechanical designs, test the strong points with the 3D printing capabilities. The way we develop general prototypes has turned upside down in no time. We are heavily entrenched into the 3D printing sector that we are capable of prototyping any machinery, transforming any ideas or concepts into reality. This is improving our process of developing new manufacturing parts, machinery, and technologies.

What are some of the challenges existing in the manufacturing industry and how do you align yourselves accordingly?

Automation is not on the spotlight and underestimated in the manufacturing industry. In any machinery, 90 percent of the cost goes into the mechanical portion and the remaining 10 percent falls under software and electrical portions. It is the mechanical part that is creating a huge impact on the product quality rather than the data acquired from the machine. Fortunately, we have companies like GEA Group that are driven by the vision of implementing automation to improve the quality of machines over data. However, in my opinion, the most important thing that we have in our machines is the accessibility of data that makes everyone capable of understanding how to improve efficiency and save energy.

How do you envision the future of automation industry?

Automation is gaining ground in every domain such as the revolution of data driven products, software as a service business models, machine learning, smart and intelligent solutions, integration, calculation, and KPI generation. It is incredibly great to understand how machines behave based on the acquired data and gain proper preventive maintenance reports. Hopefully the future of automation can reach the level where it will be utilized for identifying the best recipe, saving energy, improving patient health, and other multiple purposes.

What would be your single piece of advice to an aspiring professional in your field?

Without standards, there is no path for innovation and progress. We have to acknowledge our limits and map the process with a clear understanding on what is being done. Based on the knowledge that we gain, we begin to grow and create something that will improve by itself.