29/07/2026

Automation, Flexibility and Quality: Simatek Bulk System’s Vision for the Future of the Pet Food Industry

Simatek Bulk Systems has built a strong presence in process technology for the pet food industry. How do you evaluate the current opportunities and challenges within the European and Latin American pet food markets?
The pet food industry continues to grow in both Europe and Latin America, driven by increasing pet ownership and the trend of pet humanization. Consumers are demanding higher-quality products, more premium ingredients, and greater product variety.

For manufacturers, this creates opportunities to expand production capacity while maintaining product quality and consistency. At the same time, challenges include rising raw material costs, labor shortages, stricter sustainability requirements, and the need for greater production flexibility.

In both regions, producers are looking for reliable automation solutions that can improve efficiency while protecting product integrity. This is particularly important in pet food applications where product appearance, shape, texture, and coating quality directly influence consumer perception and brand value.

As product quality becomes an increasingly important differentiator, gentle handling throughout the production process is essential to minimize breakage, dust generation, and product waste.   What solutions and technologies is Simatek Bulk Systems currently highlighting for pet food manufacturers looking to improve efficiency, automation, and product handling?
Simatek Bulk Systems specializes in gentle conveying solutions designed to transport fragile and valuable pet food products with minimal degradation and product loss.

A key technology is our Pendulift Bucket Elevator®, which allows manufacturers to move kibble, treats, pellets, extruded and coated pet food both vertically and horizontally while maintaining product integrity. The buckets remain level throughout the conveying process, significantly reducing breakage, dust generation, and product segregation.

One of the unique advantages of the Pendulift Bucket Elevator® is its ability to incorporate multiple inlet and discharge points within a single conveying system. This provides pet food manufacturers with greater flexibility in plant design and production flow, allowing products to be distributed efficiently between processing, coating, storage, and packaging areas while minimizing transfer points and product handling.

In addition, we offer the Drumfeeder, a unique solution designed for the gentle transfer of products between different processing stages. Unlike conventional transfer points that can subject products to impact and mechanical stress, the Drumfeeder provides a smooth and controlled product flow, helping preserve product quality throughout the process.

Together, the Pendulift Bucket Elevator® and Drumfeeder help manufacturers: Reduce product breakage and waste.  Preserve coating quality and product appearance.  Minimize dust generation and product segregation.  Improve production efficiency and product yield.  Simplify complex product flows through multiple inlet and discharge configurations.  Ensure reliable and automated product handling throughout the facility. 
  Furthermore, our systems feature compact designs, low energy consumption, and high operational reliability, enabling manufacturers to optimize plant layouts while reducing operating costs.

By combining gentle handling with efficient automation, we help pet food manufacturers improve productivity while maintaining the high product quality that consumers expect.  
 
The pet food industry is increasingly demanding more flexible and sustainable production methods. How is Simatek Bulk Systems adapting its solutions to meet these evolving market needs across different regions?
Flexibility and sustainability are key priorities for today's pet food producers.

We address these needs through solutions specifically designed to protect products while optimizing production efficiency. Our modular Pendulift Bucket Elevator® systems can handle a wide variety of product shapes, sizes, and densities, enabling manufacturers to adapt quickly to changing recipes, product formats, and market demands.

The ability to integrate multiple inlet and discharge points within the same conveyor system also provides manufacturers with the flexibility to accommodate future production expansions and process changes without major modifications to plant infrastructure.

The Drumfeeder further supports these objectives by ensuring gentle product transfer between processing equipment. By reducing product damage and minimizing fines generation, manufacturers can achieve higher yields while reducing unnecessary waste.

From a sustainability perspective, our technologies contribute to: Lower product losses.  Reduced energy consumption.  Improved resource utilization.  Higher production efficiency.  Less rework and waste disposal. 
  As sustainability targets become increasingly important across Europe and Latin America, solutions that improve yield and reduce waste will play a growing role in helping manufacturers meet both environmental and economic objectives.

We work closely with customers worldwide to tailor solutions to their specific products, production capacities, facility layouts, and local requirements, ensuring long-term value and operational performance.   Looking ahead, what trends do you believe will shape the future of pet food production in Europe and Latin America, and how is Simatek Bulk Systems preparing to support manufacturers through these changes?
Several trends are expected to shape the future of pet food production: Continued growth of premium and functional pet food products.  Increased automation and digitalization of production facilities.  Greater focus on sustainability and waste reduction.  More product variants and shorter production runs.  Higher quality expectations from consumers.  Increased demand for traceability and process optimization. 
  As pet food products become more sophisticated and valuable, manufacturers will place even greater emphasis on preserving product quality throughout the production process. Gentle handling will therefore become increasingly important.

At the same time, producers will increasingly require flexible conveying solutions that can support more complex plant layouts and evolving production requirements. The ability to transport products gently while serving multiple process lines from a single system will become an important competitive advantage.

Simatek Bulk Systems is preparing for these developments by continuously enhancing technologies such as our Pendulift Bucket Elevator® and Drumfeeder, which are specifically designed to protect fragile products while supporting highly automated production environments.

Our focus is to help manufacturers increase throughput, reduce waste, maintain product quality, and create more sustainable operations. By ensuring gentle handling at every stage—from product transfer to conveying—we enable producers to meet future market demands without compromising product integrity.
  We believe that the combination of automation, flexibility, sustainability, and gentle product handling will be key to the next generation of pet food manufacturing, and we are committed to supporting our customers throughout that journey.

As production requirements continue to evolve across Europe and Latin America, automation, flexibility and careful product handling will play an increasingly important role in helping manufacturers remain competitive. Through innovative conveying solutions, Simatek Bulk Systems continues to support pet food producers in improving operational efficiency while maintaining the quality consumers expect.

Find out more at https://simatek-bulk.com/ By Michael Hvid, Head of Sales at Simatek Bulk Systems
Source: All Pet Food