The family-owned and operated company Lothar A. Wolf Spezialmaschinen has established a strong market position worldwide as an innovative developer and skilled advisor with new and used machinery. sweets processing spoke with Michael Lothar Wolf, co-owner and head of the company, and his two sons Maurice and Marvin Wolf.

The company Lothar A. Wolf Spezialmaschinen GmbH is headquartered in Bad Salzuflen/Germany. For more than 60 years, the company has established a strong ­position in the sweets industry with the development of new special machines and the sale of used machinery. The broad range of products and services also includes project planning and the overhaul and repair of machinery.

sweets processing: Mr Wolf, asked up front: how have you managed during the Covid-19 crisis, and what is your orders situation like at present?
Michael Lothar Wolf: All in all, we‘ve come through the crisis well up to now. It helped last year that we have a broad base and we‘re able to operate in such a diversified way. As such, 2020 was more focused on our used machinery business. We noticed how insecure companies were feeling at the beginning of the crisis and that they were holding back on new purchases. Yet, when orders in food product retail didn’t decrease, but instead even increased, manufacturers quickly had to adjust their capacities upwards. They also covered their needs with used and overhauled machinery.

sp: What is the ratio of new machines to used machinery?
Michael Lothar Wolf: For the reasons I just mentioned, last year, 30 percent of our revenues came from used machinery. Normally, the ratio is 80 to 20 in favour of new machines, and we see that it’s swinging back this way now. There are enough orders for the development of new machinery, and we‘re already delivering a series of new machines.

sp: Is this critical phase especially challenging for you as a family company?
Michael Lothar Wolf: We are literally trained in crises, all the way back to the foundation of the company as a result of the Great Depression in 1929. My great-grandfather Arno ­Rudolf Wolf worked as an engineer at the J. M. Lehmann machine factory in Dresden, the largest chocolate ­machine manufacturer in the world at the time, but was unable to advance further and later moved to Elitewerke AG in Nossen/Saxony as a board member. When Elitewerke AG could hardly sell any new machines due to the crisis in 1929, he seized the opportunity to take over the partial operation of Elitewerke AG with 60 employees and invented out of necessity the business model that is still valid today. Arno R. Wolf ­Maschinenbauanstalt continued to manufacture new special machines and plants – not only for the cocoa and chocolate industry, but also for the soap, chemical, paint and food industries – and offered planning, ­assembly, repairs, expert opinions and consulting. In particular, the offer of used, ”repaired” machines ensured survival during the world economic crisis. After the Second World War, the family found a new home in Bad Salzuflen, and in 1960, the development and manufacture of new machines started again – also in cooperation with a well-known manufacturer. Thus, we have been building machines for chocolate production for more than 90 years.

sp: Today, your company is above all a leader in dragee machinery.
Michael Lothar Wolf: We introduced our first dragee cabinet onto the market in 1999, and with the Coatmaster, today, we’re the global market leader. And last year, we also started a ”revolution” in tempering machines with the Twin Hybrid concept.

sp: We can see that in the Covid-19 crisis the issues of sustainability and climate protection have increased in importance. Does this also play a role here?
Michael Lothar Wolf: Of course. We already had energy efficiency on our agenda around the turn of the millennium, and we’ve continually optimized this, even though this issue took more of a back seat in the industrial sector in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008/2009. In contrast to conventional processes, we recirculate the energy in our system.

Thanks to this closed cycle, our belt coating dragee machines use 70 percent less energy than comparable dragee kettles. Today, we supply machines with between 60 litres to 650 litres of production volume – ranging from semi-automatic to fully automatic control. As a result of the energy savings and the reduction of personnel costs alone, in one year‘s time, a 600-kilogramme dragee cabinet amortises the cost of 15 dragee kettles. In this ecological and sustainable regard, we want to be known as the ”Green Wolf”.
Maurice Wolf: The cabinet also cleans itself during production. The recipes are programmed, and now­adays, they can even be changed ­online, also from here by us. With coating, one thinks first of nuts and almonds or sugar pearls, but our dragee cabinets provide enormous diversity in possibilities for application. Examples include things like coating in the booming snack sector with items like Nic Nacs. Even powdered, fat and filling masses are not a problem, and companies can even produce pralines on this
machine.

sp: The energy question also plays a big role with the Twin Hybrid tempering machine that the company launched in 2020.
Michael Lothar Wolf: Tempering machines have been in our portfolio right from the beginning. We design­ed the hybrid tempering machine ­here in 2016, and since last year, we have been offering the unique Twin Hybrid version that we developed in partnership with the Knobel company. Its compact 2-in-1 construction saves companies space and investment costs. The tempering machine, which saves an enormous amount of energy just like the hybrid version, can be moved anywhere in production and be deployed flexibly – it‘s a true all-rounder that can be used from the smallest confectionery shop up to medium-sized operations. The machine is ideal for coating with moulding equipment with lower ­sales volume and for machines that use several different kinds of masses, such as in the garnishing or decorating segment.

sp: We observe that the supply ­industry has to increasingly be pro­active in R&D.
Marvin Wolf: Yes, we see this more and more, too. We have also built a test kitchen and laboratory, and we equally cooperate with companies from the supply sector, for instance with the ingredient companies ­Döhler and Capol. And for many years, we have also maintained close partnerships with scientific and educational institutions such as with ­Professor Jörg Stender from the OWL University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and the ZDS in Solingen/Germany. We also frequently host confectionery manufacturers here to test newly developed products on the machines, or also to ­create innovative new equipment together with our team.

sp: The Covid-19 crisis has significantly accelerated the trend toward digitalization. How are you handling this challenge?
Michael Lothar Wolf: We‘ve also ­been investing for some time in technologies and capabilities, for instance with the controls and touch panels for our machines. We also ­upgrade used machinery with repairs and overhauling to the very latest ­state of digital technology. Troubleshooting and fixing problems is done online worldwide now, and even recipe changes can now be done from here with the push of a button. This was, naturally, a big help for us over the past several months, given the restricted personal contact and the inability to travel. Recently, we filmed the start-up of a new ­system, and a global concern then accepted it via livestream.
Maurice Wolf: One important factor in our philosophy is close contact and servicing our customers. Con­sultation and project planning are ­important components. For example, we go to the manufacturers and watch their production together with them. What needs to be done? What can we improve, for instance with things like savings in personnel costs and energy? We do this to determine exactly whether and how we can support the customer. And if something is not right for a customer, we tell them that too.

sp: Some things can only be cleared up through personal contact, though. In this regard, how do you view the lack of trade fairs?
Michael Lothar Wolf: Above all, the lack of the ProSweets Cologne trade fair is very painful for us. For our company‘s size, this is the best trade fair there is, the confectionery industry‘s ‘Meet-&-Greet’. And we’ve been there from the very beginning, by the way. Many small and medium-sized company owners, our core target group, come to Cologne, whereas, otherwise, we’re mostly in contact with purchasers and sales representatives.

sp: Back to the family-based structure. What‘s the situation at the company today?
Michael Lothar Wolf: We are and ­remain a traditional family-owned and operated company, that I now manage in the fourth generation as CEO and majority shareholder together with my brother Stephan. In 2010, we built a new 7,000 square metres ­administration and production facil­ity here in Bad Salzuflen-Holzhausen, fitted with modern equipment such as cargo cranes for servicing conches weighing several tonnes. My brother Stephan was mainly responsible for the conception and implementation of the new building. At present, we employ 40 employees. I‘ve been involved in the company for 34 years, and now, with my sons Maurice and Marvin as well as my niece Jasmin, the next generation is integrating itself into the processes. So, the successorship is secure. It’s important for a family-owned and operated company that everyone enjoys the work. And I can genuinely say that we still really enjoy our work.