UZWIL, SWITZERLAND — Bühler has created a new Consumer Foods segment to address the global food market.

It will combine the current chocolate, nuts, bakery and coffee business with the newly acquired Haas Group business to support customers through simplified interfaces, integrated solutions, innovation and services.

Germar Wacker, now chief executive officer (CEO) of Haas, will lead the new segment and join Bühler’s executive board.

Creation of a new business segment is a milestone in Bühler’s over 150-year history, it said. In the recent past, the company has operated two businesses: Advanced Materials and Grains & Food.

Triggered by the acquisition of the Haas Group, Bühler is aligning its setup and forming a new business truly focused on Consumer Foods and confectionery with integrated solutions to produce wafers, biscuits, baked foods, chocolate, pralines, filled products, nuts, coffee, and more.

“With this move, we can create significant value for our customers and position ourselves as a clear leader in the growing consumer foods market,” said Stefan Scheiber, CEO of Bühler.

 Since its acquisition in January, Haas has operated as a separate Bühler business. The integration showed remarkable results in a very short time, Bühler said.

Bühler and Haas already serve many key customers together, work jointly on customer projects, and are in discussion with numerous interested partners. The new organization, which combines all consumer foods related technologies and solutions in one segment, is the logical next step to serve customers from one single point of origin.

“With this new, strong business pillar in the field of processing technologies in consumer foods, we can offer specialized knowledge as well as research and development to the needs of our customers in that sector,” Wacker said.

The new organization will become effective Jan. 1, 2019.