Loos Machine, Kalt To Complement Strengths With Global Collaboration

Colby, WI—Loos Machine and Automation and Kalt Maschinebau AG have reached a strategic partnership where both companies benefit from the other company’s strengths in the worldwide dairy industry.

Loos Machine, headquartered in Colby, WI, is well known for its dairy product conveyance lines, size reduction systems, and other processing equipment.

Kalt, headquartered in Switzerland, is well known for its cheese pressing systems, cheese vats, and other processing equipment.

Complementing each company’s strengths, Loos and Kalt, together, through this partnership, will be able to design and supply an automated turnkey cheese manufacturing facility anywhere in the world.

“The goal for this strategic collaboration, particularly from Loos’ side of things, is to continue to build on our current offerings. That being custom automated cheesemaking and cheese handling equipment,” said Eric Mertens, president of Loos Machine.

Mertens went on to say that one benefit of the collaboration in working with Kalt is its large presence in the worldwide specialty cheese market.

“We don’t currently dabble much in the specialty cheese market,” Mertens said. “Kalt is well known in that market throughout the world. This will also create a better introduction and penetration of our core products to the European and specialty cheese markets.”

The two companies have worked together in the past, but Brady Hoes, vice president of Loos, said the informal partnership will benefit each company by working off the strengths of the other company.

“We have worked well in the past,” Hoes said. “That’s the vision of this collaboration. To work together on projects, Kalt on the front end of production and Loos on the back end. It’s going to be a pretty powerful partnership.”

“We can integrate Kalt’s offerings with our automation, but also their equipment can work well with some of our proprietary technologies, as well.” Mertens said.

Kalt has several installations in the US already, said René Weber, CEO of Kalt North America. He sees many benefits, particularly in relieving some of the labor woes some in the cheese industry are facing. He says automating the cheese plant is a priority for cheese manufacturers — large or small.

“I think we complement each other well,” Weber said. “Kalt’s equipment is unique in how it is built. It is high-quality equipment with high performance, high yields, with a limited number of employees needed to operate.”

“The equipment we are talking about is very specialized, with a high offering of technology,” Mertens followed up.

Weber said Kalt is particularly strong in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Ireland, and the Scandinavian markets.

“We both now have a lot more access. A lot more access, with additional resources to highlight. Call it a combined knowledge of leaders,” Weber said. “We look forward to enriching this collaboration.”

“For Kalt, it makes sense now to actively try to make itself better known in the US market,” Weber said. “We want to provide services, quick reaction time, and have top quality services for our equipment. We will work through Loos as a supplier friend to provide solutions for the dairy industry.”

Weber said the company has successful North American installations of cassette pressing systems, brine systems, HTST systems, curing rooms, copper vats, and more.

“We are also trying to be at the forefront in automation equipment that detects its own problems.”

For Loos that means taking on more of an active integration, service, support, and installation role of Kalt’s equipment.

“I see us taking different roles on more of Kalt’s automation platform systems that are typically used here in the US,” Mertens said.

“Kalt has a good network in Europe,” Weber said. “Whenever it makes sense, we would also promote Loos’ equipment. This will benefit both sides.”

For Loos, probably due to a misperception that it works only on expensive projects specific to the 640- and 500-pound cheese handling portion of the industry, working with Kalt opens up the specialty cheese market.

“We aren’t a cookie-cutter equipment provider,” Mertens said. “We provide unique solutions to unique challenges. We think the specialty market here and abroad is a growing market. We know the specialty market needs labor-saving, cost-effective automation too. That’s where we think this collaboration benefits the entire industry.”

Weber agrees and sees a great benefit in the return on investment cheese manufacturers will see throughout the industry, large and small.

“I think the industry will see an increased ROI, not just yield and efficiencies, and quality, but also the longevity of the equipment and its performance,” Weber said.

Both companies say what they have most in common is the quality of workmanship that goes with crafting the equipment.

“I think both companies really understand the customer’s task and that needed attention to detail,” said Troy Kilty, director of sales at Loos. “There’s a lot of synergy between our companies; building high-quality equipment but always keeping the customer in mind.”

For more information on Kalt and its cheese processing equipment, visit www.kalt-ag.ch/en/.

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