Food & Beverage Processing
Experts for Food & Beverage Processing

Natalie Waldecker
VEGA Grieshaber KGNatalie Waldecker, Portfolio Manager Food and Pharma, knows the challenges of the demanding industries inside out. With her broad application knowledge, she is at home on topics such as hygiene design, certificates and cleanability. As product manager for pressure measurement technology, she is also responsible for one of the most important measuring principles for the industry. Natalie gathers her knowledge as close to the application as possible. Preferably directly at the customer’s site, experiencing “real world” practice. She has thus gotten thoroughly acquainted with international customer requirements and knows the ins and outs of the market. With this background, she is able to not only explain technical relationships in an understandable way, but also offer valuable tips and convincing solutions. In the 12 years she has been with VEGA, she has steadily improved her expertise which makes her the right person to contact for new product ideas and tailored customer solutions.
Hello, my name is Lee Sandry and I am a Sector Training Manager at Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions. My role primarily involves training sales colleagues to provide customers the best fluid handling solutions in industrial sectors, including water treatment, mining, chemical and construction applications. Being from Cornwall and surrounded by the mining industry, with a father who worked underground, my local environment was always about engineering and mineral processing. My apprenticeship when I left school was with the large mining machinery manufacturer, which has led me onto greater things. My background at Watson-Marlow started in 1996 when I was involved in the production of hundreds of parts that go into the manufacture of our pumps. This was followed with becoming a Technical Support Engineer, working directly with colleagues and customers globally. Site visits and constant customer-facing support at Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions, gave me the opportunity to experience many aspects of installation and operation of our peristaltic and sinusoidal pumps range. My aim is to enable sales teams around the world to provide robust solutions for demanding pumping applications, helping customers improve the efficiency and safety of their manufacturing process. Choosing the right pump can overcome problems that cause other pump types to fail. With no rotors to wear, or seals and glands to flush, peristaltic hose pumps handle abrasive fluids without the maintenance costs of other pumps. Whilst the extremely low shear and high suction sinusoidal pumps reduce product damage and cut waste in high viscosity fluid transfer duties.

Matt Smith
SilversonMatt Smith is Sales Director at Silverson Machines, which has over 70 years of experience helping customer in the field of high shear mixing. Silverson Machines serve many different industries from Pharmaceuticals to Food and can be used in a variety of applications including emulsifying - creating stable emulsions, blending liquids of varying viscosities and homogenisation. Along with a dedicated and knowledgeable Sales team and Technical staff, Silverson Machines can help find the right mixer for your application.

Francisco Hernandez
HRS Heat ExchangersFrancisco graduated as an industrial technical engineer at the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (Murcia, Spain) in 1993, and joined HRS in 1998. After a year as a design engineer, he focused on HRS’ food processing projects, developing, designing and commissioning large projects for customers. Throughout his professional career, Francisco has worked primarily within the food industry and has an in-depth understanding of its process nuances and requirements. In 2010, he was made Food Business Director for the HRS Group, supporting the sales teams’ engagements and customer requirements internationally across all of the HRS Group’s offices. Francisco’s extensive technical knowledge developed throughout his career as a design engineer, along with his ability to understand the unique needs of the client, have made him one of the top experts in the food processing industry.

Pascal van Putten
VPInstrumentsPascal van Putten, CEO at VPInstruments, has over 25 years of experience in energy monitoring for compressed air and industrial gases. With a background in engineering and a strong focus on sustainability, he founded VPInstruments to provide easy-to-use, reliable tools for measuring flow, pressure, power, dew point, and more. Under his leadership, the company has developed innovative products like the VPFlowScope flow meter series and the VPVision energy management system, now used in factories worldwide. Pascal believes that accurate measurement is the first step toward meaningful energy savings and carbon reduction. He regularly speaks at conferences and workshops, sharing insights on industrial energy efficiency. As part of this expert panel, Pascal looks forward to addressing your questions on compressed air monitoring and sustainable energy management.

Dietmar Saecker
Endress+Hauser AGDietmar Saecker is temperature measurement expert at Endress+Hauser in Nesselwang, Germany. His experience covers technical sales support, consulting for difficult temperature measurement applications and international know-how transfers, especially in the Life Sciences industry. He also teaches at the Kempten University of Applied Sciences. Dietmar studied Chemical Engineering with a focus on measurement and control technology at the University of Dortmund. Experience from many customer visits has shown him that many problems arise from an incorrect choice of equipment. In lectures and training courses on temperature measurement technology, he demonstrates the complexity of the subject and regularly surprises numerous listeners with his thoughts and experiences. His recipe: “Recognizing trends and sharing knowledge. Because only when we share knowledge can we develop better solutions together.” Dietmar is looking forward to your questions and the exchange with you.

Dominik Hegen
HERMETIC-Pumpen GmbHA pump is more than just rotary equipment. It is the promise to solve a pumping task safely and reliably. In his function as a product and application manager at HERMETIC-Pumpen GmbH, Dominik Hegen takes care of transparently presenting the knowledge about pump technology and the selection of the pump to the customer. After an apprenticeship as a mold mechanic for high injection tools, Dominik graduated as an industrial engineer and specialized in the field of product management and has 9 years of professional experience in this field in different positions. At HERMETIC – Pumpen GmbH he is responsible for standardized canned motor pumps which are used in chemistry, Petrochemistry and oil and gas applications. With numerous webinars and user-friendly brochures, he supports customers and interested parties in the selection of suitable pumps and works as an interface between sales and technology. Should you want to know more about one of the most safe, cost efficient and reliable pump technologies do not hesitate to contact Dominik Hegen.

Erik Tiemensma
Bronkhorst High-Tech B.V.Erik Tiemensma, Sales Knowledge Manager, has over 20 years of experience in flow and pressure measurement and control for gas, liquid and vapour. For many years Erik worked as Sales Engineer supporting worldwide sales channels in finding the best solutions for customers’ applications. At Bronkhorst we are convinced that sharing experiences and knowledge is an added value for customers, when discussing the most suitable products for their applications. As part of this expert panel, looks forward to your challenging flow or pressure questions.

Nikolas Oppenberger
UWT GmbHAs product manager at UWT Nikolas specializes in solving demanding applications, consulting, training and troubleshooting. He also studied industrial engineering, technical product and innovation management. Since coming to UWT in 2018 he found his passion for level measurement solutions for different process situations in a variety of industries. He enjoys new, exciting challenges and he is our go-to expert on tricky installations around the globe. PERFORMANCE. UP TO THE MAX. That's what motivates him. Markus started out his career by training as a Systems Electronics Technician where he acquired valuable practical experiences in this field. He then moved on to study at the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland) and the University of Applied Sciences Kempten (Germany) where he graduated as an Electronics Engineer. Since then, he has gained over 20 years’ experience in product management, application consulting and product training working for international operating companies specializing in measurement and control devices. During that time Markus has worked with various sensor technologies in the field of flow, pressure and level control providing innovative solutions for organisations around the globe. Currently his professional focus is on level measurement, especially vibration, capacitive and radio frequency technologies. In addition he also specializes in rotary paddle, guided and free radar devices. With his extensive experience within the industry Markus is renowned as an expert in all applications delivering solutions from the standard through to extreme measurement situations as well as the more unusual niche applications.

Paul de Waal
Vögtlin Instruments GmbHPaul de Waal is Dutch and educated as a Measurement and Control /Electronics Engineer. After a start as Instrumentation Engineer at Delta Controls, often outsourced to Shell, he became Managing Director of Sierra Instruments b.v. for almost 25 years. In 2012 he moved to the UK and now works as Business Development Director at Vögtlin Instruments GmbH in Switzerland. Paul has been active is several ISO committees and has a wide network of international relations that he can call upon to support him. (Vögtlin is part of the TASI group). He has practical experience with about every flow meter principle available. Currently his professional focus is application support, product development and international sales promotions. His main interest and experience lies in non-fiscal gas mass flow measurement/control systems and calibration. Gas mass flow meters and controllers used in applications like consumption measurements and distribution, gas dosing, mixing, (leak) testing, flame control, furnace, glass, heat treatment, packaging and analysers. Application for this can be found in industries like Food, Bio technology, Surface technologies, Welding, Medical, Pharma, Energy (Solar, Fuel cells, combustion, etc), chemical, semiconductor, metal industry and many more..

Casey Williamson
GFCasey Williamson is Head of Business Development Microelectronics Global Industries for Georg Fischer. For the last 25 years, he has provided support for the semiconductor and photovoltaic sub-segments; through the years, he has been instrumental in defining fab construction requirements as they apply to piping systems for the conveyance of high-purity liquids, process cooling, and chemical waste streams as well as analytical control systems to optimize the operations of UPW and waste systems.

Trevor Forster
Titan Enterprises LtdTrevor Forster is Managing Director of the internationally respected flowmeter company - Titan Enterprises Ltd. His experience in fluid handling dates back to the mid 1960's when he started working on rotating seals and flowmeter design for third party clients. Trevor draws upon his extensive experience of using innovative design and production techniques to produce elegant flow metering solutions for organisations around the globe. Titan Enterprises supply a range of off-the-shelf flowmeters, application-specific flowmeters & bespoke flow metering devices & solutions. Their flow sensors are designed to customer specifications & to meet specific flow ranges & environmental conditions.Titan are also a supplier of NSF-approved flowmeters for food & beverage applications.

Bob Steinberg
Sage MeteringBob Steinberg is the founder, president, and CEO of Sage Metering. He has over 40 years of instrumentation experience. Before forming Sage Metering in 2002, Steinberg managed thermal mass flow meter sales at Kurz Instruments, Sierra Instruments, and Eldridge Products. While at Weston Instruments, he was a product marketing engineer. He has a BSEE and a BA from Rutgers University.

Food & Beverage processing relies on fluid handling technology to ensure efficient and hygienic production practices. This specialized field involves the precise handling, measurement, control, and dispensing of fluids throughout all stages of the beverage production process. From the initial storage of raw materials to the final packaging of finished products, fluid handling technology plays a crucial role in maintaining quality and consistency. This technology enables producers to maintain stringent hygiene standards and optimize production efficiency.