Industry profile

BALAGUER ROLLS

100 years of engineering that today supports

affordable and high-quality milled foodstuffs

by Roger Gilbert, Milling and Grain

urning swords to ploughshares, a

biblical quotations from Isaiah 2:34,
took on a new meaning when I visited
the popular tourists summer destination
of Alicanti in mid-June to help celebrate
a milestone for an international
company called Balaguer Rolls.
Here, in one of the most hedonistic
places on the planet, there is a company
turning steel into foodstuffs the modern equivalent of that now
famous biblical phrase.
Balaguer Rolls produces some 16,000 rolls annually for the
flour, vegetable oil, chocolate and cereal industry globally thats
70 per day ranging from 150mm to 812mm, based on rolls
diameters. Without these precision-made rolls it is doubtful that
our food industry could produce the food products of the quality
we have come to expect and at a price that is affordable.
Located in the hills that surround Alicante, the village of Onil,
which looks down on Castalla and some 40km north of the
coast, this company which employs just 160 staff, celebrated
its 100 year anniversary in June. It has a global reputation as a
most committed and advanced manufacturer of its type in the
world. 99 percent of its production is exported to more than 130
countries.
Rolls are manufactured from base metals including imported pig
iron, scrap metals and a selection of specialist metals including
titanium, chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel but to name a few.

Factory visit

Approximately 200 visitors attended the tour of the companys

manufacturing units in Onil. Following a short welcome and
video introduction, the visitors were divided into some 10
82 | July 2016 - Milling and Grain

separate groups to tour the manufacturing plant.

Milling and Grain was one of two magazines allowed
dispensation to take photographs inside the factory and was
escorted around the factory by foundry manager Patricia Pla.
After viewing the incoming metal bins, in flat storage and big
bags in the raw materials wearhouse, we passed through the
laboratory where all incoming metals are tested with the latest
scanning and probing equipment before entering the foundry
itself. Metal samples of completed rolls are also kept for a period
of 10 years for quality control purposes.
This company runs some five induction furnaces which
feed into their respective centrifugal machines that spins the
molten metal into the shape of the roll layering metal down in
Antonio Juan Navas, quality
control manager, carries out the
ultrasonic testing

Advanced Feature Dryer

The Complexity
of Balancing
Sanitary Drying
and Efficiency

Visitors gather at the companys

welcome area before tours of the three
factory sites begin

Tolerance testing over the full length of

a roll must be within five microns

the required order to achieve an outer casting of 15-40mm

of hardened steel supported on a strong steel base. Rolls are
determined by their internal measurements and this company
produces rolls from 150mm to 812mm diameters.
The furnaces operating on our visit were the 2500kW units
preparing 4000kg of molten metal each. The completed
moulds are coated with silica so that they do not stick to
other metals and rolled outdoors to cool from their casting
temperature of 1550 deg C.
The tour covered the roughing area and the pre-machining
areas and then the boring area, all processes in preparing the
basic roll for balancing and shaft fitting. At this point all rolls
are ultrasonically tested to ensure there is no cracking and to

Has Now Been

Mastered
The Quick Clean Advanced Feature Dryer
from Extru-Tech, Inc., with industry-leading
fines handling, ease-of-cleaning access
and other key engineered sanitation
features, has elevated food safety to the
next level. Put your process in compliance
and well ahead of industry standards.

Roel Doornebosch from

Rodomach Welding Solutions fro
the Netherlands with Gerardus
Te Riele

Contact a dryer specialist today at

785-284-2153 or visit us online at
www.extru-techinc.com.

P.O. Box 8
100 Airport Road
Sabetha, KS 66534, USA
Phone: 785-284-2153
Fax: 785-284-3143
extru-techinc@extru-techinc.com
www.extru-techinc.com

ET-280A.indd 1

Milling and Grain - July 2016 | 831/7/16

2:11 PM

Industry profile

F
Patricia Pla, the foundry manager
at Balaguer explains the layering
of metals then ensure that the
outer 15-40mm of steel is of the
highest quality in terms of strength
and wearability

Rafael Snchez Herrero works on a

roll in the roughing area

Juan Ramon
Frances tests the
fluting on a roll to
ensure it is within the
tolerances specified
with the companys
purpose built flute
testing unit. This
handy brief-case
size unit carries a
three dimension
camera that has
a lens in its base to
read the rolls fluting

check the structure for any defects and to ensure the boundary
between the two metals making up the rolls are fully integrated.
Some of the larger rolls weight up to 20 tonnes and will spin up
to 1000rpm so its vital that any imperfections are located in the
manufacturing process.
Its not common that a roll is rejected. Once a roll is approved
it receives a serial number, not before, says Antonio Juan Navas,
quality control manager who carries out the ultrasonic testing.
There are also areas for sandblasting for surface and cleaning of
rolls using aluminum oxide and other materials and a workshop
in a separate building for shafts and any bought-in components
that, by the way, are tested to the same high standards as the
components made at the Balaguer factory.

roll production is taking place with the addition of the first largescale Rodomach fluting machine that has its own automated tool
grinding unit so the 12 tools fitted to the machine can be changed
and re-sharpened automatically. This helps the unit flut rolls up to
three times faster completing jobs of bigger rolls in just two hours.
When asked what made the machine so fast, the general
manager of Rodomach Welding Solutions Roel Doornebosh from
The Netherlands, who was on hand to explain the operation,
said the fluting tool was able to start slowly and then increase its
speed along the roll before reducing speed at the end and then
returning quickly to start the process again. He explained that this
configuration was effectively quicker that attempting to cut two
flutes at a time and also saved on energy.

Latest technologies in use

At the heart of the milling process

The latest development at Balaguer Rolls is the third factory

building which houses the high-precision rolls grinding area, the
fluting area and where the optical flute testing is carried out. The
building interior is kept at between 21-22 deg C year round.
A new piece of hand-operated testing equipment incorporating
the latest technology, can determine if rolls, especially those for
chocolate, biscuits, breakfast cereals manufacture, are within five
micron maximum tolerance set by the industry over the length of
the roll. This ensure manufacturers can achieve a precise grind
that meets product specifications.
In the fluting area were several Ocrim fluting machines. Each
roll takes anywhere between four to six hours to complete this
stage of the process. It is here that a significant development in
84 | July 2016 - Milling and Grain

The foundry site works a two-shift system with 24 people on

each shift. Because of the climate, shifts run from 22:00 through
to 14:00 each day. As demand increases the company is prepared
to introduce a third shift from 14:00-22:00.
This was a memorable, three-hour visit to a manufacturer that
produces engineered components that perform to the highest
standards at the very heart of our milling industry.
Companies such as Balaguer Rolls which we were invited
to help celebrate their 100th anniversary - and others producing
these and other unique components for our industry, form critical
parts of the milling process and are just as important as the
multitude of farmers who grow the cereals and cocoa that pass
between them.

BALAGUER ROLLS 100TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Hard work, humbleness, honesty, respect and passion for work

by David Balaguer (Translated by Heinz Sidler)

"Dont you think its amazing to be here?

All together, celebrating our century of life?
Imagine, a 100 years
I have to confess that just thinking of it makes me
feel dizzy"
100 years is a truly magical figure, with too many meanings.
If we speak of persons, to reach 100 years is more than a
physical achievement, it is almost like challenging nature.
But if we speak of the world of enterprises, I think the
merit is even greater. Few companies, only a very few, are
able to celebrate what is bringing us together here today.

History in the making

Do you know what? We have made history!

Not only has our company been able to reach this amazing
age, in fact, we have done so with the pride of having
achieved, during this period of time, and today produce the
best rolls in the world for the food industry.
It has not been easy to be sure. During such a long period
of time we have lived and outlived many situations. Some
better, others more difficult, ones full of joy, others bitter
and hard. Nothing else but the reflection of a lifetime. Of a
life still looking to the future, because, as opposed to the
100-year-old person, Balaguer still has a lot to tell and to do.
Our 100 years mean experience, but not weariness;
they mean motivation and new challenges; they mean
responsibilities and goals. Our 100 years have gone, they are
history but, above all, they mean the future, because we feel
young and fit to continue building on this dream which has
lasted for four generations. Four generations which we could
equate to the four sons of one family.

Sons one and two

Who is the first son? The firstborn son is the one who
faces all the problems life presents for the first time and who
really suffers all the negatives from doing things nobody has
done before.
Probably the second son is counseled by his elder brother:
However, he also has to cope with similar situations in his
life - difficulties and the unknown. Not easy either.
It hasnt been easy for the first two generations of Balaguer,
who had to overcome the period of creating and innovating,
in endless workdays and taking hard decisions, but the right
ones.

The third son

And here comes the third son,

Santiago - Mr Balaguer - as we
all here have known him. Let us
suppose he found himself in a
familiar situation, easy, supported
and counseled by his elder brothers.
Apparently, the path seemed
straight forward, but company life
is sometimes more uncertain than personal life.
In fact, this third son, this third generation, had to make
a tremendous effort and use all his energy to perform the
big step forward: internationalising a small family company
from a small village in Alicante; our beloved Villa de Onil.
A challenge in capital letters, but with a success of the
same proportion.
The test was passed thanks to, it has to be said, the
professionalism and the efforts of a group of persons
educated on the principle of hard work, humility, honesty,
respect and passion for work.

Such are the qualities that have always belonged to this

third son, who we today remember and honour.
This charismatic gentleman, humble and fantastic,
extraordinary father, excellent boss, who transmitted to us
those values which enabled Balaguer to cross the oceans and
to be present in other continents, and who today is no longer
with us.
He is not here physically, but I am sure that somehow he
manages to find a way to join us and to celebrate with us our
first century. Nobody deserves it more than he.

The fourth son

And so the fourth son of our story has arrived - the fourth
generation.
And not only that, in the meantime we have reached 100
years.
But as opposed to a one 100-year-old person who feels
tired and is getting ready for his last journey, Balaguer
feels renewed forces, is up to date, young confident in
the company that still has alot to tell and many pages to be
written in its ongoing history. There is a lot of life ahead for
Balaguer.
We are the fourth generation. We are over 160 persons,
links in a chain, getting up every day to make the best rolls
in the world for the food industry.
We are this fourth generation and are ready to undertake a
new trip, yet another trip. And it will not be our last. Right
now we have the ticket to take Balaguer Rolls to each and
every corner of the world where there is a mill, without
exception, investing and growing in what we know we do
best, our finest dish, the best rolls in the world!
A trip to where our far-away customers feel close to and
protected by the Balaguer company, because our customers
know that here we work day-after-day to make their lives
easier.
If this is our aim, and our determination is not to stop
striving forward, I am convinced that this trip will make sure
that in another 100 years we will come together here again,
celebrating another milestone, the second century of the
Balaguer Rolls company.
We will probably contemplate that celebration from
another perspective perhaps from higher above - but we
will live it with the same satisfaction that today Santiago
must be experiencing.
It is up to us to keep working on his dream, his plan and
above all do so with the same values, those which he passed
on to us, the values of effort, humility, honesty, respect and
passion for our work. The passion for Balaguer.
Thank you, thank you very much to each and every one of
you here. Without you, all of what Ive said simply would
not have happened.

David Balaguer (left) with his brother Santiago