UZWIL, Switzerland — Bühler cut the ribbon at its CUBIC innovation campus May 22, after 20 months of construction and an investment of approximately $49.8 million (CHF 50 million). The goal behind CUBIC is to address and solve issues in the nutrition and mobility markets in a sustainable, collaborative and commercially viable way, Bühler stated.

“This is our contribution to transforming the urgent global challenges of our time into solid business solutions together with customers, partners, academia, and start-ups,” said Stefan Scheiber, CEO of Bühler Group. “In this campus, we are also promoting new professional skills and competencies, modern learning and working methods, and collaborating with our partners.”

The three-story hub is built and runs sustainably and will house modernized research and development labs, called Application Centers. The building itself uses 15% less energy than similar buildings and smart electrochromic coatings on equipment result in up to 50% reduction in energy consumption for heating and air-conditioning. 

Additionally, built-in sensors throughout the structure constantly monitor and adjust carbon dioxide levels, air humidity and temperature in relation to the amount of people inside the facility to maximize energy efficiency.

The center currently includes space for all Bühler project teams, many of which are developing digital solutions such as cloud-based IoT platforms, according to the company.

CUBIC is strategically located to connect the development, engineering and design teams within Bühler to allow customers and partners to collaborate easily and bring products to market more quickly.

The company stated the innovation campus is in response to the “increasingly urgent” challenges associated with feeding the future sustainably.

“The CUBIC campus will become the epicenter of our collaborative ecosystem,” said CTO Ian Roberts. “It embodies our innovation spirit and culture, where we will inspire, discuss, understand, and derive actions that will support us as an industry to create more sustainable value chains, while contributing to addressing the burning environmental and societal challenges of our time.”

The research and development labs within the CUBIC innovation campus include a Grain Technology Center, Nutrition Application Center, Bakery Innovation Center, Grinding & Dispersing Application Center, Die Casting Application Center, Battery Lab, Pasta Application Center, and Chocolate Application Centers.

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