The Azkoyen Group, which for three years has been selling its own coffee through its subsidiary, Azkoyen Comercial, has had a new roasting plant since February, with a production capacity of more than 10,000 tonnes of coffee per year. The total investment in the new premises, on the Talluntxe Industrial Estate in Noáin, which have been officially visited by the Regional Minister for Agriculture Ignacio Martínez Alfaro, was more than 615 million pesetas.

It is one of the most modern roasting plants in Europe, with the latest roasting machines and systems. With the new roasting plant, the Azkoyen Group is not only increasing its firm commitment to the catering sector but, by taking advantage of cooperation, it is completing the supply that it offers in the case of coffee. The catering sector can now obtain evering from coffee beans to an espresso coffee maker from the same supplier.

The fully automatic process, which ensures uniformity and consistency in the final product, is constantly monitored from four computers, which follow every step and the operation of each of the silos and machines: from the unloading and weighing of the raw coffee beans to the roasting areas.

The new facilities, as a result of the investment made both in R&D and in the machinery installed, etc., have considerable competitive advantages, notably the quality of the coffee when it is consumed, optimising packing and storing processes, and having a methodology based on scientific knowledge.

As well as the Regional Minister for Agriculture of the Government of Navarre and members of Azkoyen's Board of Directors and Management Team, the official visit was attended by various industrial and raw materials suppliers. The Mayor of the Town Council of Valle de Aranguren, Manuel Romero Pardo, was also present.

Maximum protection of the environment
A demonstration of the automation, efficiency and flexibility of the new roasting plant is that the weekly planning of the new plant can be changed in 30 minutes. The workforce at the roasting plant is eight people.

On a constructed surface area of 3,000 square metres, the new facilities have 30 silos with a capacity of more than one hundred tonnes, two drum roasters and three packaging machines capable of packaging 20 kilo bags per minute.

The roasting plant and all of its systems guarantee that both the product and the process are totally clean. The noisy areas (compressors, cleaning machines, etc.) have been sealed, as well as the raw materials store in the production area. The company has already begun the process for obtaining ISO 14000 environmental certification.

Since 1997
The Azkoyen Group, as a response to its commitment to diversify its range on the markets, began to industrially produce and sell coffees three years ago and currently sells more than 200,000 kilograms of coffee per month, mainly in the catering sector. In 1997, Azkoyen signed a cooperation agreement with the University of Navarre, through the Research Centre for Applied Pharmacobiology (CIFA), involving a minimum investment in R&D, in order to gain a greater knowledge of coffee, of 225 million pesetas until 2001.

The advantages provided by the various research projects focus on guaranteeing the processes and having a methodology based on a knowledge of the conservation of the product.

The research into the influence of the various parameters on the quality of the coffee obtained and the efficiency of the extraction process requires a large number of tests to be conducted on the different variables. Until the Azkoyen Group entered the sector, in the Autonomous Region there was no established methodology in this field, which further highlights the importance of the research in order to create scientific bases around the different processes.

According to the Group's forecasts, its coffee sales to the catering trade in 2001 will amount to 4,000 million pesetas, which will represent around 10% of the national market.