The Ambit Group

Supply and demand

Specialising in the supply of bespoke, fully automated industrial systems and the provision of liquids and powder handling solutions, The Ambit Group of companies is a trusted name within the food manufacturing industry

Established in 2000, Ambit International began operations with the goal of supplying the UK bakery and food industries with fully automated industrial systems for the manufacture of products such as traditional and speciality breads, rolls, doughnuts and confectionery lines. Over the years, the company expanded into new business segments and today operates within The Ambit Group comprising two main companies, Ambit International Ltd and LP-Tech Ltd. The group operates within the UK food industry, supplying industrial equipment and automated production plants to fresh baked foods, confectionary, chocolate, sugar and dairy manufacturing sectors.

As part of the Ambit Group of companies, Ambit International supplies industrial production lines designed for the production of a wide variety of yeast raised and long shelf life dough products. These include traditional and speciality breads, rolls, doughnuts, pizza, tortilla, gluten free, biscuit and confectionery lines.

“Our product range encompasses batch and continuous mixing systems, make-up/forming plants, final proofing, baking and cooling, to end of line slicing and automated packaging solutions,” explains Simon Ward, Technical Sales Director at The Ambit Group. Meanwhile, LP-Tech (Liquid & Powder Technologies) is a specialist in the provision of liquids and powder handling solutions for the UK food manufacturing industries and designs and installs turnkey systems to meet the specific requirements of clients.

Operating as the UK sales and after sales office of the WP Bakery Group, one of the most influential bakery and food machinery manufacturers across the globe, Ambit International supplies customers with a variety of modular equipment concepts and individual machine components as well as turnkey production plants. Among the wide range of products available are the EVOLUTION roll make-up plants and fully automated Ball, Ring Donut & Berliner plants, which can reduce fat absorption by up to 50 per cent and manufacturing with up to 70 per cent less scrap dough. The whole equipment process can be supplied through WP Kemper, from dough production to freezing. The Bread divider model, the V700 SR from WP Haton, is a universal industrial multi pocket dough divider, which boasts high weight accuracy, dough friendly dividing and a newly developed stainless steel dividing chamber, at least doubling the life span when compared to standard dividing units. Other products include the newly released Softstar CT industrial roll divider/rounder also from WP Kemper, the only industrial roll divider on the market using servo drive technology for controlling the main dividing ram and round moulding station. The servo drive technology also allows the divider to operate up 60 strokes/min, achieving a production capacity up to 36,000pcs/h.

Having recently formed a working partnership with Sobatech, a worldleading supplier of fully automated continuous dosing, mixing and fermentation systems suitable for all types of dough preparation. Benefits of using a Sobatech continuous system include: constant and consistent dough temperatures, dough quality and high energy efficiency. The process enables increased water absorption/hydration of the dry ingredients, which results in alonger shelf life in the end product.

Significant growth
Discussing the benefits of The Ambit Group’s relationships with partners, Simon notes: “We are working with some of the world’s leading European manufacturers of industrial equipment and automated production plants; this allows us to provide, with the support of our partners, turnkey equipment and production plant solutions to our clients throughout the UK. Ambit is able to deliver automated production lines from ingredients handling through to afinished packed product. Furthermore, all of our projects/products sold in conjunction with our European partners are handled in-house, with sales, project and site health & safety management provided to the latest standards. Or businesses are safe contractor approved and in addition to our capital equipment sales, we also provide customers with in-house aftersales customer service, engineering support and spare parts/ components supply.”

Reflecting on recent projects involving the Ambit Group and current market conditions for the group, Simon continues: “While we are unable to detail some recent projects due to NDA’s, we can say that within the last two years there has been significant growth in capital equipment sales through The Ambit Group with the support of our European suppliers; this has resulted in the group securing a number of multi-million pound UK projects for fully automated production plants in the speciality bread/rolls and doughnut manufacturing sectors.

“The market has been very positive for us over recent years and we have seen a significant increase in capital equipment sales revenue, which is primarily due to the continued expansion of The Ambit Group’s supplier base. We are offering the latest in equipment technologies, including industrial water metering and water chilling solutions from Baktec in the Netherlands and Thermo-Oil Baking Systems from Heuft, the world’s leading manufacturer in Thermo-Oil oven technology. Thermo-oil ovens offer unrivalled baking and up to 40 per cent reduction in energy consumption when compared to other baking systems. And finally, our most recent partnership addition is Tecno Pack Italy, a company at the forefront of fully automated endof- line packaging solutions, including flow wrappers, robotised pick-and-place, box, carton erecting/filling and palletising systems.”

Whilst there are always challenges for businesses, the future looks positivefor The Ambit Group as it continues to benefit from a strong economy, a diverse product range and a transparent approach to working with customers. “Looking ahead, we want to continue to support and develop partnerships withour equipment suppliers and customers alike. We strongly believe our future and success of our companies relies on understanding and listening to our client’s needs while also providing a continuedprofessional and transparent approach.We believe this will provide a sure footing on which our business can continue to flourish,” Simon concludes.