GEA Service: The lifeline behind the world's production lines

Jan. 6, 2025

Every fourth package of spaghetti, every second liter of beer and one-quarter of all processed milk in the world depends on GEA machinery. When production lines need attention, GEA Service steps in to fix problems or prevent issues from occurring in the first place. By combining machine and process knowledge with digital tools and solutions, GEA helps customers boost productivity and produce more sustainably.  

It’s a normal day for the GEA offers and orders team when the production lead time for an important hygienic valve replacement project comes in. It’s nearly a month later than the customer’s planned production shutdown – and for good reason. Twenty customized valves at one of Europe’s largest drinkable yogurt production plants need replacing. But missing the planned shutdown could mean losing a major customer and cause significant production losses. 

“We gathered support from all departments and saw through what had to be done, how we could expedite everything in order to achieve the earliest date possible, which was looking impossible,” says Benjamin Lingner, Director of Offer and Order Management for Service for GEA Separation and Flow Technologies. The team was able to secure the order on time by bringing all hands on deck in a task force. Not only did they secure the requested timeline but they also delivered ahead of schedule.

This culture of rapid response exemplifies how industrial service has evolved into something far more ambitious than only repair. At GEA, where equipment powers many of the world's most critical food, beverage and pharmaceutical production lines, this transformation is taking shape across three increasingly important parameters: availability, productivity and sustainability.

Beyond break-fix: The new face of availability

Lingner and his service team are only one example of how GEA Service teams have repeatedly turned potential crises into demonstrations of GEA's top-notch service capabilities. In another case, GEA’s swift attention in the eleventh hour won over a sizable customer from a competitor. The customer needed a part immediately, because a competitor’s valve in their dairy plant broke and continuously leaked significant amount of product. However, the competition quoted a minimum lead time of one week for a replacement. Lingner’s team got it done and delivered in two days. “In the end, that was a very positive impression we made on the customer there, especially replacing the competitor’s valve and avoiding any further losses for our customer,” Lingner says. 

Availability, often demonstrated as readiness and ability to deliver, gets sincere recognition within the company as it is the cornerstone of service. “You can make customers extremely happy or extremely unhappy, depending on the quality of your service,” says GEA CEO Stefan Klebert. “The first machine is sold by sales, the second is by service.”

Sometimes, availability means going the extra mile – or several hundred nautical miles. Jan Willem Portengen, Field Service Engineer for GEA separators, seems like your typical service technician: He fields customer calls and emails and advises on fixes and troubleshooting. Then there are the days where the task requires sailing to ports in Spain, Portugal, Italy or elsewhere to deliver and install spare parts or even work aboard customer vessels. If a ship is scheduled and is able to sail, business sometimes simply requires that GEA technicians go along for the ride whether it be on a cruise ship, container vessel, large motor yacht or commercial trawler.

Of course, what looks like serious dedication to the field is all part of the job for Portengen. The 17-year GEA employee and lifelong “marine guy” says the lifestyle suits him.

“You think, OK, in the early morning, I can enter the ship, but then in reality it will be five hours later,” says Portengen. “So, then you must work in the evening time or in the night or in the early morning. I need to be flexible. The changeful life, that’s what I like.”

Adopting a digital mindset to boost productivity

In addition to rapid response, GEA's service strategy increasingly focuses on enhancing productivity by preventing issues before they occur. This is where Peter van Bruggen, Digital Service Engineer for GEA Heating & Refrigeration Technologies (HRT), shines. He works at the intersection of current technology and future solutions. Since his first service calls, he's been methodically collecting and analyzing operational data to improve service. And finally, he’s found a home for all that saved info. Using his database and computer programming, HRT is increasingly able to predict and prescribe service intervals. The result is fewer unexpected breakdowns and more efficient operations – directly boosting productivity for customers.

"My last name is van Bruggen. It means bridges, and I feel like, hey, there are a lot of islands, and the one thing I really like to do is bridge these islands," he explains. "We have a very large common knowledge, but we don't share it. Everybody is trying to protect their own island of knowledge. We need to make bridges. Come over and I'll show you how."

The future of service is taking shape in unexpected ways. Service technicians in GEA’s Liquid and Powder Technologies division recently began integrating virtual reality (VR) headsets into their training programs. This approach enhances skill development today and paves the way for future applications involving digital twins of customer installations. With VR technology, technicians can train on complex systems in a fully immersive environment and potentially troubleshoot issues as if they were on-site with the customer. Such an advancement aligns with GEA’s broader focus on enhancing productivity, with systems designed to support condition monitoring via smartphone app and provide guidance and process optimization tips or seamless connections to experts.

“It’s rewarding to see how training, innovation and technology can work hand-in-hand to strengthen our team’s competencies, enhance skill retention and combat skill depreciation,” says Matteo Gabrielli, Learning and Development Manager at GEA. “All of this is geared towards one goal: Consistently delivering excellence in service to our end customers. It’s an exciting start, and I can’t wait to see how this evolves!”

These innovations are part of a broader digital shift that includes customer-friendly machine displays and tablet applications for quick parts ordering. While such features may seem superficial at first glance, they often serve as gateways to more sophisticated capabilities: built-in sensors that detect suboptimal performance, AI systems that can recalibrate on demand as well as predictive maintenance algorithms that prevent costly downtime.

Enabling sustainability through service innovation

Sustainability rounds out GEA's service strategy wherein a modern service concept can promote environmental responsibility while delivering business value. An example is GEA's international repair network for centrifuges. With 20 authorized workshops worldwide, the network repairs more than 2,000 separator bowls and decanter scrolls annually and maintains more than 450 rental bowls and scrolls. Every separator bowl repaired represents not only a cost savings but also a significant reduction in resource consumption and manufacturing emissions. These fixes can extend the lifespan of expensive equipment while promoting a more circular economy in industrial manufacturing.

Some service objectives serve dual or triple roles across GEA’s service landscape. In heat pump applications, for instance, van Bruggen's data-driven wins are both a boon for productivity and reducing energy consumption and emissions.

The impact of sustainable service innovation extends well beyond individual machines. Through remote monitoring and control systems, GEA's service teams can optimize equipment performance for entire process lines while minimizing resource consumption.

“Customers still want machines with high throughput and the best product quality,” says Dieter Hille, Head of Automation & Controls Separation at GEA. “That said, sustainability, which includes reducing water and energy usage and the overall CO2 footprint of machines and processes, are also significant factors when it comes to customers’ choices. At GEA we are able to demonstrate to customers – in ever greater detail – the strides we have made to improve the resource efficiency of our machines.”

As service evolves, trust still fundamental

As industrial processes become increasingly complex and interconnected, the role of service continues to change. Industry experts envision a future where service offerings expand further, with companies like GEA selling guaranteed uptime rather than machines and maintenance.

“In the end,” says Lucas Rigotto, Chief Service Officer of GEA’s Liquid and Powder Technology division, “service is about trust. Our customers trust us to help them run their operations smoothly, efficiently and sustainably. That's a responsibility we take very seriously.”

From the dairy plant that avoided weeks of downtime to the ships kept sailing thanks to onboard service, GEA’s service transformation is about more than simply fixing machines – it is about ensuring the world’s essential food, beverage and health-related production systems operate at their best, with minimal environmental impact. This commitment reflects GEA's Performance Partnership approach. By embracing advances in digitalization and sustainability, GEA's service perspective is helping positively shape the future of industrial production.