BHS-Sonthofen, a German owner-operated group of companies specialising in machinery and plant engineering, announced its partnership with Soitra, an Italian supplier of process and packaging equipment for the pharmaceutical, chemical and food industries. This agreement enables customers to purchase technologies for filtration and drying from BHS, benefitting a bundled process expertise and after-sales service from a single source.

In the process technology business, BHS is a provider for components and systems related to solid-liquid separation, drying, and reacting process steps. For instance, the BHS rotary pressure filter (RPF) is a continuously operating filter for pressure filtration. It facilitates gas-tight cake handling in a series of separate process steps. Another example is the BHS horizontal dryer HTC-T, used as a dryer for flame retardants in the chemical industry, and for evaporating high-boiling substances such as hydrocarbons from contaminated environmental industry substances under vacuum conditions. Now, the company is increasing its focus on southern Europe.

Martin Specht, BHS area sales manager responsible for Italy, said, “With Soitra, we have found the right experts to help Italian companies in these industries to improve and increase their production.”

Soitra is a family-owned company founded in 1956. Its managing director Gianpiero Raffa added: “Soitra offers BHS machines, components and complete processing lines including maintenance and aftersales service.”
Those interested in BHS technologies can benefit from the engineering expertise at Soitra. It supplies both single machines and components from BHS as well as complete process lines including after-sales services and maintenance. Soitra also conducts laboratory tests and runs pilot systems to investigate potential technological solutions.

First joint project underway
The sales partnership agreement was dated 1 Jan 2023, and the first joint project is already underway. “This project certainly marks a first milestone. We are looking forward to meeting market players to offer our technology and consulting services for filtration and drying applications,” Specht said.