At Bühler Networking Days 2025, over 1,200 global leaders gathered to explore scalable solutions for sustainability across the food, feed, and mobility sectors. The event showcased bold leadership, collaborative innovation, and technologies designed to drive sustainable growth at scale.
Photo: Courtesy of Bühler
With the theme “Multiplying impact together”, the Networking Days 2025 of Bühler highlighted the courage to navigate uncertainty and the solutions available now to build successful companies that bring positive impact at massive scale. Over 1,200 business leaders from the food, feed, and sustainable mobility and materials sectors gathered at the company’s headquarters in Uzwil, Switzerland, from June 23rd to 24th, address the urgent challenge of building successful businesses that feed and move 10 billion people sustainably by 2050. Many key solutions are in place that meet these challenges. What is needed now is to multiply their impact at scale.
Photo: Courtesy of Bühler
Speaking at the event, Bühler Group CEO Stefan Scheiber described the power of collaboration and cooperation to multiply the impact of innovation. “Every breakthrough, partnership, and bold decision has the potential to create ripples – spreading knowledge, inspiring action, and driving progress,” he said. “But their true power lies in the multiplier effect: when these ripples connect, they create waves of change. By working together, businesses and industries don’t just add incrementally to progress – they accelerate it by compounding their influence and scaling solutions far beyond what any single effort could achieve.”
Ian Roberts, Bühler Group CTO expressed: “It is so clear now that we must act with focus and collaboration to bring the impact necessary to preserve the healthy state of our planet. I am energized by the potential and willingness shown by our 1,200 guests – not to simply talk, but to build concrete actions and to share what they have already achieved to accelerate group learning and impact multiplication.”
The Networking Days 2025 was the fourth Bühler Group Networking Days event. The Swiss-based technology group has convened leaders from the industries it serves once every three years since 2016. Attendees at this year’s event traveled from 90 countries and six continents.
BIG CHANGE NEEDS BOLD LEADERSHIP
Speaking directly to the many food industry leaders attending the event, Laurent Freixe, CEO of Nestlé, emphasized the sector’s responsibility to find ways to feed a growing global population sustainably. “Climate change is a reality, but there is leadership and there are science-based solutions, so I am very, very hopeful that together we can make a collective impact,” Freixe said. “As the key players in the food system, we collectively have power. We have the ability to address many issues the planet is facing, and we should be taking the responsibility that comes with it very seriously.”
Photo: Courtesy of Bühler
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS SUCCESS
The key message at the event was that sustainability is a sound business strategy that drives profitable growth and long-term resilience, and is the outcome of strong leadership. Speakers throughout the event echoed the magnitude and urgency of the challenge, calling for accelerated innovation – in digital tools, process technologies, and business models – to deliver more value with fewer resources.
Johan Westman, CEO of plant-based oils producer AAK, shared his company’s journey toward sustainability leadership. Since 2019, AAK has transformed its palm oil supply chain, prioritizing sources verified as deforestation-free. By 2024, 91% of its palm oil supply met this standard – a shift that coincided with a significant increase in profitability. AAK believes that there should be more focus on producing sustainable palm oil. “Palm oil offers yields per hectare 4 to 10 times greater than any other plant-based oil,” highlighted Westman. “That’s important when you need to feed the world.”
Photo: Courtesy of Bühler
TRANSFORMATION THROUGH COLLABORATION
Thomas Zurbuchen, Leader of ETH Zurich | Space, and former Head of Science at NASA, spoke about the importance of collaboration between science and industry in addressing climate and environment-related challenges. “Industry has the ability to take scientific ideas and transform them into innovative solutions that make a real difference,” he said. “Sometimes the future is already here, you just need to scale it.” As an example, Zurbuchen highlighted recent developments in satellite imaging technology: “We can now use new technologies to analyze data from space with a resolution of millimeters and make it useful to inform decisions on the ground,” he said. “A farmer can use satellite images to decide exactly which fields need fertilizer and which do not.”
Many speakers echoed the message about the power of collaboration to drive sustainable business success, mitigate climate change, protect and restore nature, create jobs, and ensure food security.
Michele Andriani, CEO of Andriani S.p.A., gave a compelling example of the power of circularity to unlock new markets. His company set out to find alternative uses for all the side-streams generated by its core food production business. That led to the development of entirely new product lines – from pet food to nutritional supplements – with support from Bühler and other partners. Any material that cannot be transformed into a valuable product is instead used to generate energy for manufacturing. “Sustainability is not a goal, but a way of acting and doing business,” said Andriani. “For us, circularity is not just a sustainability concept – it’s an engine for innovation and growth that has opened doors to entirely new sectors.”
DELIVERING ON PROMISES: GROW BUSINESS, LOWER FOOTPRINT
At the 2019 Networking Days, Bühler promised to have solutions ready to multiply by 2025 to reduce energy, waste, and water in its customers’ value chains by 50%. Since then, Bühler highlights it has invested nearly CHF 500 million in research and development to deliver on that promise. It has analyzed the savings potential of 15 key value chains and developed new technologies and solutions.
“Reflecting the urgency with which we need to act, our efforts go beyond simple compliance, drawing on partnerships, innovation, and a focus on building businesses that deliver measurable reductions in environmental footprint, while supporting profitable growth for both our customers and our company,” explained Ian Roberts, Bühler Group CTO. “This work not only benefits the environment but also drives operational efficiency, creates jobs, and builds long-term resilience. We are helping our customers achieve significant reductions in energy consumption, waste generation, and water usage – delivering real impact up and down the value chain.”
Bühler supports its customers in growing their businesses while lowering their footprint in many ways. From offering new state-of-the-art solutions to optimizing current systems through services, including machinery refurbishment, digital process control, and predictive maintenance. These services lead to higher productivity and yields, resulting in better returns on investment alongside positive environmental impacts.
As a result, Bühler is delivering on its promise to multiply solutions that reduce energy consumption, waste, and water use in its customers’ value chains by 50%. According to Bühler’s value chain analysis, when combined with other technologies and solutions beyond Bühler’s portfolio, peak savings potential exceeds 80% in some value chains. The CO2e reduction potential is 71% for processing aluminum into finished products, 77% for transforming cocoa beans into chocolate, and 65% for processing rice.
TRADE, GRAIN, AND DATA FLOWS
On the second day of the event, attention turned to challenges and opportunities beyond sustainability. Vito Martielli, Senior Analyst for Grains & Oilseeds at Rabobank, shared research showing continued growth in global grain trade, driven by rising demand in China and Africa. He noted that these shifts are reshaping global flows and may spur investment in infrastructure such as ports and storage, particularly in Brazil and Southeast Europe.
INNOVATION IN ACTION
Leaders attending the event also had the opportunity to see innovative technologies at work in Bühler’s extensive research and training center facilities in Uzwil. Technologies on display included new solutions for milling, AI process optimization tools, digitally-controlled die casting, and energy-efficient technologies for grain puffing, food extrusion, and the production of plant-based proteins.
Bühler Networking Days 2025 set a new benchmark, bringing together the largest number of industry leaders and the broadest range of sectors in the event’s history. Guests left Uzwil with fresh insights, new strategic connections, and a strengthened commitment to driving progress within their organizations. In his closing remarks, CEO Stefan Scheiber thanked participants their ideas and active engagement, urging them to act boldly: “We need the courage to take decisive action – action that accelerates growth and drives the sustainable transformation of businesses, value chains, and entire industries. By doing this, we will shape a better future for our businesses and our societies, and truly multiply impact together.”
