Barilla expands meals innovation with 3D printing | VoxelMatters

At its new Barilla Innovation & Expertise Expertise (BITE) heart in Parma, Barilla Group is integrating superior manufacturing and design applied sciences — together with 3D printing — into the analysis and improvement of its pasta, sauces, and bakery merchandise. The 150,000-square-foot hub combines pilot vegetation, laboratories, and collaborative areas the place analysis and expertise intersect with Italy’s culinary custom.

BITE represents Barilla’s largest funding in meals innovation in recent times, totaling greater than $25 million, with an extra $2.3 million per 12 months devoted to gear upgrades. The power employs 200 specialists — together with meals technologists, engineers, designers, and cooks — who work alongside worldwide companions from universities and analysis establishments throughout 84 energetic collaborations.

From 3D printing to sensory analytics

The BITE’s laboratories use superior instruments, together with digital noses, AI-driven sensors, holographic design techniques, and 3D printing, to speed up experimentation and product design. These applied sciences enable researchers to mannequin, prototype, and refine new ideas earlier than scaling manufacturing.

Among the many heart’s most distinctive improvements is Artisia, Barilla’s 3D printed pasta line. Previously often known as Blue Rhapsody, the undertaking originated as an experimental initiative inside Barilla’s R&D division and has advanced into a totally realized model that merges culinary artwork with digital craftsmanship.

Utilizing proprietary 3D printing expertise, Artisia produces intricate pasta shapes that had been beforehand not possible to attain with conventional extrusion. Each bit combines artisanal texture with digital precision, leading to what Barilla describes as “a multisensory eating expertise.” The rebrand features a new web site and curated recipes designed for cooks and residential cooks exploring novel pasta varieties and taste pairings.

Innovation rooted in custom

Whereas BITE embraces automation and data-driven improvement, it maintains a robust connection to Barilla’s heritage. Each new course of, from pasta drying to texture evaluation, is designed to protect the sensory qualities that outline Italian delicacies. In keeping with Guido Barilla, Chairman of Barilla Group, the brand new heart underscores the corporate’s mission “to think about and create high quality merchandise that adapt to individuals’s evolving wants” whereas sustaining a deal with craftsmanship and authenticity.

By combining international analysis experience with rising digital instruments corresponding to 3D printing, Barilla’s BITE heart illustrates how the corporate is reshaping meals innovation — turning centuries of Italian custom right into a platform for the following technology of culinary design.