Rational, ceda Partner and the world market and technology leader in the field of hot food preparation in professional kitchens, has won this year’s Factory of the Year competition for its factory in Landsberg am Lech.

The annual prize is awarded by the management consultancy A T Kearney, and the industry journal Produktion. With a heritage of thirty years, it is the most traditional benchmark competition for the manufacturing industry in Germany.

Rational has already won the Global Excellence in Operations (GEO) Award twice in the past for its outstanding performance throughout the value chain. This year, the Rational factory in Landsberg is the overall winner.

As this year’s overall winner, Rational is being honoured for excellence, especially in the core competencies of cost-effectiveness and agility. According to the jury panel, the plant in Landsberg am Lech has made it to the top of its performance in Germany with an established problem-solving culture, and a systematic continuous improvement process.

“Thanks to our Rational lean working method, we are anchoring standardised, coordinated workflows and processes. We also see digitalisation as a great opportunity in production,” says Peter Wiedemann, Chief Operations Officer at Rational AG.

The panel was also impressed by the highly motivated staff. The team acts with a lot of personal responsibility and creative freedom through the ‘U.i.U.^® principle’ (intrapreneurship), which is reflected in the excellent production figures.

“Rational invests a lot in promoting and retaining its employees,” adds Daniel Stengel, Director at Kearney, explaining the jury panel’s decision to select Rational as the ‘Factory of the Year 2022’.

The factory also stood out from the other participants in matters such as speed of innovation, renewable energies and cost reduction.

“We are delighted to receive the overall prize this time. It is confirmation for us, but also an incentive to improve our processes even further,” says Peter Wiedemann.

The coveted prize will be awarded at an award ceremony in Munich in March 2023.

Is your property fully insured?

For property owners and investors – buildings insurance should provide a crucial safety net, protecting property assets against unforeseen events. But recent research has found that 80% of UK properties are underinsured.¹

So what is behind this alarming trend? It boils down to a number of issues, including:

• inaccurate property valuations
• rising construction costs
• indexing and day one uplifts in cover lagging behind.

With that in mind, property owners – particularly high net worth residential and commercial properties – should act now to review buildings insurance policies, paying particular attention to the accuracy of rebuild costs and sums insured.

Help is at hand

We work with RebuildCostASSESSMENT to offer our clients the peace of mind that comes with accurate insurance valuations based on multiple data sources. Find out about our rebuild cost assessment services.

*subject to qualifying criteria

Find out more

Need expert advice?

Get in touch with our insurance experts. Call Leah Gregory on 07385 482545 or email leah.gregory@marshcommercial.co.uk.

^{Source:
1 RebuildCostASSESSMENT – Infographic 2021}

Hello and a warm welcome to this month’s Conference Special edition of connected.

We’re fresh back from The Belfry and feeling full of knowledge from our fantastic speakers, motivated
by new connections made at the Meet the Buyer day and inspired by all the Award winners!

Over the following pages, you can relive the highlights with us. Or if you were unable to attend, you can catch up with the top speaker programme from the Business Day and all the winners from the Legacy Awards, Supplier and Rising Star Awards and the ceda Grand Prix Awards 2022. The Speaker presentations and videos have also been added to the Conference website should you wish to re-watch or download the slides.

There’s a particularly nice write up of our chat with ceda Founder, Michael Swerdlow, who joined us for this year’s Conference, in ceda’s 50th anniversary year! We were delighted to present Michael with a Legacy Honours by ceda award and hear his story about how ceda was born. Read his story on page 15.

We hope you enjoy this issue of connected and we welcome your feedback and contributions for future editions.

On Tuesday 20th September ceda ran their first Water Regulations course at First Choice, in partnership with Water Regs UK.

The first course was attended by five engineers from Northern Catering Equipment and Tailor Made Catering Equipment Services Ltd, all of whom passed with flying colours. This enables them and their company to apply for membership of a Water Company Approved Contractor Scheme; meaning that they can self-certify that their work is in accordance with the regulations. It also eliminates the need to give notification and seek approval from Water Companies before commencing work.

Dan Mellor, Northern Catering Equipment, said, ”I found the one-day course very useful and relevant to my job.” Mellor’s job role includes working in both service and installation so it was great to get some positive feedback from him.

He went on to say, ”The session on contamination clarified the need for air gaps or check valves for some equipment. Jim Rowsell of Water Regs UK, who led the course, explained everything really well and I would certainly recommend the course to other engineers.”

Working in partnership with Water Regs UK, the course was developed as part of ceda’s role to encourage members and partners to ensure that their engineers are knowledgeable and competent in all aspects of their jobs. The course is one of the essential training modules for the Catering Equipment Installers Industry Training Standard which is the only route for non-gas accredited installation engineers to qualify for a CSCS card.

The course involves studying learning material for at least three weeks prior to the one-day course. The day of the assessment itself involves a review of the studied material in the morning prior to taking a multiple choice assessment in the afternoon.

The next course will be held on the 20^th October, also at First Choice’s Cannock HQ with a future live course planned for 22^nd November. Sometime next year, courses are planned to be delivered online.

The course is delivered to members and their subcontractors at cost which is £120.00 +VAT. The course is also available to non-members who will be charged a supplement of £30 + VAT to cover premises costs and refreshments.

A booking form can be downloaded from the Water Regs UK website (www.waterregsuk.co.uk/wiaps/how-do-i-join/aproved-catering-installer/) and should be completed and returned to Water Regs UK together with payment. Payment can be made by phone or bank transfer.

Today’s challenges are creating an increased risk of underinsurance for UK business. We’re living through a difficult period in the UK’s economic history. The cost-of-living crisis comes at a time when we’re still dealing with the economic and socioeconomic effects of Covid-19, Brexit and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Simultaneously, we’re seeing inflation rising, increasing fuel and energy prices, and this is having a significant impact across everything including building materials and supply chain issues. All of this is impacting the prices we pay and how long it takes for goods and materials to get to where they’re needed.

From Aviva’s modelled data, they estimate that 50% of UK businesses are underinsured to some degree, and 40% of policies with buildings have at least one premise suspected to be underinsured by 20%. Further data from over 4,800 property surveys that Barrett Corp & Harrington have carried out this year, more than 75% have been underinsured, with an average increase suggested at 53%. In addition, Charterfields note that 42% of plant and machinery locations are being underinsured by more than 50%.

How does this impact ceda members and businesses? Get in contact with qualified professionals Darren Cronin or Dan Wilson from The Cronin Insurance Consultancy Ltd to start a conversation as to how we provide solutions to our clients, to ensure that your business and assets remain protected against underinsurance and the consequences of the Average condition which is present in all commercial insurance policies on 0330 055 2761.

Alternatively if you would wish for one of our personnel to contact you direct, please complete the form via: Click here.

The energy crisis in the UK has put a new focus on kitchen running costs. Whatever catering sector your clients operate in, they’re looking for ways to minimise energy consumption and mitigate cost increases.

How can MKN help?

We believe manufacturers have a role to play in minimising energy use for operators. That’s why MKN is committed to continuously developing products that consume as little energy and water as possible, operating reliably and efficiently for many years.

Some of our innovative features to minimise energy use include:

• – A host of features on the MKN FlexiCombi and SpaceCombi ranges, including WaveClean technology which enables a 36% reduction in water consumption compared with the previous version and closed tripled glazed door for 28% reduction in energy consumption compared to previous models with a double glazed door.
• – FlexiCombi also includes a heat exchanger to ensure heat efficiency for greater energy savings, saving 1.1kW per hour with the 10-grid model.
• – SpaceCombi models can be completely self-sufficient if used with the optional MagicHood odour neutralising hood, reducing the need for any additional ventilation system (subject to site conditions).
• – Thanks to smart Smart Boiling technology, the MKN FlexiChef uses 2kWh to boil 75 litres of water in 20 minutes, compared to 7kWh for the water boiling phase in a conventional multifunctional appliance.
• – Induction cooking in modular ranges such as Counter SL and Hotline, which reduces boiling time by 55% compared to hot plates, with additional energy saving helping to ensure 2.5 tons of CO₂ reduction per year.

In addition, MKN is one of few manufacturers with the technology that enables its appliances to connect with and optimise in line with an energy optimisation interface, using the latest technology to reduce the peak demand of the kitchen in line with the Standard DIN 18875 Equipment for Commercial Kitchens – Interface for Power Optimization.

Find out more

We’re committed to working with dealers to deliver practical solutions that help minimise energy bills for your customers.

Visit www.mkn.com or call 01329 757890 to get in touch with the MKN team.

Adande Refrigeration announces today there will be a 2023 list price increase effective, globally, from 1^st January 2023. This increase will be capped at 7.5%

Adande Refrigeration announces today a global list price increase effective from the 1^st January 2023. The company last increased prices in September 2021 and committed to hold prices until the end of 2022. Over the last 18 months costs have increased across the board and the company has now been forced to increase prices accordingly.

Adande has leveraged its strong supply chain to maintain historical delivery lead times and avert a price increase in 2022. The company has strived to support the hospitality industry and hospitality operators, being prepared to do everything possible for brands looking to buy sustainable refrigeration with low total life costs.

The company has committed to limit the impact on operators by capping the increase at 7.5%.

Global Sales Director, Karl Hodgson: “It is vitally important that we continue to support hospitality as best we can – in what can only be described as turbulent times. We hope that although we have had to increase our list prices, operators will appreciate we have kept our increase low. We encourage customers to carefully consider the cost of ownership when buying refrigeration and not be swayed to purchase what might appear to be cheaper units as they will certainly not deliver either the efficiency or savings in energy, food waste or warranty protection that Adande does. Although our prices will rise by a small amount, the value Adande delivers remains unparalleled. We cannot stress this enough.’

He goes on “We continue to remind all our customers we have good stocks of products and delivery times can be arranged to suit. Any orders placed before 1^st January 2023, that are to be dispatched by the 31^st of January 2023 will be charged at 2022 prices. If anyone has any questions, we urge them to get in touch via our website, www.adande.co.uk or by reaching out to their relevant sales representative.

With easy-to-use push and hold buttons, the new high capacity InstaTap continues to provide quick and easy access to instant boiling or chilled water. The new InstaTap has a brand-new sleek design while also ensuring user-safety due to its SteriTouch® touchpad which reduces surface bacteria by 99.99%. InstaTap is a sustainable and hygienic solution that ensures quick dispensing of water for fast paced commercial kitchens and venues, regardless of size.

Some other key advancements to the range include:

• In addition to the existing polished stainless-steel version, a matt black finish is now also available
• Two height options to support an increased choice of vessels
• Range of capacities available, with up to 50 litres for the boiling only tap
• The boiling-only features two pour options; measured dispensed and free pouring.
• Double and triple font options are available on 40 and 50 litre versions to allowing the serving of up to 3 drinks simultaneously
• The chilled version contains environmentally friendly R290 gas to meet recommended environmental best-practice guidance

The new InstaTap is available to order now, for more information please visit – https://www.instanta.com/instatap-commercial

Statistically speaking, being hacked is more an issue of ‘when’ and not ‘if’, with a small business being successfully hacked every 19 seconds in the UK.¹ If you find yourself on the receiving end of a hack or data breach, it can be easy to panic. Don’t let the situation become more problematic by delaying action. Be prepared and it will be much easier to navigate.

By implementing some (if not all) of the below actions, you can lessen the impact to your business and ensure you are following the letter of the law.

• Step 1: Recognise the problem and take action
• Step 2: Data breach notification
• Step 3: Make a data breach claim
• Step 4: Investigate your hack
• Step 5: Protect against cyber-attacks in the future

Find out more and access helpful tools at our Risk Hub.

Get a complimentary IT and cyber review

Working with Connectus, a specialist IT and cyber risk consultant, we can offer an efficient health check that will measure and benchmark your cyber resilience and provide recommendations that enable you to resolve internally or seek external solutions.

Need expert advice?

Get in touch with our insurance experts. Call Leah Gregory on 07385 482545 or email leah.gregory@marshcommercial.co.uk.