Celebrating digital transformation at GEA
July 7, 2025
GEA Better World Awards winners in the Innovation & Digitalization category, 2025. (Image: GEA)
Digital transformation at GEA means more than new tools – it’s about bold ideas, customer impact and a culture that values and drives innovation. Meet this year’s GEA Better World Awards Innovation & Digitalization winners who were celebrated for solutions which are shaping the future of our business.
Digital transformation is about solving real world problems, generating value for customers, and creating sustainable impact. Innovative breakthroughs start with someone who sees a better way of doing things and is willing to take a risk. At GEA, these kinds of ideas are not just encouraged; they are celebrated. The Better World Awards, launched in 2022, recognizes outstanding contributions from employees across several categories, including Innovation & Digitalization. This category shines a spotlight on customer-focused solutions that challenge the status quo and are aligned with GEA’s Mission 30 strategy.
This year’s project winners in the category of Innovation & Digitalization are turning bold ideas into practical, forward-thinking solutions. From harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor animal welfare, to optimizing machine performance through data, to streamlining workflows in the field; these projects are shaping the future of how we work and serve our customers.
Laura Hietaranta, GEA Vice President Business Strategy & Planning, believes that creating a culture where colleagues can thrive and inspire each other is key. “At GEA, we know we need to constantly evolve to maintain our competitive edge. This means being bold and brave enough to come up with innovative ideas we then make a reality. These solutions show what can happen when you take unusual approaches to challenges,” she explains.
A smarter way to look at livestock
What if you could assess a cow’s health just by watching her walk? That’s the premise behind GEA DairyNet CattleEye. This Better World Award winning tech solution uses AI and a video feed to detect signs of lameness and monitor herd welfare – and without requiring any wearables or sensors. Originally a start-up, the company was acquired by GEA in 2024 and through further development is now helping reshape digital dairy farming.
The concept stems from a personal place for co-founder Terry Canning. “I grew up on a dairy farm so was familiar with the problems farmers face with keeping records – managing the welfare of cows and as a result, their productivity,” he says. “Humans often have subjective views on whether an animal is lame. I wanted to remove human error and allow AI to do the analysis.”GEA is combining deep tech with deep dairy expertise. And that’s powerful.
Terry Canning
Senior Director CattleEye, GEA
Since 2024, the solution has been further developed and scaled globally. CattleEye’s app-based user interface, which enables farmers to interact with the system, has been significantly improved, thanks to customer insights. While the AI model has also been optimized as the dataset and number of connected cows has grown. Today, GEA DairyNet CattleEye AI models produce over one million cow insights per week. These real-time, data-driven insights allow farmers to catch health issues early and manage their herds more effectively. “GEA is combining deep tech with deep dairy expertise,” says Terry. “And that’s powerful.”
Better World Award 2025 winners, Terry Canning and Adam Askew receive their gold award for GEA CattleEye, an AI autonomous livestock monitoring solution, from Johannes Giloth, Chief Operating Officer. (Image: GEA)
Moving out of the lab with real-time processing analysis
In production environments, quality control is essential for consistency; unfortunately, traditional methods are slow, expensive, and often incomplete. “To run analysis, most customers take select samples, send them to a lab, and wait for results. Further, the sample is often not representative of the entirety of the product. And for customers who test samples externally, it takes time,” explains Annachiara Tonelli, Product Manager, High Pressure Pumps at GEA Separation & Flow Technologies.
Recently recognized at the Better World Awards, GEA OptiPartner NiSoMate changes that. It’s an inline ultrasonic quality analyzer that provides continuous, real-time data directly from the production plant. “Our goal was to move lab-level accuracy to the plant floor – real-time results with the same reliability. That was the big challenge,” says Leonardo Maggi, Digital Product Manager at GEA Separation & Flow Technologies. “Our aim was to give customers a result, and insight into how it came to be.”
The team faced hurdles, like how to measure opaque or variable products without contamination. “Many existing analyzers use probes that protrude into the pipework and therefore come into contact with the product. This is not hygienic and requires regular cleaning,” explains Annachiara. “Because our solution uses ultrasonic technology, the analyzer works from outside the pipe, making it aseptic and easier to clean.”
Our goal was to move lab-level accuracy to the plant floor – real-time results with the same reliability.
Leonardo Maggi
Digital Product Manager, GEA
Since its release, the digital product has continued to evolve. “We already released core features,” says Annachiara, “but we're adding new capabilities all the time. As customers continue to engage with the product, the value of the data increases. This makes the product applicable for other applications.”
Better World Award 2025 winners, Annachiara Tonelli and Leonardo Maggi receive their silver award for GEA OptiPartner NiSoMate, an inline product quality analyzer, from Johannes Giloth, Chief Operating Officer. (Image: GEA)
Streamlined and simplified service reporting with AI
What began as a question: “Why do GEA Service colleagues spend so much time writing reports manually?” evolved into a transformative solution. Dietrich Mertens, Head of Digitalization BU Pharma & Healthcare, at GEA Food & Healthcare Technologies, and his cross-divisional team developed GEA Report Buddy, a digital solution designed to automate troubleshooting reports and capture service and equipment-specific insights.
"We wanted something easy, intuitive and fast," Dietrich explains. “But even more important, we wanted it to be useful for people on the ground. So, we built it with them, not just for them.”The idea took off during the early buzz around AI and the potential for automation to simplify routine tasks. “We create a detailed report after every customer visit; they take considerable time, and everyone does them differently,” Dietrich recalls. “Report Buddy solved this by utilizing AI-based speech-to-text conversion to automatically populate structured templates, creating consistent, high-quality service reports.”
The tool doesn’t just automate reporting – it transforms how information is accessed and used. Reports are stored in a centralized cloud system, making them instantly available across teams. “The documents are a goldmine of insights – about equipment and customer needs – but before we weren’t using them effectively.” With Report Buddy, that data becomes part of a larger digital knowledge base that can support troubleshooting, training, and even future innovations.
We create a detailed report after every customer visit; they take considerable time, and everyone does them differently. Report Buddy solved this by utilizing AI-based speech-to-text conversion to automatically populate structured templates, creating consistent, high-quality service reports.
Dietrich Mertens
Head of Digitalization, GEA
While the current focus is service and troubleshooting reports, the potential for other functions, like sales and project management, is clear. “It’s perfect for generating structured, high-quality reports. We’re building a scalable foundation that can evolve through real use,” he adds.
Better World Award 2025 winners, Dietrich Mertens and Hansjoachim Pfaff receive their bronze award for GEA Report Buddy, an AI-based speech-to-text application for service technicians, from Johannes Giloth, Chief Operating Officer. (Image: GEA)
Shining a spotlight on GEA’s digital transformers
At GEA, digital innovation is about unlocking new ways of working, thinking and creating value for customers. That’s why innovation is one of the growth drivers defined in GEA’s Mission 30 strategy. Ultimately, these innovations reflect something bigger: GEA’s belief that engineering can – and should – contribute to a better world, one solution at a time. Recognizing the individuals and teams driving this shift is essential to maintaining momentum and achieving this target.
As Tom Oelsner, Chief Digital Officer, and one of the subject matter experts for the Innovation & Digitalization category, explains, “Digitalization is one of the most important forces shaping the future of our business. To make it work, we need a culture where ideas can be explored, tested and scaled. That requires giving people the freedom to experiment and the tools to succeed. And, giving them recognition – because they’re not only solving problems, but helping define GEA’s future.”
GEA Better World Awards, 2025. (Image: GEA)
Dietrich Mertens emphasized the deeper value of a culture that celebrates innovation. “The event was inspiring, and the visibility it gave our project – internally and with leadership – was something I will never forget. That motivates people to think beyond their day-to-day. It’s important to know that if you have a good idea, there’s a path to develop it and be recognized for it.”
