Industrially produced pasta is made with under vacuum operating presses
Vacuum extrusion technology however was not available for many years to small manufacturers,that is why pasta made by small producers looks different and cannot compete with industrial pasta.
  Small-medium capacity pasta presses have been recently introduced to this market, therefore this is the subject of this conversation with Mr Giorgio Pavan, the head manager of Secom, who knows vacuum extrusion technology very well.

Question: isn'it it, Mr.Giorgio Pavan?
Answer: Yes, it is, Pavan (my family’s firm ) produced the first totally under vacuum operating press in 1953. Pavan's contribution to the developement of pasta technology is bigger than anyone else.

Q: What do you mean with "vacuum technology" and "totally under vacuum operating press ?".
A: You can apply vacuum during extrusion i that means just before entering into the cylinder/screw group; or at midway through the mixing phase. Otherwise you can apply vacuum from the very the beginning,and perform dosing, mixing ,and extrusion all under vacuum The last one is the technology developed by Pavan and utilized by Secom for its MA300,MA200 and MA500 presses.

Q: What sort of effect has vacuum on pasta?
A: The  most important effect is a more compact product,the second is you avoid the ossidation of  beta-carothene which is in semolina.The result  a more traslucent, yellow and crystalline pasta. Consumer prefers this pasta , because it looks better and performs better when cooking.
Is is well known  that pasta made under total vacuum is superior to  pasta made just under other vacuum conditions.
Pavan quickly gained its leading position in the market mainly thanks to the excellent technology,even though it was the youngest of the historical equipment producers.
Q: What features should have a small pasta press?
A:First of all it has to be  under vacuum, in order to produce pasta with the same quality as industrial pasta.It has to be automatic,because labour is increasingly expensive, and it has to work with continuous process in order to assure consistant quality.
Q: A Polish producer sells a non continuous press operating under vacuum. What do you think about it from a pasta quality point of you?
A: I just say that the MA300 screw rotates 22 RPM per minute.It is a fact that above  26 RPM you  worsen the quality of your product, because the gluten is damaged. Ask about the RPM speed of Roll Mark press and you will get your answer.
Q: Also DTA firm offers the MA300 press.
A: This is not our machine. We had supplied some Polish producers with three MA300 and they are fully satisfied with them.Then  DTA bought one of our MA300  and copied it. DTA subcontracts manufacturing  and sells it as if made  by us.
Q: Copying does not seem to be a correct behaviour.
A: The world is flooded of fake product. Clients must pay attention,and distinguish real professional producer from false ones. If you find a product with too  convenient a price, you'd better  become suspicious. DTA firm sells the press at a 15% lower price than ours.
Q: An attactive bargain…
A: It seems better than it really is ! The incidence of labour cost is 10% in our machine. In Poland they have less expensive labour cost, but considering the lower productivity you justify only a  5% price difference, not 15%. This extra saving of  10% comes from lower components quality  and poor workmanship.
Q:Poor workmanship may not prejudice the quality of produced pasta…
A: Maybe it does not. But you must consider all aspects:15% difference means a saving of 1 milion lire each of the 10 years of depreciation. This machine produces pasta worth 1 million lire of  pasta value every 2-3 hours. Is it convenient to take a risk that may affect reliability of the machine for such a little saving?
Our MA300 is designed to produce 300 kg./h 24 hours a day , 300 days a year.
How many times could you pay back the little extra cost you have faced with?
If anythging happens to the DTA machine how can they help you: they have no experience of such machinery at all, they know nothing about pasta making.
    Q: What would you do if you were a pasta maker and  had to buy a press?
A: First of all, I would speak to someone who already bought the same machine, then I want to know a lot about the experience of the manufacturer.
 I'ld ask also if the capacity refers to dried product or to product coming out the die. After that I wander about  the technology and finally about the price.