News – 2023-10-16
RATIONAL presented no less than three innovations at eight international events held from 26 September to 17 October at its headquarters in Landsberg am Lech. The market leader for hot food preparation inspired around 800 dealers, service partners and other multipliers from all over the world with its game changer iVario Pro, an innovation in the iCombi Pro, solutions driving digitalisation in the professional kitchen, as well as a world premiere. In doing so, RATIONAL demonstrated the pioneering role it has played in the industry for the last 50 years.
The first highlight of the international partner events on the occasion of the company's 50th anniversary was the presentation of the iCareSystem AutoDose - an integrated solid cleaner system as an option for the iCombi Pro tabletop units. Cleaner and care products are securely stored in the cooking system in solid form, enabling autonomous cleaning, either at the push of a button or according to a schedule. Theodor Tumbrink, Vice President Product Management at RATIONAL, summarises the advantages as follows: "iCareSystem AutoDose increases work safety, saves time and ensures HACCP hygiene safety. Unlike many other solutions, there is no need for hoses or canisters outside the cooking system." The new cleaning system is also the highlight of the RATIONAL stand at Host, the international trade fair taking place in Milan in mid-October.
In terms of digitalisation, Rational also remains true to its pioneering role - as it has done over the past 20 years. For the first time on the market, there is now an automatic interface between ERP systems and the two cooking systems iCombi and iVario: Cooking programs stored in the system in advance are sent to all networked iCombi and iVario units within seconds and across all locations via the ConnectedCooking digital kitchen management system - this saves time and ensures uniform standards.
Meanwhile, sustainable resource management based on automatic data analysis helps to use the cooking systems more efficiently, extend their service life and save energy and costs.
Service partners also benefit from AI-based data analyses and forecasts: Faults are detected more quickly, unforeseen system failures are avoided and service calls are easier to plan. If necessary, this can also be done remotely. “With these offers, our many years of digital expertise and our modern cooking systems merge to create real added value for our customers and partners,” says Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Markus Paschmann about the digital solutions.
For the grand finale, RATIONAL gave its partners an insight into the new appliance category for the first time, which guarantees the shortest cooking times with the highest food quality thanks to intelligent and adaptive control of microwave technology.
“Our development team has succeeded in combining the three technologies of steam, hot air and microwave in such an intelligent and adaptive way that this extra power - for the first time on the market - can be used across all rack levels in a 6-1/1 cooking system," Markus Paschmann explained in his presentation. The result is an absolute specialist: "It was developed with a clear focus and as a supplement to the existing product range and geared to the special requirements of selected businesses. The iCombi and iVario continue to be the best solutions on the market for most customer requirements," continues Paschmann. According to RATIONAL, a gradual introduction is planned in spring 2024, with further information on technical details to follow in time for the launch.