The history of SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP

Our story is not about how one egg turned into 20 chickens, but it is about how we became the Worlds’ leading manufacturer of egg handling and processing equipment - and how we continuously help our customers turn eggs into valuable business.

We are a company with strong roots and a long history. It all began 60 years ago where SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP was founded, and since then, eggs in both raw, fluid, and powder form have been part of our DNA.

The timeline maps out some of the defining moments in our history which changed the landscape of our company and the industries we are part of.

Historic Moments

1961

SANOVO Founded

SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP, originally known as SANOVO ENGINEERING A/S, was founded by Lactosan and the Danish Tøræg Factory under the name SANOVO Levnedsmidler A/S in October 1961 in Odense, Denmark. The main target was production and trade of food, but quickly the company also decided to enter into the production of egg breaking machines.

Why the name SANOVO?
The SANOVO name is a compound of SAN and OVO:

SAN to show our origin from LACTOSAN
OVO is the latin word for eggs.

November 1979, a new company SANOVO ENGINEERING A/S, was founded to continue the production and it became a subsidiary 100% owned by Lactosan-SANOVO Holding (today known as THORNICO).

1956

STAALKAT founded

Mr Dirk van Katwijk, founder of Van Katwijk’s Industrial, bought the company 'Libra' in Hummelo in the east of Holland and moved it to Aalten. They were a producer of machinery for the textile industry. His idea was to produce egg-grading machines besides the existing product range.

The company was founded in September 1956 and named STAALKAT.

Why the name STAALKAT?
The STAALKAT name is a compound of STAAL and KAT

STAAL to show that the machines where build of steel, and staal is steel in Dutch
KAT is from the name of the founder Katwijk

In 2006, STAALKAT joined the SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP and today it has been renamed to SANOVO TECHNOLOGY NETHERLANDS.

Company milestones

2021

This year, SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP and RAME-HART are turning 60, while SANOVO TECHNOLOGY NETHERLANDS is turning 65.

Watch video 🎥

2020

SANOVO has agreed with the management of Ovotrack on a strategic investment in Ovotrack Holding BV, global supplier of traceability and inventory management solutions for egg grading centers, processing plants and hatcheries. Ovotrack continues to operate independently and Job Beekhuis will remain as CEO for both Ovotrack BV and Hatchtrack BV.

Learn more here

2020

SANOVO acquires all assets, patents, trademarks, name rights, production premises, and 5 members of the technical staff related to the SonoSteam activity. The new company SANOVO BIOSECURITY A/S is established with the current Division Director, Niels Krebs from SonoSteam, continuing as President.

Learn more here

2019

SANOVO has been present in Latin America with own legal entities since the beginning of 2000. In order to strengthen our position further we decided in 2019 to open a new office in Sao Paulo. SANOVO TECHNOLOGY SOUTH AMERICA will service the entire LATAM with experts within our different business areas.

2018

SANOVO TECHNOLOGY PROCESS and ROBOTICS are established as their own legal entities and is today located in a 2,980 m2 building at Datavej 12, Odense Denmark.

Giordano Poultry Plast becomes a member of the group.

2016

The Headquarters in Denmark move to a top modern building at Datavej 3 in Odense, Denmark. Today we have 10,700 m2 of production, administration and training facilities.

2016

NIKRO becomes a member of the group.

2009

SANOVO PROCESS SOLUTIONS is formed under the SANOVO TECHNOLOGY GROUP - distributing a range of products from DSM to the egg processing industry; including enzymes and analyzing equipment

2006

STAALKAT INTERNATIONAL (today SANOVO TECHNOLOGY NETHERLANDS) and RAME-HART joins the Group.

The STAALKAT brand name that has represented high quality for over sixty two years was in 2018 replaced with the brand name SANOVO.

1992

SANOVO has since the 1970's had its own office in Italy, but this was mainly for sales of egg products. In 1992 SANOVO Italia s.r.l. was established and is today the production unit of pasteurization, CIP, SCADA systems, WAVE etc.

In 2019 we moved from the original factory in Vicenza into the present modern factory in Marano Vicentino.

1987

Japan is an important market for SANOVO with a delivery over 60% of all egg breaking machines in the market. Since 1987 we have had our own entity in the country and today we have a sales and service office in the center of Tokyo.

Moving into the factory in Thulevej, Denmark

1975

The headquarters in Denmark moves into a new building in Thulevej in Odense, Denmark. After several extensions to that building we moved in 2016 to our present location.

1969

SANOVO USA Inc. is established in New York and later in 1984 to Salt Lake City, Utah. The 1st of July 1996 SANOVO takes over the US company, Seymour.

Today, SANOVO is the number one selling egg grading and processing brand in the US. Over the last decade we have become the Leading Grader & Breaker Supplier in America with highest throughput and yield per Person. Our office in the US is today placed in the state of Michigan and has more than 40 employees in total.

Milestones in egg processing

2019

With SANOVO ProductRecovery you maximize the return of your liquid egg, avoiding waste.

A prime goal for every egg processing facility is to obtain a high yield from the raw products. Every time we develop projects with our clients and partners we always seek new ways to improve the production processes. We learned that 0.5% - 1.0% of the liquid products are lost during processing, making us think, could we convert this loss into product again?

Now we are happy to present you to our solution to transform egg loss during the production phase into valuable business: SANOVO ProductRecovery.

2014

SANOVO has developed WAVE technology, a patented system which pasteurizes the egg product very close to the coagulation point, without affecting the functional properties. Thanks to the use of kinetic energy, the product is heated to a uniform temperature in a fraction of a second. The technique has proven to be extremely effective at eliminating even highly heat-resistant Salmonella serotypes, while at the same time preserving the important functional properties of the egg product.

2006

During the VIV Utrecht show in 2006 the world premiere of the SANOVO OptiBreaker was released. Today the OptiBreaker is, with a capacity of 600 cases/hour, the most sold breaker in the world.

1996

In 1996, SANOVO launch the first of many row egg breaking machines - the SANOVO 6-25 with a capacity of 54.000 eggs/hour. The new technology introduced a new system, where we break and separates 6 eggs at the same time in a row.

In 1996 it also receives USDA approval.

1988

SANOVO takes over the rights to produce a patented Box Dryer from Henningsen. It is constructed as a horizontal spray dryer plant in which the liquids are dried by passing through tiny jets.

Today, SANOVO is the world leading manufacture of the horizontal box dryer technology with its own legal entity SANOVO TECHNOLOGY PROCESS. Today we dry many other products than eggs - learn more here.

1980

The separation between white and yolk had to be complete not to destroy the whipping ability of the whites. During the first years of egg breaking the separation process was done manually. Gradually, this tiresome task was replaced by automatic control using scanners.

The first introduction of an automatic scanner was made by SANOVO in the early 1980's.

1969

Pasteurization plants where developed to ensure bacteria- and salmonella-free egg products.

In the late 1960's SANOVO had its pasteurization method patented in several Western European markets. During the 1970's legal demands for pasteurization emerged in several countries, and from 1979 SANOVO sold and produced its own pasteurization plants.

1976

The SANOVO 2002-6 system was introduced. This system did not only include an egg breaking machine, but also the newly developed automatic loader, which could be joined to an egg washing machine into an integrated working process.

1973

The SANOVO 2000 introduced the principle with a cracker for egg breaking at each of the horizontal placed cups to collect the white and yolk. This provided a longer drainage time, and the capacity could be increased to almost 22,000 egg / hour.

1972

The SANOVO 6-32 became known as the Long Egg Machine. The machine which produced egg pieces that were aprox. 20 cm. long with a regular centre of yolk surrounded by white of even thickness was a sensation at its first exhibition.

See how it is produced from a TV broadcast in Germany

Since late 1960's

Since the late 1960's, SANOVO has been planning complete production plants. The projects has involved egg breaking machines, filtration and pasteurization as well as talks and pumps for the liquid production and dryers for powder production.

Today, SANOVO is the only company who supplies complete turnkey solutions to the egg industry.

1968

The SANOVO 400 was developed and in the autumn of 1968 it was awarded with a silver medal during the 23rd Poultry Show in London.

1962

The commercial beginning of SANOVO TECHNOLOGY A/S starts with the first automatic egg breaking machine - SANOVO 300, and continued with SANOVO’s many later models of fully automated egg breaking and separating machines.

Milestones in egg handling & grading

2020

The SANOVO TraystackerSX20 is a product developed to enhance farms with small/medium-sized packing operations. We know there is limited space on farms, so we design the SX20 as a space-efficient solution that stacks 30x egg trays. Through the ergonomic design, it also supports farm operators and improves their working environment.

The SX20 can be installed on the SANOVO Farmpacker 40, 70, and 24000. It can handle many common plastic trays; SANOVO recommends the EggsCargosystem® sold by GI-OVO.

Watch movie

2016

The new SANOVO GraderPro handles up to market leading 800 cases/hour. With the GraderPro we introduced several new handling methods and features that secure an extraordinary gentle egg handling. Besides the gentle egg handling we are excited to give you a machine with a minimum of service required, individual egg control and a very efficient cleaning with CIP (cleaning in place).

2000

A large sorting machine with a capacity of 216,000 eggs per hour, the OptiGrader, was developed. It was equipped with the in-house developed crack detector system. In 2019 the machine was introduced with a capacity of 254.000 eggs/hour. The machine is one of the most sold ones in the US.

2004

In 2004 the Ardenta was launched together with a new crack system.

1994-97

In 1994 the Selecta 12 and 18 row with automatic detection systems such as crack, blood and fracture detection was introduced.

In 1997 the Selecta 24 with a capacity of 180,000 eggs/hour was introduced

1993

In 1993 the farmpacker 192S with a new packer alignment system, which increased the capacity of the packers to 36,000 eggs per hour was launched. The newly developed container loader was very handy at such high capacities.

1989

In 1989 the first semi-automatic candler was introduced - the IRUS.

1991

In 1991 the ECM 300 was launched, a small simple sorter with a capacity of about 25,000 eggs per hour with “rolling weighing”.

1983

In 1983 the Electro Compacta 200 was launched with a capacity of 72,000 eggs per hour.

1971

In 1971 the Super Compacta was launched, a small simple sorter with a capacity of 25,000 eggs per hour.

1966-1968

The development of peak absorber / accumulator and the first farm packer.

1964

The first 12-row electronic egg grader was produced and turned out to be another success for the company. As the market demanded more capacity, Staalkat kept on improving their machines resulting in the Electro Compacta in 1975

First patent and individual egg handling

1962

In 1962 the first machines with individual egg handling was introduced - the Aviolanda. In 1964 the patent of electronical scale was submitted.

1960

The American market opened up in 1960. For this, the 6-row machine had to be developed in connection with the 6-row washer. This machine was the Rolls Royce of sorters.

In 1960, the development of automatic packaging machines was started.

1956

The first egg grading machines that came out of production were two-, three- and four-row grading machines in wooden frames. These machines were of cause without automatic loaders packers, but the weighing was done with the scale principle, which has proven its function for more than 60 years now.