What actually does? Ilvana Weiler
"Filter coffee, black", is PROBAT trainer Ilvana Weiler's spontaneous answer to the question of how she prefers to drink her coffee. She also likes to mix in some of the self-roasted - and often unusual - coffee samples she needs for her work; most recently an anaerobically fermented Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.
The food technologist and process engineer advises and trains PROBAT's international industrial customers. She imparts her in-depth knowledge of green and roasted coffee, sensor technology and the roasting technologies and control solutions of the world market leader. The training program is extensive, ranging from basic to expert training, and can be booked as individual or group courses at PROBAT's technical center or at the customer's premises. Ilvana has travelled to almost every continent in the world. And it is the interaction with customers that she particularly enjoys in her work.
After graduating from high school in Andernach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Ilvana completed a bachelor's degree in food technology at the University of Applied Sciences in Trier and a master's degree in food science at the HAW Hamburg. In the middle of her Master's thesis, she started looking for a job and came across PROBAT's job advertisement. Since 2013 she has been working as a trainer for the company in Emmerich.
However, she is seldom to be found at her desk, as her actual working equipment is located in the training center and one floor below in the PROBAT technology center: in the heart of the PROBAT research and development facility, all roasting and grinding technologies of the world market leader are available on a pilot scale for customer training and product consultation. All machines are equipped with the state-oft the-art PILOT control software. The data measured by the numerous sensors can be accessed in real time via the HMI. Analysis of this data helps customers to increase the productivity of their processes and save energy. This consultancy service is also part of Ilvana's remit.
At the training center, she teaches customers the basics of sensory evaluation through tasting sessions with different types of coffee - including the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe - and explains what to look for in a professional coffee tasting to objectively assess its quality. She also roasts as part of the research work for PROBAT's many development projects, such as the Model Predictive Control project mentioned in another article in this issue.
At the customer's site, she can usually be found in the control room or in quality control. Her expertise is also in demand for recipe development after the commissioning of roasting machines, whether based on reference samples or from scratch using existing coffees. In addition to her in-depth knowledge, she also benefits from her many years of experience.
Ilvana loves her varied but demanding job. She finds the balance she needs after work at games nights with friends. She also enjoys going to concerts and festivals, as music is an important part of her life and is not to be missed when she works out on the cross trainer or rowing machine and then relaxes on the yoga mattailed information on basic, operator and process training, control instructions, product consultations and individual courses can be found on the PROBAT website. Here you can also find out all about the individual modules of the SCA Coffee Skills Program, which you can also complete with Ilvana as an authorized SCA trainer.
