By developing the end product alongside the equipment with the help of ingredients companies, APV Baker believes it can demonstrate to confectionery manufacturers that there are lucrative possibilities within the confectionery sector that have not yet been fully exploited.
"We started working with Palatinit about six years ago, when we recognised that sugar-free candy was going to be a growing trend," said APV Baker marketing manager Keith Graham.
"They produce a sugar replacer, isomalt, that is low-calorie, low-dental impact and indistinguishable from sugar. However the product requires a higher temperature, so we came up with a method to allow manufacturers to use it."
APV Baker then worked with Firmenich, one of the leading flavours companies, in order to expand the range possibilities available to confectionery manufacturers, and this trend of concentrating on the end product, rather than just how fast or efficient the equipment is. As a result, APV believes it has an excellent view of the confectionery trends to come, and what is possible to achieve.
The company also claims that it is rather unique among equipment manufacturers in having worked extensively with ingredients firms in order to push possibilities within the sector as far as possible.
"Other equipment manufacturers are not thinking in this way," said Graham. "We are lucky in that we have a huge market share, so people know about our quality. We don't have to say we're faster or better - instead we're concentrating on the end product.
"It's about moving the market on from fruit-flavoured boiled sweets. There are sectors adjacent to the mainstream confectionery market that are full of possibilities."
One of these sectors, says Graham, is health. "Medicated confectionery, such as Lockets, have been around for a while, but what we think will be a growing market is guilt-free consumption,"he told www.foodproductiondaily.com. "This could include confectionery with ingredients that make you feel well, such as aloe vera.
"The generic term for these type of products is functional foods, though there is not much in the way of nutraceutical ingredients as such - the idea is more like aromatherapy, where the smells and flavours benefit your well-being."
The second trend that confectioners should be tapping into is the pleasure sector. This, says Graham, is about sensation, the combination of flavours, textures and colours. There is great scope here for the industry to expand their products into the adult market.
"One product we've been developing has candy on one side, and xylitol on the other,"he said. "There is a course side with the cool flavour of lemon, and then you have a smooth candy side with a lime flavour. This mix is unusual and sophisticated.
"We're showing an end product that manufacturers may not have thought of before."
Graham says that these innovations received a great deal of attention at last month's Interpack show in Dusseldorf. "Interpack was great because you get to meet a wider range of people - all of a sudden there is the owner or the marketing manager at your stand. These are the people that we need to see our end products, to see what is possible."
The bottom line for Graham is that for confectioners to widen their appeal, they need to move beyond the boiled sweet image and begin targeting new markets and trends. He believes that APV's work with ingredients firms has put them one step ahead in identifying how the sector can begin to achieve this.