Engineers who build the machines they sell
Bigtem USA LLC is the North American operation of Bigtem. From Atlanta, we bring Bigtem’s fruit, vegetable and potato processing machines and complete lines to plants across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Behind every machine is a company that has done one thing since 1973: design and build food processing equipment, then stay with it through installation, start-up and the years of production that follow.
Food plants don’t fit a catalog
Every processor has a different crop, a different building and a different target. Bigtem was built around that fact. It designs and manufactures turnkey processing lines and individual machines, and adapts each one to the customer’s product and application, rather than selling a fixed catalog.
That approach covers fresh produce packing, canning, freezing and juice production, and it runs from a single conveyor to a complete automated line. Bigtem supports customers at every stage, not only design: installation, commissioning and training are part of the job.
Five decades of engineering, since 1973
Bigtem was founded in 1973 in Istanbul, Turkey, as a process engineering, design and manufacturing company for food processing equipment. Its headquarters, engineering offices and factory are in the Tuzla district of Istanbul, and Bigtem Hellas runs a second manufacturing facility near Xanthi in northern Greece.
Over more than fifty years, Bigtem’s range has grown from individual machines to complete process lines for potatoes and French fries, potato chips, fruits and vegetables, tomatoes, frozen vegetables, pickles, dried fruits and nuts, juices and sauces. Its equipment has been sold in 92 countries on five continents, including the United States and Canada.
North America is not new ground. The oldest Bigtem equipment installed in the United States has been running for more than 25 years, in California and other states.
About 200 people, 35 of them engineers
Bigtem is owned by Bengisu (Ben) and has about 200 people today, including 35 engineers. Design and manufacturing happen in-house: the same organization that engineers a line also builds its machines and writes the control software that runs them.
For a processor, that means one team owns the result. When a peeler, a blancher and a dryer have to work as one line, the people who designed each step are the people who make them work together.
From your crop to running production
Design
Bigtem engineers start from your crop, capacity and building: process design, plant layout and a utilities outline for steam, water, compressed air and power.Manufacture
Machines, control panels and control software are built in-house, wired for the voltage your plant specifies.Factory testing
Equipment is tested at the factory before shipment, with product where it matters, such as peeling trials.Shipping
Bigtem USA coordinates shipping to your plant.Commissioning
Installation supervision, commissioning, recipe setup, and operator and maintenance training on site.Support
Spare parts and remote support after start-up, coordinated from Atlanta.
Inside our factory
This is what in-house manufacturing looks like at Bigtem: welding, bending and machining parts, then assembling the machines in Tuzla, Istanbul.
A North American operation, not a distant factory
Bigtem USA LLC is a Georgia company based in Atlanta.
Meet Dan Ghadiri
Dan Ghadiri
CEO, Bigtem USA LLC · Atlanta
Dan Ghadiri is the CEO of Bigtem USA LLC and leads the North American operation of Bigtem from Atlanta. He is Bigtem’s point of contact for processors across North America.
His focus is fruit, vegetable and potato processing equipment: peeling, blanching, IQF and potato lines. Many of his first conversations with processors start on the plant floor, at the existing steam peeler and the line around it, before anyone talks about new equipment.
“A lot of first conversations start at the peeler: what are you peeling, how old is the vessel, and is the line around it still keeping up?”
Talk to Bigtem USA in Atlanta
Planning a new line, replacing a steam peeler or looking for parts? Tell us about your plant.