Looking at the olive oil production, the final extraction phase from the paste affects the yield and the quality of the oil more than other processing steps. Several strategies are therefore applied today to increase the process outcome already before extraction at the malaxation stage. Technical innovation is particularly realized in adopting olive oil decanters that enable real‐time adjustments of working parameters in function of the different composition of the raw materials, improving the yield of the process and avoiding a significant economic loss for the sector. In the paper of Caponio, Summo, Paradiso and Pasqualone published in this issue of the European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology [1626–1633], the performance of the so‐called “third generation” decanter is presented showing the impact of its application on the chemical, nutritional, olfactory and sensorial quality in the sector of olive oil processing. The significance of the achieved results is underlined in the following commentary.