Miller Magazine Issue 146 February 2022

56 MILLER / FEBRUARY 2022 NEWS Behn + Bates, a subsidiary of Haver & Boecker, spe- cializes in the production of machines for filling food products. The traceability of the individual filled bag is a major issue in the food industry. Data communication goes hand in hand with this. The complete systems sup- plied by Behn + Bates with packing machine technology, discharge lines and palletizers also include components that mark the bags accordingly. It is precisely document- ed what has happened to the bags. Regulatory authori- ties conduct unannounced audits in the industry to en- sure quality assurance. The collection of data in times of increasing digitali- zation is of immense importance. On the part of Behn + Bates, there is the attitude that the machine control only takes over further tasks to a certain extent. If a larger scope is added, for example interfaces to the custom- er, a palletizer, etc., the sister company Haver Automa- tion, specialist for process optimization and efficiency enhancement, is involved in the project. By now, data handling is a concrete demand of the customers. They order a complete package and expect all machine com- ponents to communicate with each other and with their own systems. With regard to automatization, it can be stated that the high degree of automation has not yet arrived in all countries of the world. In some countries with a high population share, manual and semi-automatic machine technology is still used in order to produce as cheaply as possible. It must also be taken into account that wo- ven PE bags are still frequently used in these countries, which in many cases find a secondary and tertiary appli- cation. Behn + Bates applies the same machine standards worldwide with regard to hygiene, safety and explosion protection. Global players want to work with the same, reliable technology worldwide. Behn+Bates can realize this by collaborating closely with these customers. As a result, local manufacturers also have to adapt to these modern requirements. Increasing importance of data communication and digitalization