Making it count Data Detection Technologies

winter sports to summer sporting areas as well. There is also the possibility of expanding more in the sporting consumer accessories market in the future.”

New addition to wood processing family

Woodtech is Wintersteiger’s wood processing arm, and produces a number of thincutting machines, saw blades, customised process solutions as well as wear parts. An important step forward for this business area came in 2012 with the purchase of the company VAP Gruber Automations GmbH, which allowed it to add a new line of products to its wood portfolio – Timber Repair & Cosmetics (TRC). These machines are used for repairing holes and other imperfections in wood floors.

The CEO talks about the importance of this purchase: “There is a quite a lot of potential for TRC. Without this kind of technology you need very skilled people to perform the task of wood floor repair so it’s usually done by hand. We can now offer automatic machinery for this so it’s an area in which we expect to see growing demand.”

Delta plot harvester

Investments in levelling

The Levelling business area is one of the more recent additions to Wintersteiger’s portfolio. It entered this market through the acquisition of KOHLER Maschinenbau GmbH in 2011 – a company based in Friesenheim in southern Germany. It produces a wide range of levelling technology including strip leveling, part-levelling and drag levelling lines as well as coilers, roller feeds and strip washing machines.

KOHLER’s engineers have the long-term know-how to design and build machines according to the most exacting customer demands. For example, it recently won the largest order in the history of the Wintersteiger Group so far when it was contracted by ThyssenKrupp in Duisburg to install a 110m strip levelling plant at a cost of 9 million euros.

In order to increase its ability to meet such significant orders in the future, Wintersteiger is currently in the process of building a new KOHLER plant at Lahr in Germany, expected to be operational by Autumn this year (2014). The building site is on an area of 50,000 square metres and the plant itself will cover 10,000 square metres.

What next for Wintersteiger?

Wintersteiger’s products can currently be found in over 130 countries throughout the world, although the importance of each of these in terms of sales varies according to each business unit. For example, for the Sports sector the European and US markets are vital because of the large number of skiing areas. In terms of Seedmech, the US is key because this is where the largest percentage of the food research is carried out. More generally, in terms of geographical expansion, the group sees China, Russia, Brazil and India as being the markets offering the strongest prospects moving forward.

In conclusion, Mr Thalacker highlights where Wintersteiger’s future growth is likely to come from, and how the group will continue to maintain its strong position across all the sectors it serves: “We are privately owned and the owner’s intention is that the company should grow both internally and through further acquisitions when it makes sense for us to do so. The fact that we do small series production for special niche markets is key to our success: we are a special machine producer and don’t try to compete with the mass producers. We offer our clients individual solutions tailored to their needs, and we will continue to do so.” n

WINTERSTEIGER Headquarters, Ried im Innkreis

MAKING IT COUNT

Data Detection Technologies develops, manufactures and distributes equipment for counting, filling and packaging of various objects such as seeds, diamonds and gems, electronic parts, capsules and tablets.

New Generation of Research Seed counter (SEED Count R-25 PLUS)

Presenting the seed counting machines at the ISF Congress, Bejing, China

AT Data Detection Technologies nothing counts quite as much as speed and accuracy.

The hi-tech company is a pioneer in the technology of bulk counting, explains chief technology officer and founding member Yuval Lichi.

For more than 12 years the Israel-based operation is leading the way in solutions for advanced counting and packaging. Following a major breakthrough resulting in a highly accurate solution for bulk counting as fast as weighing, its equipment is now demanded by some of the best-known names in the diamond, seed and pharmaceutical industries.

“We are a high technology company that has brought together experts in electro-optics, electronics, software and mechanical engineering,” he explains. “We are able to design from scratch and to offer a complete solution because we cover all these fields in-house.

“We develop our software ourselves, making sure all our processes are clear and our systems are user friendly. At the same time we offer high speed and accuracy. As a result of our hard work we have over 1,000 customers worldwide, either through direct sales or valued partners.

Yuval Lichi - Chief Technology Officer, DATA

A shining example

Data Detection Technologies was formed in 2002 to develop products primarily for the diamond industry.

“There were often problems when dealing with diamonds in bulk, problems with overfill and diamonds sticking together. Counting machines that counted the diamonds one by one were just too slow" says Mr Lichi.

“For us to come up with a solution, therefore, we had two choices – we could separate them and count them one by one or we could come up with an innovation for counting them all together.”

The innovative solution the team came up with is based upon rapid real-time image processing of multiple objects as they fall. These breakthrough technologies enabled 100 per cent accurate and reliable bulk counting and packaging of object as small as 0.3 mm up to 25 mm without the need of tooling and in rates that are close to weighing.

“This was a major breakthrough – for the first time thousands of small objects could be counted in bulk at very high speeds,” he adds.

Visiting Customers in Europe (Enza Zaden)

Seeds of thought

Initially, Data Detection Technologies worked with the major players in the diamond industry in India but with the economic changes of

Yuval Lichi & Sorin Nucham presenting pharma machine at the Interpack 2014

Gil Rosenfeld - Chief Commercial Officer, DATA

2008 there was a slow down and the company decided to turn its attentions elsewhere.

“We began to focus on the vegetable seed industry, which was interesting as there were many of the same problems with counting, especially when it came to hybrid seeds, which were very expensive. We realised it could be a very promising & exciting market for us.”

Further investment was made in research and development and after two years the company had a concept that could be integrated into production and packaging lines.

Going global

The equipment resulted in increased yield and cost reduction by eliminating the overfilled items often added when measuring by weight or volume. It also led to configuration time and delivery time reductions and enhanced process management, as the seed counters were developed to record all packaging data.

“We are leading in the market since then. We have collaborated with Wintersteiger over the Seed Research Plus and our customers are now based across Europe and the US, and include all the leading operators in the industry, such as Syngenta and Monsanto.”

Wintersteiger is a global leader in the production of machines for agricultural field research and has a world-wide distribution network. Data Detection Technologies’ counting machines are available through Wintersteiger’s global network of sales offices and agents.

Universal solutions

While existing solutions are constantly being upgraded, research and development is ongoing searching out other markets where speed and accuracy in counting are essential. The pharmaceutical industry has therefore also been an area of intense interest.

“When counting tablets and capsules it is obviously essential to approach 100 per cent accuracy,” Mr Lichi points out. “This is a field in which we expect to see significant growth in the future.”

He continues: “We feel the next step will be to create a solution for the universal market, something that can count all sorts of small parts, where quality control is also essential. This is something that could happen soon.

“In fact, I believe that by the end of 2015 we will be bringing something very exciting to the market – something that will offer a breakthrough to other industries requiring accuracy and speed in counting.” n

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