Industry profile

Fawema: Know how and experience since 1920

by Tom Blacker, Milling and Grain magazine

estled in a beautiful area of North RhineWestphalia, Germany is the River Agger. In

the rivers valley is the area of Engelskirchen
and Fawemas main international headquarters,
situated about 40 kilometers east of Cologne.
Fawema was founded by Heinrich Kleinjung in 1920 and
called Fabrik fr Werkzeuge und Maschinen. At first, the
company manufactured twist drill milling machines, drilling
machines, bow saws, grinding machines and other metal
working tools. Later on, these products were also exported to
the UK.
From the mid-thirties onwards contract work and government
orders, above all the processing of spare parts for locomotives
for the National Railway, contributed to the companys growth.
By the end of the forties there was an increased demand
for portioned foodstuffs, and Fawema, together with their
engineer Julius Schwirten, an expert for packaging machines,
concentrated on the development and manufacture of dosing
machines.
Mark Wild, International Sales Director, described how it was
in the 1950s when an order for 200 packaging machines set
Fawema on course into the industry it is renowned for today.
Factory workshops and a multi-storey administration building
were erected. Continuously improved and new Fawema products
resulted in further expansion. The production programme was
systematically broadened, first by adding bag filling and closure
machines and later by combining them with collating and
packing machines into state-of-the-art packaging lines. Now
of course, Fawema are a household name for their machine
packaging for flour bags, animal feed, pet food, and rice.
Fawema are a part of a group. The sister company, HDG, is
located near Lindlar in the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis also,
like Fawema, near Cologne. HDG specialise in the forming,
filling and sealing systems for sealed rim pouches of food,
pet food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetic products. With both
companies in the same local region, the solutions and knowhow is well shared and a good partnership exists to provide

64 | December 2015 - Milling and Grain

packaging solutions.
During the tour of the company site, Mark provided an
afternoon tour of all the offices and production facilities. Mark
invites and shows customers their products through all stages
of the manufacturing process. We began in the reception where
an original 1922 bohrmaschine is located.
We walked through Marks office first, admiring a very
large map of Africa. Africa represents an important market
for Fawema due to the rapid and constant population growth
and the consequent rise in demand for commodity food
products such as maize meal and wheat flour packed in
retail size packs of between 1 kg and 5 kg. With hundreds
of reference installations all across the continent, the earliest
of which date from the early 1970s, the Fawema brand is
favoured by African mills thanks to the unique heavy-duty
manufacture which meets the requirements in Africa perfectly
and allows the miller to ensure that his products are packed
efficiently, speedily and with the minimum of down-time and
maintenance.

Packaging

After the office, we went to a storeroom with many bags

and packages organised in the style of an archive. Packaging
for tea, pet food, flour and many more were on display. After
gaining an insight into the different types of packaging, the
route down to the machine shop and production area beckoned.
Thirty people work in production and the machine shop in
total. The machines begin their journey as steel. Six people
work for Fawema in the steel intake and frame building
assembly section. The stainless steel, sourced from quality
European steel mills, is built to specification from the in-house
designers plans. There is also an in-house paint shop with six
people employed in this section. Mark said that these in-house
sections mean certain security and quality control requirements
are upheld when they do not have to be there at all. It also
affects the cost for the customer. However, the outcomes and
results are an all-round higher quality product for the customer.

In the first assembly hall, mechanics and electronics experts

work on the stage of fitting the packaging machines with
the correct engineered parts and systems to bring the steel
structures to life. There are many other branded products such
as new Mettler Toledo combi-unit metal detector and check
weighers attached to the model. Mark and I mused on the
progress in these technologies and how the food production
industry uses x-ray machines as well, and Mark did not rule
this out in featuring in flour, rice, pet food or feed packaging
machinery in the near-future as well.

Testing

A section of the production area is set aside for testing. I

was told how products undergo a Factory Acceptance Test
(FAT). Fawema rigorously test run their customers new
machines before delivery to check through the capabilities and
reliabilities and iron out any problems at this stage. Customers
frequently are interested in the results and changes from the
FATs. Mark invites customers personally to observe these
tests, which again showed dedication to meeting customers
expectations and co-operating as partners. The model I saw
undergoing FATs was the FA325, which was set up for 10kg,
11.5kg and 12kg bags.
Wrapped in plastic ready for delivery were three machines:
two FA10s for 1 to 5kg wheat flour paper bags and one FA325
for 10kg to 12kg wheat flour. The destination was for an
existing mill in Durban, South Africa. These machines have
SEW branded motors, again a European-made quality part
and the electronics and mechatronics are also European-made.
Electronic suppliers vary in all Fawemas machinery but
Siemens and Schneider are the most likely.
Altuglas CS sheets is an interesting product used on all

the packaging machines in the assembly halls I saw on the

day. Altuglas is used for all the screens and doors around
the steel frames. It is a French-made European standard, EN
263-compliant PMMA sheet used to manufacture sanitary
appliances. Mark told me that a lot of their investment goes
into the door parts. They commonly measure at around one
inch thick for their customers needs. The hygiene and sanitary
conditions of the assemblage of Fawema packaging machines
is common throughout all products and stages.
I was able to see many machines at the near-completion
stages. They all differed in some ways. This was due to the
unique specifications of each customers requirements. For
example, one machine had an extra long caterpillar-track style
conveyor belt in a long s shape.
After the assembly halls and packaging areas, Mark directed
me around the offices of the administration, accounts and
design offices. I found the designs down in the steel assembly
halls to be very interesting. One rising star, Christopher
Hoffman, was working independently on new designs and
specifications. He stopped to tell me about the top three
innovations that he recognises in Fawema machinery:
1. Servo-driven, not mechanically driven, which results in less
maintenance for the operator.
2. The many varieties of closing options.
3. Quick change-over time in bag sizes with an average time of
30 minutes.
Mark concluded to me that, the future is in innovation,
innovation is in people like Christopher. This was a brilliant
perspective for innovation is nothing without people.
Milling and Grain magazine wish to thank Mr Mark Wild,
and the staff at Fawema.
www.fawema.com
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