From the Meadows to the Skies
“And now it comes full circle,” says Joachim Weiland and brushes gently over the parts of the pumping system that has been developed at his business in Hoppegarten. The system could help small dairy farmers, just like his father used to be, to prevail at the market or even to expand even under difficult circumstances.
Mr Weiland’s father’s cowshed in Berlin’s district Prenzlauer Berg (which the later-to-be master toolmaker was supposed to take over) had started to face increasing hardships in the mid-20th century due to the expanding metropolis.
Innovation
“A modular pump head system for the manual filling of liquid pasty milk products and of milk products containing solid particles” is the official title of the trendsetting innovative product developed by the company Joachim Weiland Werkzeugbau GmbH & Co. KG. In 2016 the company was awarded the Brandenburg Innovation Award Plastics and Chemistry for this product.
The system that has already entered the phase of trial runs fulfils all food law requirements and for dairy farmers it opens up not only the new opportunity to package/bottle smaller quantities of milk and sell it, for example, in a farm shop, but it also means that they can produce processed products, such as yoghurts with fruits, and package/bottle them on their own.
“Small farmers have to look for new sales opportunities and the distribution of products via a farm shop is, of course, lucrative,” knows Weiland because he had talks with many farmers. A steady product inflow and outflow, which can be utilised in a flexible way, and various filing nozzles guarantee relatively low investment costs on the side of the purchasers of the pumping system while offering them the opportunity to broaden their product and service variety.
Cross-sector collaboration
The aforementioned innovative product from Hoppegarten, which was supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, can be used with any pump head for the high-quality bottling/packaging of milk and milk products. In addition, the compliance with food law requirements is guaranteed.
The Cluster management at Brandenburg Invest sees this innovative product as a “seed” from which commercial potential can “grow” and which could be very interesting for a whole series of dairy producers. “We will try to make it more famous within the sector, to present it to the relevant businesses and to subsequently bring all interested parties to one table,” said Detmar Leitow, Cluster manager Food Industry.
His colleague from the Cluster Plastics and Chemistry, Kerstin Dohrmann, will also remain in the loop. However, this is not Brandenburg Invest’s only case that entails cross-cluster cooperation.
Product diversity
The pumping system is not the only innovative product the tool manufacturing company developed for the agricultural sector. Mr Weiland, who does beekeeping as a hobby, has also become renowned among beekeepers. In this particular field his pump for the bottling/packaging of honey is very popular, but he also developed a formic acid evaporator.
This evaporator fights beehive infestations caused by varroa mites and has been marketed with great success for many years. But his company, which he founded more than 50 years ago by purchasing a metalworking shop in Berlin, cooperates not only with the agricultural sector but also with a broad variety of other sectors.
Besides tools, the company, which counts 25 employees, specialises in mould making and injection moulding. The company’s products are also cruising across the skies in passenger jets. On board of the world’s largest commercial aircraft, the Airbus A380, parts produced by Mr Weiland’s company can be found in the on-board telephones.