POWERFUL AUTOMATION FOR MILLS

How four mills master the bag with KOCH robot systems - from manual labour to high performance and into an automated future.

OVERVIEW
When it comes to processing flour, bran, and flakes, everything revolves around precision, cleanliness, and speed--and one thing in particular: the bag. In recent years, KOCH Robotersysteme has accompanied four leading mill customers on their journey to automated bag handling: GoodMills Austria, Saalem?hle Alsleben, Strobl Naturm?hle, and Vogtland BioM?hlen.

Whether family-run traditional businesses or large mills, they all faced the same question: How can a sensitive natural product be packaged so efficiently that it arrives at the customer intact and hygienic despite high cycle rates?

This is exactly where KOCH comes in - with well-thought-out solutions that work wherever precision, speed, and product protection are required. No matter how different the production sizes, product ranges, or requirements of the mills are, there is a common thread running through all projects: gentle handling of the bags, flexible palletizing solutions, and maximum efficiency - without compromise.

Because whether it's 10, 25, or 50 kilograms, every bag must be filled efficiently, palletized with precision, packaged securely for transport, and, above all, arrive at the customer undamaged.

"Automation in mills is no longer a topic for the future - it reduces the workload on employees, increases efficiency, and ensures that products reach customers reliably," explains Thomas Theis, Sales Manager at KOCH.

THE CUSTOMER
GoodMills Austria GmbH is the largest milling group in the country and part of the internationally successful GoodMills Group, which operates 25 mills in seven countries. With around 125 employees, GoodMills Austria processes grain into products of the highest quality - from classic household flour to a comprehensive organic range. As a full-service provider, the company reliably supplies bakeries, the food industry, and industrial customers with conventional and organic flours as well as specialized milling products that are used for a wide range of applications.

Saalem?hle Alsleben GmbH is a traditional, owner-managed company in the heart of Germany and is one of the most modern mills in Europe. As part of the Bindewald & Gutting mill group, the team of 220 employees processes wheat, durum, and spelt every day into application-specific flours, semolina, specialty flours, and thermal and hydrothermal products. With flexible production, Saalem?hle ensures that a wide variety of flour types are provided efficiently, reliably, and precisely tailored to the needs of bakeries, food retailers, and industrial customers.

Caj. Strobl - Naturm?hle Gesellschaft m.b.H. has been owned by the Strobl family since 1875 and has developed over more than 140 years into one of the most important suppliers of hulling mill and soy products in Austria and Europe. The company specializes in processing a wide range of cereals, true and pseudo-cereals, and legumes. With around 400 different products--including specialties made from ancient, almost forgotten grains--and a large proportion from certified organic cultivation, Strobl offers a wide range of solutions for the food industry.

Vogtland BioM?hlen GmbH is a modern family business with a long tradition and is also part of the Bindewald & Gutting mill group. Grain has been milled at the Plauen site since at least 1276 - today exclusively from organic farming. The owner-managed company produces biomill brand products: organic wheat/rye and spelt flours and groats. With this combination of centuries of experience, modern production, and sustainable organic quality, Vogtland BioM?hlen GmbH ensures that its products are supplied to the food processing industry reliably, carefully, and with attention to detail.

THE CHALLENGE
Whether spelt, rye, or whole grain - at some point, everything has to be transferred from the silos into bags. And these sacks, weighing between 10 and 50 kilograms, then have to be weighed, checked for metal, labeled, stacked, wrapped, and relabeled in the stack. It sounds simple, but it used to be hard manual labor. Until automation, employees carried out these processes with great effort - while at the same time precision, purity, and high throughput rates were required. After all, the food industry has high standards: fast cycle times, consistent quality, and strict hygiene standards.
For the four mills--GoodMills Austria, Saalem?hle Alsleben, Strobl Naturm?hle, and Vogtland BioM?hlen--the challenges were surprisingly similar:

* Careful handling: Paper and valve bags must not be damaged
* Flexible palletizing: Flour bags in various sizes must be reliably stacked on the appropriate pallets - pallet formats, layer patterns, and protective layers must be changed quickly and precisely
* High performance: Several hundred bags per hour, on several lines simultaneously, without downtime
* Maximum hygiene and ergonomics: The systems must comply with strict food hygiene standards while also reducing the physical strain on employees.
* Space optimization: Tight palletizing areas next to other production lines require maximum and efficient use of the available space
* Process reliability: Each bag must be correctly positioned, palletized, secured, and labeled - as fully automatically as possible, around the clock

On the other hand, each mill had its own special features that required an individual approach. Step by step, bag by bag. "Especially with the sometimes limited space in often historic mill buildings and the delicate bags, every centimeter and every movement counts - nothing can go wrong," explains Thomas Theis from KOCH.

From optimal use of space to careful handling of the bags and flexible palletizing - a customized system was developed for each mill to make automated bag logistics efficient, precise, and reliable. Where necessary, the team also relied on special upstream engineering to master individual challenges and tailor the system precisely to the customer's requirements and objectives.

THE SOLUTION
Every mill is unique - and KOCH's solutions are just as individual. Step by step, bag by bag, each system was precisely tailored to the spatial conditions, product types, and production rates. Tight space constraints, sensitive paper or valve bags, different pallet heights - every challenge found its tailor-made answer, which began as early as the engineering stage. Thanks to our 3D and VR simulations, all technical aspects of the systems could be taken into account in advance, so that each solution was perfectly tailored to the local conditions and could be experienced even before implementation.

At first glance, the projects follow a similar principle: robot-based palletizing, gentle product handling, automated empty pallet and intermediate layer feeding, intelligent conveyor technology, labeling with ERP connection, and precise protective layer application and film wrapping. However, if you take a closer look and consider the priorities of each individual customer, you will immediately see why each mill tells its own unique success story:

Goodmills Austria: Robotic bag palletizing and full pallet packaging system
Full efficiency, maximum process reliability - that was the motto at GoodMills. Paper valve bags in a wide variety of sizes, flour or bran, two bagging lines, space-saving conveyor technology, and a KOCH sliding fork gripper ensure that every bag remains intact. The system effortlessly handles large quantities on both lines - several tons of flour and bran roll reliably from the filling station onto the pallets every day. Fully automatic ring wrappers, labeling, and ERP connection guarantee complete traceability. GoodMills Austria emphasizes: "Apart from eliminating heavy manual labor, we now benefit from significantly higher efficiency and maximum process reliability. Every bag remains intact, the processes are stable, and our employees are noticeably relieved - that pays off every day."

Saalem?hle Alsleben: Robot palletizing and load securing for two bagging lines and one big bag filling line
This is about precision in XXL: The KUKA KR 180 PA stacks 15 to 50 kg bags of flour made of paper or PE so precisely that every pallet looks like it has been painted. Two bagging lines, metal detectors, double bag breakage checks, and automatic cardboard interlayers ensure that no bag, no crumb, and no information is lost. Hundreds of bags pass through the system every day - the robot stacks, secures and simultaneously relieves the team, which can now concentrate fully on quality. This results in numerous pallets ready for shipment in the shortest possible time - stable and bag-strong automated. "The robot system runs absolutely reliably - fast, clean and precise. It makes our employees' work easier and ensures a consistently high throughput. This is a real benefit for our entire production process," says the Saalem?hle team.

Strobl Naturm?hle: Bag palletizing of flour and flakes
Compact performance, easy work - Strobl presented KOCH with the challenge of confined spaces, many bag sizes, and sensitive products. With specially developed push forks, press belts, barcode scanners, and stretch wrappers, the system significantly reduces the workload for employees. Day after day, the system pulls a steady stream of bags from filling to the finished pallet - turning hard work into a smooth process. "The system fits perfectly into the given space - which was not so easy. At the same time, it had to reliably handle the wide variety of products and different bag sizes. Thanks to close coordination in project management, everything ran smoothly from planning to commissioning," praises owner and managing director Christof Strobl. This is how the transformation from traditional mill buildings to modern, automated operations is achieved - efficiently, safely, and naturally with KOCH.

Vogtland BioM?hlen: Bag palletizing
More speed, less lugging around - that was the motto for Vogtlandm?hle. Two lines, from single pallets to container pallets, metal detectors, protective arches, and KOCH centering frames ensure that every pallet is created with pinpoint accuracy. The system effortlessly processes large quantities of single and bundled pallets - a prime example of how KOCH perfectly combines speed and precision. The experience at Vogtland BioM?hlen shows that the robot system speeds up processes, reduces the workload on teams, and ensures fast, reliable, and clean production.

CONCLUSION
The projects at GoodMills Austria, Saalem?hle Alsleben, Strobl Naturm?hle, and Vorgtland BioM?hlen impressively demonstrate that automation is also worthwhile in the milling industry. Significantly higher throughput rates, noticeable relief for employees, consistently high product quality, and, above all, a new ease in bag handling--each system masters different bag sizes, pallet configurations, and confined spaces with flying colors.

"With KOCH, your automation becomes a recipe for success," emphasizes Sales Manager Thomas Theis. And indeed, bag by bag, pallet by pallet, project by project, it becomes clear how intelligent technology and sophisticated engineering make everyday life in mills easier - efficiently, reliably, and with a view to the future.

KOCH Industrieanlagen GmbH
Ringstr. 9
Dernbach 56307
Germany

https://koch-roboter.de/

Frau Marie-Theres Kohl
026899451154

m.kohl@koch-roboter.de

KOCH Robotersysteme is a highly specialized robot systems company that develops efficient and sustainable automation solutions for filling, depalletizing, palletizing, picking, and packaging in all factory areas.
With a focus on advanced technologies and customer-specific adaptations, KOCH Robotersysteme has established itself as an experienced partner for tailor-made plant concepts. We plan and implement flexible robot systems as integrable individual systems or turnkey complete plants.

This release was published on openPR.