On the initiative of the VDMA (German Engineering Federation) the WS Food project team was established in March 2009. Meat processing companies, machine suppliers, system and consulting firms, and the Food Processing Initiative (FPI) all worked hand in hand with the aim of developing a standard IT concept that provides economically priced and efficient data acquisition for the meat industry.
Project partners: Bizerba, Balingen; Frey Maschinenbau, Her-brechtingen; Albert Handtmann Maschinenfabrik, Biberach; Maschinenfabrik Laska, Traun/Austria; Poly-clip System, Frankfurt/Main; Maschinenfabrik Seydelmann, Aalen; Tipper Tie Technopark, Glinde; Treif Maschinenbau, Oberlahr; Vemag Maschinenbau, Verden; K+G Wetter, Biedenkopf; Modus Consult, Gütersloh; Fritz Niehsen Food and Nutrition; Unternehmensberatung, Aachen; ProLeiT, Herzogenaurach; Westfälische Fleischwarenfabrik Stockmeyer, Sassenberg, and, as the only company from the field of metal detection technology, S+S Separation and Sorting Technology, Schönberg.
S+S has been dealing with the subject of interfaces for several years. As a result, S+S metal detectors support a number of different interfaces such as e.g. RS232/RS485, ethernet, WLAN, or profibus.
Integration of the detectors in the customer’s network, or communication with other equipment until now in most cases was effected by way of individual, proprietary protocols. To eliminate this stumbling block, which may well prevent smooth equipment connections, S+S decided to actively cooperate in the WS Food standard.
For S+S, WS Food is an extremely important step towards a standardised interface in the food industry: equipment communication with the customer’s system is essentially simplified, net-working efforts are reduced to a minimum. Both the customer and the equipment manufacturer can thus concentrate on their core competences.
