Industry events
PART 2
I
IAOM MEA 2017 – The products and the people by Zasha Whiteway-Wilkinson, Milling and Grain
n 1896, The International Association of Operative Millers was founded. It is an organisation comprised of flour millers, cereal grain and seed processors and allied trades representatives and companies all devoted to the technological advancement of all of these sectors, all over the word. IAOM has 16 districts around the globe, thus providing an international forum for networking, enabling the exchange of ideas, technical and educational opportunities, as well as the discovery of new products and services. IAOM MEA equally has a lengthy history within the industry, with the first meeting taking place in March 1989. This meeting was attended by 15 millers, five mill manufacturing company representatives and four guest speakers, incredible really when you think what the event has become today. The attendee countries came from Bahrain, Syria, Kenya, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE.
A follow up
In the last edition of Milling and Grain, Tom Blacker gave an overview of the whole event from where he was on the ground deep in the action of the conference. He gave a brief overview of some of the incredible, innovative products that were on display there saying that, “Special products were being exhibited for the first time. Stif exhibited
Mr AlQasas is the Area Sales Manager at Haver & Boecker Middle East FZE, specifically working with Behn + Bates. Based in the United Arab Emirates Milling and Grain spoke to him at the recent IAOM MEA Conference and Expo 2017, where he shared his tips on getting and sustaining great business through shows such as this one. Don’t put your customers in a box Layth AlQasas, Area Sales Manager, Behn+Bates, UAE We are a family-based company, in operation since 1887, with a long history in material handling, advertising and packing. Behn+Bates produce food packaging for which there are special regulations and technical issues. We have a variety of machines and bags: the valve-bag machine; open-mouth machines; BB open bags; BE bags and paper. We are very flexible and able to follow market demands and customer needs. We can provide either semi- or fully-automatic machines, depending on the customer.
114 | December 2017 - Milling and Grain
the NovaPorte® product for dust proof inspection doors. Fawema introduced the innovation with a fine inner layer of the USA’s FDA-approved to all regulations of glue to seal 0.5kg to 5kg bags. The glue can be hermetically heat sealed, with the advantages of tamper-proof and dust-proof.” He also described that, “Henry Simon had both a roller mill and colour sorter machine. Sangati Berga exhibited plastic sieve frames, which are stackable to be totally flush, which improves food safety and prevention of dust.” Before finishing off by divulging that, “I-Grain were proud to be introducing the Toxi-Scrub® which provides the efficient removal of mycotoxins and fumonisins from raw materials such as grains and nuts. Many exhibitors brought fully operational products to show to delegates, which allowed for the tactile hardware to be examined and inspected. A symbol of the strength of any exhibition is the technology and it can be reported that this year the technology was at a very high standard.” This issue we’re going to follow Tom’s product overview with a few first hand views and accounts of some of these products from the very people there, proudly presenting them. You can also see our interview this month is with Dr Ali ElSayed Ali Al-Moselhi, who is the Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade. This provoking and in-depth interview is a real pleasure to bring to you, especially with our current focuses on IAOM MEA and for our final edition of 2017.
The Middle East is an important market for our parent company Haver & Boecker and also for Behn+Bates. We generate lots of business here. There are approximately 50 Haver & Boecker subsidiaries, one of which is Haver Mill East, located here in the UAE, in Ras Al Khaimah. What’s important is that we follow the needs of the customer: which new products will best serve their needs and how can we improve in response to their feedback. A most important aspect of selling a machine is what we do after the sale and we have maintenance and special engineering teams in place in Ras Al Khaimah to do this. This is what makes the subsidiary succeed. We are not just putting the material inside the bags; we care about accuracy, for example - the shape of the bag. This is for the end user, the manufacturer but also for the cleaner, because food regulation standards are different from material or chemical ones. Most millers coming to IAOM know what they want, they are professional and specialists and they know what they are talking about.