Mayer GmbH & Co. won an INDEGA award at the IPM (German Association for Horticultural Products) for the design concept including safety features of their new TM2600 potting machine. Designed for the 'big boys' who are working at least 1 million pots a year. The new machine saves money by achieving a very fast filling rate of up to 8,000 pots per hour. To reduce ware and tear and maintenance costs and to increase flexibility, design engineer Arpat Maszaros had the brilliant idea of combining two contra-rotating carousel systems for two separate potting lines into the one machine. The 2 drills for the plant holes operate independently and centre on the middle of the pots whatever the size of pot (max 20cm). Each line can fill up to 4.000 pots/hour and so the machine can work 2 different pot sizes simultaneously. Safety and maintenance features consist of 3 emergency stop switches and a protective door that opens to give full access above and below the filling platform and the machine automatically cuts out when the door is opened. The patented hopper system can take a full 5m3 bale and the feed belt is on a 3° decline. Coupled with the design of the side-walls, the potential 'tunnel effect' that limits an even supply of the substrate is overcome. A pressure sensor signals to the machine whether to speed up the flow or whether to refill the hopper. The design team will now seek to create a smaller more compact version using the same innovation. The dimensions of the TM2600 are 4.64 x 2.36 x 2.07m). E-mail: verkauf@mayer.de www.mayer.de