Zemic Europe B.V. (France) - There are concerns about bees, because bee numbers decline worldwide. More than half of the wild bee species are threatened with extinction.

Bees are an important link in the food chain because pollination is important for food supply and biodiversity. Insects are needed to carry the pollen from one flower to another. Many food crops and plants can only then reproduce or bear fruit. Pollination is needed for more than 75% of food crops, especially vegetables and fruit.

Apiago is a French start-up company with passionate, dynamic, entrepreneurs that want to contribute to the preservation of bees and to promote biodiversity. They developed the smart beehive. This is a unique autonomous beehive that makes it possible for beginners to install a beehive in their garden. It does not require any knowledge about beekeeping.

Integrated technology allows the bee colony's health to be monitored. Load cells are needed for automatic monitoring of the bees in the beehives. Zemic Europe is pleased to be able to contribute with her load cells to this beautiful initiative of Apiago. With the integration of our load cells we contribute to this part of our nature as well.

Zemic Europe & Apiago:

• Weighing sensors integrated in smart beehives
• Innovation that promotes biodiversity
• Consumer orientated product; simple and smart beekeeping
• High quality load cells for accurate weighing

How Zemic Europe advised Apiago:

Weighing is necessary and an important feature in the beehive to monitor the health of the bees. Therefore Apiago has searched for a partner to advise and to deliver load cells and they found Zemic Europe. Initially, they simply contacted our experts via the online chat on our website and from there a new partnership was born.

For this case Zemic recommended a L6D single point load cell. The L6D sensor is very suitable for this beehive application because of its capacity, high accuracy, small format and its good price. Apiago used load cell samples first and they also gave good results in their tests.

Zemic Europe can supply these products from stock, from its warehouse in the Netherlands, so that Apiago can also provide its customers with quick delivery of the beehives.

* In the detailed picture you can see where the load cell is built in.

More about the smart Apiago Beehive:

Apiago beehive is a unique and patented beehive suitable for the general public which can be easily installed in your garden. It requires no prior knowledge of beekeeping.

Some more characteristics:

The bees in your Apiago hive actively participate in the pollination of the surrounding flora.

The original design and the perfect finish of the Apiago autonomous beehive allow aesthetic integration everywhere.

The Apiago hive is located several meters high and when they forage, bees are not aggressive. In addition, bees are not attracted to what is on your table (unlike some wasps). You will have more bees around your home but none will disturb you, nor sting you.

Integrated technology and automatic data transfer via the Internet allow the colony's health to be monitored. The smartphone and tablet application linked with the Apiago beehive offers its owner the possibility to follow the hive's life and monitor bees' health without disturbing them. In order to facilitate its installation, the Apiago beehive is equipped with a solar panel in the shape of an oak leaf to meet its energy needs.

In the event of a problem, you are automatically alerted by the associated application and guided in the procedure to follow if it is a simple action to perform. In the event of a larger problem, a network of beekeepers can come and help you.

What is used for these smart beehives?

The L6D 20 kg load cell has been selected as the best fitting component for weighing in the beehives. This load cell has the following characteristics:

• Aluminium-alloy IP65 single point load cell.
• Colourless anodized.
• OIML- approved
• Suitable for pricing scales, counting scales, bench scales, etc.
• Maximum platform size: 250 x 350 mm.