The Backers Family has already been engaged in smithery since the beginning of the 18th century. In 1816, the family relocated from Hesepe via Wildevank (NL) to Twist. At this location, the company is today run in the eighth generation. Johannes Hermann Backers was the first smith in Twist.

Today, Heinz Christian Backers manages the family-owned enterprise. He developed and manufactured the first starscreen (small starscreens) for the peat industry in 1989 . Over the years, increasingly larger starscreens of up to 300 mm diameter were employed and the starscreen could also take root in other industries. In 1956, the first White Peat cutting machine was designed and manufactured by Herman Backers. Up to 1990, 317 Cutting Machines (STEBA) were manufactured and delivered. This was the largest number of crawler-mobile machines in the peat cutting section to this day. In addition, Backers manufactured 70 grading (PLABA) and 15 conversion machines (UMBA) up to this point.

Today, the application field for starscreens is very wide through continuous technological improvements. The machines screen peat, compost, shredded wood, bark, top soil, stones blended with loam or clay or even railroad ballast. Also stationary starscreen units are integrated into large systems, for example, into quarry site and recycling facilities as well as into track ballast treatment installations.

Products continuously further developed

In 1991 , the mobile starscreen equipment was manufactured, 1996 the first starscreen with gradient screen deck. Today, the large range of products includes wheeled, crawler-mounted, wheel-crawler mounted, skid-mounted, and crawler-mobile starscreens with one screen deck (2-fractions - mobile version since 1991) or two screen decks (3-fractions - since 2003). The patented starscreen 3-mtb is a crawler and wheel-mounted system and can be approved for road traffic without special permit. In 2005 , the starscreen (Tiger ) was introduced with a screen width of 1.8 m, the standard width being 1.2 m, and 30 tons weight. This meant for the users of starscreen technology a gigantic, hitherto unprecedented dimension. The screen width was modified to a width of 1.7 m later on in order to reach an overall machine width of 2.99 m. This type of machine which is still being produced to this day is dubbed as screen monster. At the beginning of 2006 , Backers complemented its product portfolio by a compact starscreen mounted on a hook lift.

Moreover, a screening and mixing unit was specifically developed for road construction and civil engineering to stabilize soils with lime since too dry and too wet soil cannot be compacted even using heavy compactors. As a result, the soil needs to be qualitatively improved and solidified. This machine has been deployed since 2005 and exceeds the anticipated parameters by far.
The lime-mixing unit specifically developed for road construction and civil engineering to stabilize soils with lime, cement or other aggregates to serve soil stabilization has also been used to produce liquid soils since 2009 .

Thanks to continuous further development of the machine and additional options, the fields of application for the Backers starscreens become increasingly wider and more interesting, too. Against this backdrop we are looking at the future with confidence.

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