This job involved the development and realisation of a customised line for filling food creams in buckets from 3 kg to 25 kg with full automation of the capping process and end-of-line labelling front and back with expiry lot marking.
The line can handle 5 bucket sizes from Ø 150 up to Ø 280 and dose different types of food cream, such as chocolate, taken directly from the customer’s product preparation tank.
In the first phase of the order, our technical team was involved in the design of the plant by creating, based on the customer’s requirements, the 3D layout with the relevant overall dimensions and adaptations to allow the machine to be positioned within the customer’s facility: the spaces were defined to allow the correct positioning of the dosing station to allow the product to be picked up, and the final overall dimensions for the unloading solution were defined.
The line consists of four separate stations integrated into a single control panel with touch screen panel.
In the first station we find a destacker that automatically picks up the empty buckets by placing them on the feed belt. This first station optimises the loading time of the buckets onto the line and guarantees the required production speeds.
In the second station we find the dosing monobloc composed of 2 SELF-PRIMING PUMPS with reversible operation and two related nozzles with drip-saver valve. The dosing system is integrated in scales suitable for measuring doses from 3 kg to 25 kg inserted in a specific support frame.
The third station consists of 1 DISIMPLIER – COVER APPLICATOR with suction cup tilter for automatic positioning of plastic lids the pressure capper.
The fourth and last station is the labelling machine, specially built and sized to allow the passage of larger buckets and to label front and back and print the expiry batch.
The entire project was completed in about 6 months from the order and allows the customer to automate the entire filling process of the different products, guaranteeing an hourly productivity of about 600 buckets per hour (parameter defined according to standard product and intermediate format).
Below is a photo of the finished plant after testing at our premises.
