Campetella Robotic Center (CRC) held Open House from 1 October to mid-November 2020. "We couldn't just leave it all behind! We have to stay in the market, communicate and be proactive. This is what our customers expect from us, whom we have been asking," Marco Marconi, Area Sales Manager, underlines the CRC marketing strategy. "When it became clear to us that practically all plastics trade fairs worldwide will be cancelled in 2020, including FAKUMA, we changed course. We're not inviting interested parties to Friedrichshafen, but to Montecassiano, 800 km further south on the Adriatic coast." The FAKUMA exhibits were already built and in operation by mid-2020.
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The integrated plant |
Two core exhibits with the comprehensive potential of the latest automation technology can be seen in an extension behind the assembly hall in industrially realistic operation. They label yoghurt cups or fresh cheese tubs with maximum speed and precision.
An X-Series Mini-MODULA compact side-entry robot from Campetella is used for IML (In-Mould-Labelling) of plastic yoghurt cups made of polypropylene (PP). The robot is equipped with a quick and compact horizontal arm, responsible for very fast label inserting and product take-out operations. A tilting axis guarantees a hygienic process which ends with the cups being stacked upside down with their openings on the conveyor belt. An additional advantage of the Mini-MODULA is its extremely small footprint. As if that was not enough, it cooperates with the new X-Series CO1 Cartesian robot. Its electric servo axis is the right hand to move the stacks of cups from the conveyor to a storage box. An Omron AMR (autonomous mobile robot) takes care of transporting the boxes to the finished goods warehouse. Full to the warehouse ... empty back to the belt!
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IML: yoghurt cups and cream cheese tubs |
The entire system is a four-cavity application with a total cycle time of no more than 2.45 seconds. The IMM interlock time is 0.48 seconds only. The two Campetella robots work hand in hand, thereby serving an Arburg Allrounder 570 H hybrid injection moulding machine (an IMM with a clamping force of 1800 kN) and the inherent four-cavity mould from Simon, France, respectively. The renowned Italian label manufacturer Viappiani is responsible for the "L" in the IML. Cup coefficients: height = 43 mm, diameter top = 73 mm, weight = 4 grams.
The utilization of the labelling dummies (produced in the new 3D printing centre) is a decisive criterion for the process speed. They hold the labels by the fact that the pins, which are charged with 12,000 volts, polarize (magnetize) the plastic foil labels and thus position them accurately. Once they reach the cavity far less than a second later, the labels are stabilized by compressed air to ensure a perfect fit before being back-moulded with the plastic material to form the cup or tub.
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The 4th and 5th generation of the Campetella family dynasty - in succession to the founding father Pasquale Campetella (1897) |
An X-Series MODULA high-speed side-entry robot from Campetella is the top solution for labelling plastic cheese spread tubs in Bazigos' four-cavity mould. Four Mevisco cameras monitor the product quality inline and continuously. A very fast label feeder with servo drive is used on the robot, which manages the 5-sided Viappiani labels. Here again, the tilting axis performs hygienic upside down stacking of the tubs on the conveyor belt. With its high payload reachability an X-Series SPIN3 Scara* robot grips the labelled stacks and quickly deposits them in a transport box. Finally, another Omron AMR is in charge of storing the boxes filled with cheese spread tubs in the warehouse. The entire automation system is used in and on an Arburg 630 H hybrid injection moulding machine (IMM) with a clamping force of 2300 kN. Labelling takes place within a 3.25-second cycle and/or an IMM interlock time of only 0.9 seconds. The polypropylene (PP) raw material treatment is carried out by Moretto ancillary equipment together with the centralized cooling systems for the event. Product parameters: length = 132 mm, width = 89 mm, height = 33 mm, weight = 7.55 grams.
