Part of Lactalis Group, Parmalat, is renewing its production facility in Piana di Monteverna (Caserta, Italy). The injection preform system (IPS) developed by Sacmi was chosen for the manufacture of the most lightweight one-liter-bottle PET preforms for the Italian milk industry.
The IPS 220 was developed with strong focus on creating a complete platform unique by its rapid switchover and accessibility, and includes several important improvements to the mold clamping unit. The intense designing phase with finite-element modeling allowed for mechanical inertia optimization, leading to unprecedented lock-to-lock times and very short cycle times.
The key feature of the Parmalat-deployed solution is the injection mold, 100% designed by Sacmi. The complete mold comprising a hot half and a cold half boasts optimized hot chamber channel geometry and high-performance cooling system for better heat exchange. As a result, the simulation and testing, performed together by the R&D departments of Parmalat and Sacmi, showed an ultra-high performance increase as for the production cycles.
The new plant built for Parmalat is not an ordinary machine, thanks to the SACMI Total Care system including advanced integrated sensors for machine networking. The system allows for predictive remote monitoring of the process and machine performance, troubleshooting online, and ordering of spare parts with no need for having an expert sent to the production site. Every piece of equipment, from press and dryer to compressor and cooling system, is connected to the corporate network, which makes it possible to monitor it from any device and forecast any need possible, be it maintenance or spare parts. This cuts down downtimes significantly during production.
The resulting smart production system, involving state-of-the-art sensors and information technologies, is certainly aligned with the Industry 4.0 concept. This innovative product/service offer makes us most optimistic for the industry’s future in Italy.
