The Augmented Reality maintenance changeover spareparts.
(video: Cama)
by F.S.
We looked at the topic through Cama’s eyes to see what food and non-food packaging have in common and how the Italian company arrived at tailor-made assembly solutions for specific applications.
The food packaging experience
“Our machines are designed with flexible logic in mind. They allow us to reach incredibly high production, which is necessary in the food industry, where we were born.
Cama’s experience in secondary packaging has allowed the company grow into new fields”.
According to Cristian Sala, Sales Executive Manager (on the right), “the share of turnover obtained for non-food applications has climbed from 5 percent a few years ago to over 20 percent today.”
There is a lot in common between packaging and assembly
Being transversal is a source of competence-based advantage. It enables you to manufacture in any sector using cutting-edge technology. This concept also inspired automated assembly solutions.
“Our combined and accumulated experience in the food and non-food industries enables us to select the best technology for the benefit of users,” Cristian Sala explains.
“In the non-food sector, our applications concern the secondary packaging of products for personal care, well-being, and hygiene: aerosols, shampoos, cosmetics, sanitary towels, wet wipes, but also products for the parapharmaceutical sector, to name a few. Experiences that have made us well-known in this industry, allowing us to develop innovative and customized solutions.”
“On this subject, I can give the example of a plant that we recently built for assembly that has exploited the performance and flexibility typical of the food industry and that has been studied in all its details in collaboration with an important customer,” Alessandro Rocca, Group Sales Director, continues.
“A sequence of components had to be combined as part of the project. To do this, we developed an automatic gluing system: dispensers were made up of many elements, each of which required a pick-and-place system that recognized the pieces to be picked up, combined, and then delivered to the consumer in their final packing in the shortest time possible.“
Building packaging and assembly applications requires a technological heart
The concept that drives the machine developed for assembly applications is the same as that which behind the machine designed for the sector of packaging. It is a true technological heart around which are integrated the parts of the components that allow the production of highly productive solutions tailored to the needs of the customer.
“Cama solutions are cross-category; they begin with the technological heart, around which the production packaging or assembly solution is customized. When the line needs to adapt quickly to new productions, perhaps for small batches, their flexibility and quick format change are essential features. We did not start from zero, but rather from Cama’s technological heart, which has been developed over time.” Alessandro Rocca continues.
“The road we’ve followed is exciting: we work with customers to design projects, even the most complex packaging and assembly projects, that all have one thing in common: productivity and efficiency, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some logics differ, such as code management, data management, and product handling, but this occurs in any program, and our job is to customize them.”
The relevance of format change in optimizing production
In manufacturing facilities, format change is crucial: the speed and ease with which it can be managed, as well as the amount of the same that can be set, are all critical. Theoretically, there is no limit to their number, but commonsense imposes a limit. Designing a system with too many of them leads to a significant amount of complexity in the variables to be foreseen, also it is necessary to just prepare the ones that are necessary to keep design and construction costs down.
The compact project for complete assembly
Cama is a specialist in secondary packaging and at the same time is able to create complete systems thanks to the network to which it belongs.
“We develop the secondary packaging section of the plant, and the rest of the line’s integration is completed in cooperation with our partners. Whether or not we are in charge of the entire project determines whether or not we are responsible for the integration of all machines on the line. Other suppliers can be validated, or if the customer has the appropriate skills, he can choose to insert what he prefers straight into the line and handle the machine integration himself.“
Alessandro Rocca continues, “In the case of the assembly plant, we designed this solution with a new approach than usual. It was studied within a closed rectangular circuit instead of programming in-line machining. The system is very compact: it has four stations as opposed to three that could house a similar system but in line. The plant has a quick format changeover and a high assembly speed of the parts, which is typical of the food industry. Furthermore, we have improved accuracy: you don’t get to the level of machine tools because it wasn’t necessary, but it is undoubtedly higher than that of the food industry itself.”
Cama will be present in hall 5P, stand B10, at the Ipack-Ima trade show (Milan, 3-6 May 2022).