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Case Study - Packaging Industry- Product Changeover

Case Study - Packaging Industry- Product Changeover
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Case Study - Packaging Industry- Product Changeover - 1

CASE STUDY Product category: Electric Actuators Industry: Packaging Problem: Achieve precise control over critical container-lifting sequence and simplify a complicated product changeover process. Solution: ICR Plus SmartActuator® with integrated servo motor/controller in a reverse-parallel mounting configuration. Results: Consistent, precise lifting control enhanced powder-filling process and made switching from one container size to another fast, efficient and easy. Tolomatic’s SmartActuator® simplifies product changeovers on powder-filling packaging machine Replacing a pneumatic actuator with Tolomatic’s new ICR Plus SmartActuator facilitates rapid and accurate filling adjustments when changing products or containers. EXTON, Pennsylvania – Pneumatic actuators, known for their cost-effective power and speed, are traditional workhorses in the packaging industry. Yet when a leading manufacturer of automated powder-filling packaging equipment wanted to gain greater control over a critical container-lifting sequence, it decided to employ an electric rod-style actuator. The change was aimed at making product changeovers faster and easier for customers who used the packaging machines for filling a variety of container sizes. While the original pneumatic actuator worked well once set up, adjusting its force and speed to accommodate a different size container was complicated. To simplify a customer’s need for faster and easier product changeovers, the manufacturer, All-Fill, Inc., is now installing Tolomatic programmable electric ICR Plus rod-style SmartActuators for this critical container-lifting application. All-Fill specializes in packaging equipment for the food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. The company’s line of automatic auger machines fills rigid containers with many different types of dry products, ranging from coffee and protein

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Case Study - Packaging Industry- Product Changeover - 2

powders to baking ingredients and granulated bleach. When the type of product or the type of container needs to change, a critical container-lifting actuator must be adjusted to accommodate the new container size or filling rate. The automated machine, which relies on pneumatic actuators to move and manipulate products, was recently outfitted with a Tolomatic electric ICR Plus rod-style SmartActuator to take over the critical containerlifting maneuver. During product changeovers, the ICR Plus actuator has eliminated the time-consuming, trial-and-error method required for changes to the...

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Case Study - Packaging Industry- Product Changeover - 3

Plus installed, the machine is more operator-friendly and makes for easier product changeovers.” Power, speed and duty cycle are important Bob Gordon, a sales engineer with Penn Air, a Tolomatic distributor, introduced All-Fill to the Tolomatic ICR Plus actuator for this application. Gordon says that All-Fill had initially looked at an electric actuator solution that used a stepper motor, but it had some drawbacks. “The electric actuator with a stepper motor couldn’t run fast enough for the application or maintain the required duty cycle,” says Gordon. “In contrast, the Tolomatic ICR Plus...

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