From labellers to bag-in-box fillers: Sacmi Beverage at Simei 2012

Every year the world consumes over six hundred billion litres of beverages of every kind - and that figure continues to grow steadily. This huge market is the backdrop to Simei 2011, the world’s biggest exhibition dedicated to wine-making and the production, bottling and packaging of drinks in general: this key event will be held at the “FieraMilano” trade fair district in Rho on the outskirts of Milan from 22nd to 26th November 2011. It’s a not-to-be-missed appointment for Sacmi: we’ll be in Milan in Hall 15, stand E11/15 with Sacmi Beverage, the Group business unit that supplies machines and ‘turnkey’ plants, providing everything from bottling systems to packaging machines, from product design and styling to complete plant design, handling systems included. Our 200 m2 stand will be displaying all the very best from the Sacmi Beverage range, the result of continuous technological investment and the synergies that have, in recent years, been created between various Group companies.To begin with, Sacmi Group company and packaging technology specialist Sacmi Pakim will be displaying the new MONOBIB, a production island that combines all the filling and packaging functions needed to make Bag-in-Box products: it consists of a box forming unit with hot melt closure, a bag filler and a box closure system (also hot melt). Perfect for wines, food oils and water, it offers several advantages, such as improved preservation of the product, which never comes into contact with the air. Also on show at the fair will be a wine MONOBIB, which produces 3-litre bags and has an output rate of 600 packages an hour. It can also be adapted to handle 2 or 20-litre bags, with respective hourly output rates of 720 and 250 pieces.Simei will also be showcasing LINEAR, another innovative Sacmi Pakim system for the production of Bag-in-Box packages characterised by optimal preservation of the product – wine, food oil or water, yet also fruit juices, concentrates, detergents etc. – which, once again, never comes into contact with air. An “ultra clean” model that provides excellent productivity, with output rates spanning from 820 bags per hour (1.5 litre bag) to 300 bags per hour (with larger 20-litre bags). Key features of the machine - the square, stainless steel framework of which ensures reliability and long-lasting performance - include the ultra clean valve (also in stainless steel), the mass flow meter and the post-filling injection system that injects nitrogen into the bag neck and cap and, together with the air removal system, prevents any risk of product contamination or oxidation. Then, there is the “Cip” recovery circuit, which can automatically be inserted in the filling valve, suitable for steam sanitising. Completing the system are devices that make product movement more efficient, such as the automatic bag handling system and the unloading roller unit for subsequent manual packaging. Excellent productivity is combined with outstanding flexibility thanks to a control software that saves the sizes and thus speeds up changeover tasks, which can be completed in under 5 minutes. A great opportunity, then, for Sacmi Pakim, to showcase all its product safeguard devices, guaranteed, in the case of LINEAR, by the extraction hood with laminar-flow “Hepa ” bacteriological filter.Last but not least, FILL BAG is an automated bag-in-box cutting, forming and filling system that Sacmi Pakim provides complete with a product integrity guarantee (oxygen absorption below 0.5 PPM). As before, what makes the difference is the technology that eliminates any contact between product and external ambient air: the nitrogen injection system, residual air extraction, a supplied-as-standard software for automatic machine cleaning with chemical solvents. Suitable for sizes from 1.5 to 25 litres, FILL BAG is, like other Sacmi Pakim innovations, characterised by excellent output rates, which, with 3-litre bags, can reach 400 pieces per hour.Simei will also be the showcase for another Sacmi band “pillar” of the beverage industry, the labelling machine range. For this key Milan-based fair we’ve selected the OPERA 400 COMBI by Sacmi Labelling. Incorporating a combination of several technologies – cold glue and self-adhesive – OPERA 400 COMBI offers the perfect response to the labelling industry’s demand for flexibility. The heart of the machine is the central turret, which has several labelling stations attached to a load-bearing structure; it is this structure that allows different labelling technologies to be grouped together on the same machine. The key advantage of the machine lies in the possibility of easy access to the individual “labelling units” and the ability to set up different combinations.From labelling to end-of-line solutions, with the MARIS 1 K palletizer robot by Sacmi Packaging, with single or dual feed depending on line production capacity. Suitable for handling any type of packaging generally available on the market, it can also handle multiple palletization (different products from different production lines). A palletizer that is used as a true “anthropomorphous robot”, characterised by enormous flexibility as regards both configuration (with four different picker heads: pneumatic grip, suction cups, combi or layer) and the product types being handled: each robot can handle up to four palletizing positions, plus layer cards and empty pallets.The last innovation being taken to Simei also regards end-of-line solutions: a ground-breaking laser-guide vehicle (LGV) for pallet handling. This will be presented by Sima, another Group company specialising in the design and production of laser-guided industrial handling systems. The company’s jewel in the crown is its highly evolved, high-performance LGV range, yet no less important are its other internal transport and storage solutions, which can be fully personalised and designed to meet any production requirement.