A successful collaboration to help a new customer in the tissue sector

The request of GESCA, which was entering the tissue sector for the first time, was to be able to easily operate on multiple types of products while maintaining high efficiency without sacrificing the ease of use of the system. The project we have created allows the customer to respond comfortably to the needs of the market. The range of products that can be made through this line includes bundled toilet paper, kitchen towels in single or double pack or in multibundle or carton box, medical rolls in single or double pack or in carton box. This project has allowed GESCA to access important tax reliefs such as the Bonus Sud and the Industry 4.0 Bonus, providing a tangible return on investment in a time horizon that is shorter than the standard.

Our partner Maflex has supplied a complete HERMES AFH line capable of producing any type of toilet roll, kitchen towel and medical roll. This solution minimizes product changeover times thanks to the combination of rewinder and cutting-off machine with universal electronic presses. Our packaging line had to support this speed of production and format change.

We guide customers in the evolutionary process of automation

The solution we have created starts with the conveyor belts, which receive the product exiting the converting line and bring it to the wrapper. This machine works with POF and PE, offering a very fast system for format change; this choice meets the needs of the Italian market, where single rolls are packed with POF and double or large rolls with PE. The next machine is an Upender that includes the Twinpack handle applicator for the single or double pack, with the choice of the side where the application is to be carried out. In parallel, a case packer for medical rolls and towels is installed, capable of handling products up to 700 mm in length. The line continues with a stacker that works at a speed of 150 rolls-per-minute to stack toilet paper, going into bypass when other formats are handled. A 28-bundles-per-minute bundler working in PE takes care of packing the multi-collections of loose or individually wrapped rolls from the previous wrapper.

The end-of-line consists of a palletizing island with two robots, with grippers developed by MacDue, which can handle display-type bulk packs, bundles or cartons. The island includes an automatic pallet picker, the management of the half pallet and the application of the layers. A Cyklop CSA950 rotary arm wrapper with a speed of 45 pallets-per-hour completes the job by wrapping pallets up to 2,800mm high.

The simplicity of management and format change operations is guaranteed by an operator panel developed to offer an intuitive interface, which facilitates the activity. The whole line has been connected for remote assistance in order to allow quick checks and maintenance support. Upon completion of the installation, we trained the technicians assigned to use the line with a dedicated training period. This customized project created in collaboration with Maflex is the answer to the needs for efficiency and flexibility expressed by GESCA at the beginning of our collaboration. We are thrilled with the results that the customer is obtaining thanks to this high-tech packaging line!