From 4 – 8 July 2011, GEA Procomac hosted an Open House event at the
GEA Procomac Packaging factory in Collecchio, Italy, to launch
its Fluens 2000, the new low in-feed, non-robotised,
palletiser, single head and single pallet. The company believes that this
completely redesigned palletiser is the fastest of its kind in the world.
The new palletiser, which is considered to be much easier to operate
than its predecessors, was shown in operation and, while the guests looked on,
out-performed even its expected production rate demonstrating that it is
capable of continuous operation at a rate of over 8 layers a minute. This is a
rate that, until now was only possible using high level machines. Using newly
patented technology, the Fluens 2000 achieves this high
productivity with less stress on the key mechanical components thereby keeping
maintenance costs down and reducing the chances of unscheduled downtime.
The design also reduces the costs of the conveyor system between the
shrink wrapper and the palletiser and has a much smaller footprint than its
rivals.
Despite the economic restrictions that is curtailing travel for
every company, over 50 customers and potential customers attended the event
from more than 30 companies throughout Italy. In addition to the new
palletiser, guests were able to see the GEA Procomac pack manipulator
Polaris, patented layer preparation system.
Also on show was a conveyor ring designed for square bottles
equipped with the new
Ventilo 2000 bottle dryer and a
lane bottle
divider manufactured by GEA Procomac. The system achieved running
speeds of 40,000 bph with 0.5 litre bottles. By comparison with other systems
on the market the GEA Procomac system benefits from higher efficiency, reduced
footprint at a competitive price.
GEA Procomac is a member of GEA
Process Engineering, a business segment of the GEA Group. It is a world leader
in the design, manufacture and installation of complete aseptic filling lines
for juices, teas, isotonics, still soft drinks, milk and dairy products and
water. The products of GEA Procomac’s packaging division are also widely used
in the food and chemical industries.