A single HW and SW platform for packaging ice cream

In order to create a complex installation, made up of various automated ice cream packaging lines, CT Pack turns to the integrated high tech solutions of Siemens.

Founded in 1996, CT Pack is a concern based in the heart of Italy’s Packaging Valley, specializing in the construction of automated packaging machinery and lines for food products, especially chocolate, bakery goods and ice creams. Completely integrated packaging lines, built and designed by a highly qualified in-house team, enable CT Pack to position itself as a sector leader. The concern has managed to achieve this ambitious goal thanks to a partnership with three globally renowned operators: Mopa (a product feed and alignment systems specialist), Otem (a pioneer in high performance single and multi-track horizontal flowpackers) and Vortex Systems (with expertise in robotic manipulation systems, and high speed casepacking and boxing of various products). In order to create a complete installation, made up of various automated ice cream packaging lines, CT Pack opted to rely on the integrated high tech solutions offered by Siemens.

High flexibility thanks to Simotion
The installation developed by CT Pack is made up of five packaging lines, for a total of 12 machines, capable of processing various product types (ice cream in the form of cones, popsicles, boxed, etc.), using a single hardware and software platform: Siemens’ Simotion, whose excellent scalability has enabled the user to choose the most suitable CPU for each machine type, regardless of the number of axes employed.
The installation has been extensively adapted to the needs of the customer, which needed to process different forms of ice cream. Each product type thus has its own dedicated line.
The machines that make up the installation are servo-controlled and, with the help of pick-and-place robots, transfer the products from machine to machine and pack the individual products in boxes. The entire system is supported by the use of flexible grippers for format changeover as well as high capacity picking.

An optimized system
The axes of the machines are controlled by a solution consisting in the modular Sinamics S120 drive and Simotics 1FK7 servomotors, a high performance system that has enabled optimizing the mechanics of the entire system. The motion of the conveyance systems is driven by reliable Simogear gear motors. The integration of Siemens solutions has garnered CT Pack major advantages in the speed at which it is able to process large product flows, as well as in plant connectivity (thanks to Siemens Scalance routers) for exchanging information in real time among the various components of the line and for real time management of recipes and production data.
The support of a complete and reliable supplier such as Siemens has been decisive for CT Pack, which has not only been able to rely on the high performance and robustness of Siemens products, but also on support during project development and the testing of motion solutions (with Simotion) and HMI (with Simatic TP1200 panels).