Weighing and dosing, with intelligence 4.0

50 years of history, technology and skills recognized internationally, attitude to service, positioning of excellence in the industrial weighing market: B+L Industrial Measurements GmbH - represented in Italy by Servotecnica SpA - develops and produces high-performance tools for the control of weighing and dosing of solid products in the food, chemical and construction sectors. Raniero Pullo tells us about it. Luciana Guidotti

Raniero Pullo is product manager of B+L  as well as area manager for the entire range of Servotecnica products. It is precisely this dual function that makes it easier for him to translate into practice one of the guiding precepts of the Italian “leader”, namely the supply of complete automation solutions. 

«In practice- explains Pullo - we are able to offer solutions that turn out to be the perfect combination between the controllers made by B+L, specific for dosing and weighing on industrial plants, and the motion and automation systems  provided by Servotecnica, with the aim of improving the overall performance of the machines... in our specific case, automatic bag filling machines».

According to the manager, it is also the quality of this proposal that has played an important role in allowing B+L to maintain the positions acquired even at the most critical moments of the global socio-health emergency. 

«The packaging market, on the other hand, is holding up well, so much so that we have seen only a slight decrease compared to previous years, when the automatic machinery sector had, moreover, recorded record turnovers. In my opinion, the declines recorded in 2020 - explains Pullo - are not so much to be related to unfavorable market dynamics, but rather to the logistical difficulties caused by the pandemic: slowdowns in shipments and assembly of plants, maintenance services and on-site assistance... Today, fortunately, the situation is settling down and our assistance service continues to be of the first order: we have overcome the consequences  of the social distancing imposed by the pandemic, first of all the lack of contact in presence with customers who, in a phase that I can define as a “generational transition” of our products, need  a more direct support to fully explain their technological value».

The latest generation Controller
The main feature of B+L products is their quality , so high that they continue to work excellently up to 30 years after installation in the plants. A quality born from tradition and a unique experience in the sector: the company has in fact grown together with the manufacturers of industrial weighing systems and bag filling machines, developing design know-how inside. And it is a plus widely recognized by users who, for this reason, place maximum confidence in its technology. 

«With regard to the new generation of controllers - specifically dataPond 3F, miniPond 3F, miniPond 3P and miniPond 3C - we have obviously taken advantage of previous experience, but have evolved them with a view on extended communication. The new instruments can in fact be managed completely remotely, with regard to programming, parameterization, analysis of potential problems... They are therefore designed to control and monitor the entire dosing process, thanks to many functions and setting options able to solve the typical problems of filling processes, adapting flexibly to changes in product characteristics, such as material density or flow behavior».

DataPond 3F. In particular, the DataPond 3F disposes of a diagnostic tool that helps optimizing the dosing cycle by showing the entire dosing cycle in a curve. 

«This is a very interesting factor for our users, because it allows them to understand the influence of various factors and events, and adapt the settings so that the weighing target is reached even faster and more precisely. With this new generation controller- exemplifies the manager - it is possible to support filling machine speeds of up to 2 thousand bags per hour of 25 kg each. In this case, the controller’s algorithm learns in a very short time to optimize both the so-called “coarse feed” and the “fine feed”. It also learns fast to accurately compensate for the “afterflow”. That is the amount of material still in the air at the moment of cut-off.  The dataPond 3F can be pre-programmed with a maximum of 220 parameter sets, thereby significantly reducing set-up and change-over times».

Another essential function ensured by all B+L Instruments, including the dataPond 3F, is the suppression of disturbances generated by machine vibration with highly evolved digital filters. It should be emphasized that the current limitation for dosing and weighing operations does not derive from the instrument, which could operate at speeds even higher than 2 thousand bags/h, but from the flowing properties of the material to be bagged, as well as certain mechanical properties of bagging machines... Properties which Servotecnica can help improving, designing the in-line integration of servo controls.

The latest developments
Two new instruments, for different fields of applications, have recently entered production. The first novelty for 2021 is the miniPond 3P. This sister product to the miniPond-3F and -3C is  dedicated to process weighing and the so-called “discontinuous totalization”. The miniPond 3P controls very large flows of bulk materials to be transported by ship or truck or to be received for storage in silos, or onward transportation.
The latest born in the B+L house is the miniPond 3C controller, designed for the same market of bagging equipment, but with the task of checking the weight of the final bags.

«Once the filling has been carried out, the bag can be check-weighed by the filling controller. But the process sometimes requires that the bags pass over an in-line checkweigher. B+L is now introducing an approved controller, specifically for check weighers- currently in the final phase of field testing. “Not to mention the fact - underlines the manager - that this new application opens up to further commercial potential: in addition to the economic benefits guaranteed to our traditional users, who will be able to directly integrate the  miniPond 3C in their checkweigher, B+L could offer the 3C miniPond directly to the checkweigher manufacturers themselves».

Servotecnica: skills and teamwork

Providing effective and complete solutions is the backbone of Servotecnica’s philosophy, where the quality of the automation products distributed exclusively in Italy, or manufactured under our own brand, is complemented by an efficient and accurate service, the result of a well concerted teamwork between the sales network and technical managers.

«We have always aimed at increasing the professionalism of our technical and commercial network, since knowledge and specialization are absolute values in our sector» explains Sabrina Bistoletti, communication manager of the Lombard company. «An attitude, ours, that has allowed us to look to the future with confidence, even in these last, tormented twelve months. We have therefore come through the difficult period well, helped by the fact that we are at the service of an industrial chain that has not suffered production interruptions due to the pandemic. Having always focused on efficiency and competence, on the other hand, has allowed us to be very reactive: we have maintained the continuity of deliveries and offered the right support to our customers, even going so far as to finalize some interesting projects that we had in the pipeline».

The exclusive distribution in Italy of the products of foreign companies in the automation sector remains the core of Servotecnica’s activity, which for about ten years has also been developing its own brand products - in particular manifolds, motors, brushless and flat micromotors, and, soon drives - which are marketed both in Italy and abroad  through a network of European distributors created ad hoc.