30 years of cold gluing quality
ERO SRL celebrates 30 years of activity introducing a glue control system equipped with artificial intelligence applied to the production of paper and cardboard goods.
ERO SRL continues its journey of growth, celebrating its thirtieth anniversary since its foundation in 1994. Thirty years of innovation in the world of cold gluing and quality control at the service of the paper industry, and box and bag factories. ERO arrives at this important milestone with new developments: a new headquarters and new products.
ERO-DL. It’s a glue-control system that, through the use of video cameras, makes it possible to visualise any non-conformities that could affect production. Thanks to the use of artificial intelligence, it’s able to autonomously detect and recognise lines, strokes and points of glue on any type of cardboard, whatever the substrate (white, black, coloured, refractive, printed, etc.). ERO’s research and development department has “trained” the system’s neural network with thousands of gluing patterns, so that it is now able to recognise the presence or absence of the adhesive and its correct position.
The system is completed with a new and intuitive interface, available on iPads or monitors, able to show up to four video cameras simultaneously. Maintaining connection to the internet, with the ERO-DL system it’s possible to receive technical assistance, updates and personalised learning by remote, all in real time. From a hardware point of view, the new video camera has been designed to reduce the overall dimensions of the machine to a minimum and does not require any mechanical regulation.
ERO-DL is able to communicate with ERO’s gluers, allowing the system to acquire the gluing pattern and its position in advance, without the operator needing any manual training.
ERO SRL: a story of evolution
Specialised in cold-gluing systems for paper converting, ERO has evolved from a small family firm to an international-scale company, also thanks to its entry in 2016 into the Valco Melton Group.
It was 1994 when Roberto Notari, after gaining extensive experience in box factories, founded “ERO”. His knowledge of the box production process allowed Notari to recognise that gluing was the most critical and decisive part of this process. Most of the problems observed derived precisely from the gluing method, managed through a system of drawing adhesive from trays. This gave him the idea of developing the GT-09 pneumatic contact gluing station. The idea first made headway in the Italian market, then spread at international level. The second fundamental innovation arrived in 2005: ERO launched the GTE-13 non-contact electromagnetic gun on the market.
The electromagnetic solution conquered the market, first and above all in the context of folding-gluing machines in the paper industry. The GTE-13 dispenser turned out to be such a robust and reliable solution that it is still sold today without any substantial modifications compared to the original. In 2007, the economic crisis in Italy and the impulse coming from the introduction into the company of Francesca Notari, the founder’s daughter, pushed ERO well beyond national and European borders. The success of installations and the after-sales service were of interest for various Asian OEMs that began to consider ERO, despite its reduced dimensions, as a valid supplier. From this moment on, ERO’s growth abroad has been constant and ongoing. New developments keep arriving, in fact, such as remote assistance making it possible to also reach the most distant customers with immediate and affordable solutions. Precision, reliability and assistance are the three pillars that make ERO stand out in a difficult and highly competitive market. The company’s success makes it possible to support the ambitions for growth and technological research that were part of the founding spirit. This process of growth was further boosted in 2016, when the company became part of the Valco Melton Group, world leader in the production of devices for the application of adhesive. Thanks to its entrance into the Group, ERO has embarked on a new phase of expansion at global level: the small company has become a precision brand recognised throughout the world.
ERO’s challenges do not stop here. The new site has given the various production departments ideal spaces for operating in the future as protagonists. The Lombardy company, always well inserted in the local production and academic fabric, is ready to respond to the needs of a continuously evolving market with its demands for environmental sustainability. The new generation of gluers is compatible with new vegetable-based adhesives (which meet the partial or total requirement for compostability) and the new quality control systems eliminate production waste, accompanying all customers in their path to success.
