Trifunctional top loader at work

Livetech debuts on the U.S. market with a system that can pack up to 18,000 muffins/h: a solution that stands out for high productivity, simplicity of use, low footprint and accuracy.

Showing constant growth, Livetech (Guarene, CN) is truly one of the trend players in the market of industrial automation systems for primary and secondary packaging.The Italian company offers a wide range of complete systems, from product distribution solutions, to equipment for primary and secondary packaging, up to pouring and dispensing units for chocolate and creams.

All-round design: from the box to the top loader
For a well-known American company operating in the oven products sector, Livetech has developed the LTL -3F system (Livetech Top Loader with three functions).
This is a highly automated system designed for the secondary packaging of 6 different formats of products in two types of boxes, aimed at minimizing the time needed to change formats.
The LTL-3F system is designed to box oven products packaged in flow-packs, and includes three Livetech robots: the first one forms the box starting from a flat die-cut, the second picks up the products and puts them inside the box, and the third one closes the box, positioning and forming a second die-cut element on top of it to serve as a lid. For its customers, Livetech also develops the design of the boxes so that they can be appealing on a marketing level, while maximizing process efficiency, including transport and distribution to the points of sale.

Logic and motion control
For this solution, Livetech has equipped the LTL-3F entirely with logic and motion control solutions by Rockwell Automation, with which Livetech has a partnership consolidated in time (to the point of being present at Rockwell Automation’s “The Automation Fair” in Philadelphia in November).
The automation architecture, programmed in RSLogix 5000 software environment, is based on a Compact LogixTM 5380 controller, with 4 MB of storage and motion integrated on Ethernet/IP for control of 20 axes, and a series of Kinetix® 5700 double-axis servos (two 1.6 kW, three 3.2 kW, three 5.4 kW and three 15.9 kW), which manage all moving parts of the LTL-3F: the robots, the conveyor belt and the magazine to browse the die-cut elements. A total of 18 Kinetix® VP low-inertia servomotors are connected to the Kinetix® 5700. These servomotors send motor performance-related information in real time to the control system through a digital feedback device. In addition to the power supply components, the system is also fitted with two unmanaged Stratix® 2000 switches (one with 8 doors and one with 5), PanelViewTM Plus 7 graphic terminal and Compact I/O 5069 16-channels modules.
Lastly, this system also meets crucial customer requirements: having a totally automated solution and minimizing the downtimes usually required for format changes, while also guaranteeing remote assistance.