The case of G.S. Italia

From Siemens. The solution based on s7-1200 PLC and servo drive Sinamics S110 provides flexibility and efficiency to processing and packaging lines. Some applicative case studies emphasize the benefits.

In an increasingly global market, characterized by a high level of competitiveness, the Italian food & beverage processing machine and packaging line manufacturers have in recent years understood that the key to their success lies in being ever a step ahead in terms of technology, quality and performance.
Siemens, always close to its customers, provides a specific solution for each requirement by on the one hand exploiting the expertise and market presence of its new PackTeam structure and, secondly, by offering products that optimize the technical and commercial benefits all to the advantage of their partners.
The solution based on s7-1200 PLC and Sinamics S110 servo drive is a clear example of this philosophy, a "smart" concept that meets the increasingly demanding expectations of the market, whether dealing with thermoforming, end of line, or be it systems for the food processing sector. A significant example of its effectiveness is offered by applications in GS Italia Srl.

Exceeding expectations      
Since 1982 G.S. Italia has been providing machinery for the preparation and packaging of fresh, pasteurized and frozen foods. It is a leading manufacturer of industrial systems for metering food products, of ready meal preparation lines, that always guarantee attention to and the integrity of the treated products.
«S7-1200 and Sinamics S110 and have enabled us to achieve unexpected performance».
This the first consideration made by Carlo Bianchi, Technical Manager of G.S. Italia. When the pepper filling line project came into being, as ever the company had set out to design and build a line to satisfy the production needs of all its customers.
This is in fact is a cornerstone of the Marnate based company’s approach, that would never have dreamt they would be able to surpass all expectations, tripling production speeds.
The machine, equipped with a CPU 1214 and S110 drive connected in Profibus, performs the filling of food products thanks to a pneumatic volumetric metering device and a hopper-mixer with screw for pushing the product.
The product feed runs on a 1FK7 brushless motor controlled in position by the Sinamics drive, while the machine parameters are set by the operator using the KTP400 touchscreen panel. The application, specially devised in all its details to work at its best in the food field and hence with stainless steel structure and special gaskets, reaches speeds of 1,200.3,600 pcs/hr (according to the line configurations).
«We have chosen to maintain the Profibus network machine architecture, which for us is standard, in order to make the machine faster and thus reduce time-to-market. In fact, thanks to Siemens’ support, it was easy to create the application and obtain excellent results in terms of feed pitch performance and accuracy» concludes Bianchi.