From the emulsion to the tube, in all formats

The Omron PLC and touchscreen are the heart of the solutions developed by Axomatic to produce and package creams, gels and emulsions in any format. A clear example of how (and why) intelligence on board machine makes a difference, creating a successful partnership.

For almost 30 years, Axomatic has been developing, designing and manufacturing automatic machines for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, chemical and food sector: with two production units (in the province of Milan and Vicenza), the company has delivered to date more than 1500 installations worldwide, ensuring in many cases also the assembly, trials and implementation of the specific structurework.
Flagship of its activities are, in particular, its mixers and tube filling machines, solutions designed to meet the high standards of compliance, flexibility and performance required by the market.
Specifically Axomatic now offers a full range of 5 to 10 thousand litre vacuum turbo emulsifiers in 316L stainless steel and an equally extensive line of automatic or semi-automatic tubefilling machines, with performances of from 20 to 300 pieces/minute.
Decisive, in all cases, the support offered by Omron, technology provider for everything concerning on board machine intelligence.

60 tubes per minute, filled and sealed with care
«Many cosmetics multinationals - explains Luca Olivieri, General Manager of Axomatic Srl - need a partner who can support them throughout the entire lifecycle of products (whether creams, gels, shampoos or other emulsions) from implementation to tubefilling, and in the subsequent packaging in sales cartons. In these cases the machine manufacturer must not only ensure a result in line with the product specifications, but must be able to provide flexible solutions, that is, readily suitable to the various types of format requested by the customer».
Leveraging an approach of this kind, Axomatic has recently realized a complete plant for a well-known Canadian cosmetics brand, that needed to renew a line for the production and packaging of its beauty products. The solution, which includes a 316L stainless steel mixer and an AXO 800 tubefilling machine for the filling and packaging of products in polythene containers, operates at a speed of 60 pieces/minute, enabling the speedy handling of the customer’s format changes.

The formula for a homogeneous product
The mixer is a counter-rotating blade turbo-emulsifier and scraper in teflon, designed to receive the various phases of the compound mixture (aqueous, oily, emulsion), heat it up to a temperature of 70-75 °C and, through a turbine, turn it into emulsion through a processing at 3000 rpm. The machine also keeps the mixture in constant motion through a coaxial system, cooling (initially around 40 °C and, then, after the addition of fragrances, at 20 °C) and subsequently offloading the same.
To ensure the quality and repeatability of the process, Axomatic has focused on three key factors: homogenization turbine speed, temperature control and handling of the vacuum. Hence the decision to integrate an Omron PLC into the machine to coordinate all processing parameters.
The Omron CJ2 PLC in particular balances the heating and cooling phases (via thermocouple control), and controls the maintenance of the turbine speed and the set point of the required vacuum, using the data from the sensor connected to the liquid ring pump. The use of a Modbus protocol for communication completes the picture, reducing the costs of wiring and errors related to the connection of the inverter.

Format change in record time
AXO 800 is a smallscale automatic tubefilling machine that is aimed primarily at users who, operating with different product formats, require a highly versatile solution.
From the structural point of view the heart of the project is in the 8 station turntable for the filling and heat-sealing of the tubes. From a general collecting box, the containers descend by gravity onto the machine, are folded and inserted vertically in the turntable sockets, then inflated with compressed air, reoriented and filled via a dispenser; Lastly, they are heated on the upper end, sealed by clipper, cut and trimmed.
«The machine - explains Olivieri - is capable of dosing and filling tubes of very variable dimensions, from 3 grams up to a maximum of 400 grams, all this without resorting to tools. Any operator can complete the format change in a maximum time of 15 minutes».
And if, from the mechanical point of view, the use of a 316L stainless steel fully removable (by means of tri-clamp) and washable dosing system enables a substantial simplification of tooling operations, from the electronic side the use of an Omron CJ2 PLC proves decisive for the ability to manage the I/O controlling inverter speed, temperature and sensor data.

A window over the entire machine
From the operator panel - an Omron NS8 8-inch touchscreen - the operator can easily interact with and control all the key machine functions: speed, dispensing volume, the product level in the hopper, and especially temperature of the product and the container, the basic parameters to adjust the fluidity of the compound mixture and improve the welding operations. Using a camera system Omron can also check stocks of tubes in the automated warehouse, as well as the orientation of the same on the loading station.
«Being able to easily manage all the various processing stages via the operator panel is now a key feature for this kind of machine» Olivieri emphasizes. «In cosmetics, but also in the pharmaceutical and food industries, customers want to have the freedom to invent new formulas.
All this is enabled by the presence of an Omron PLC, a controller able to collect all the main production parameters, put them in sequence and get them to run. In this way the machine is truly independent: the operator is merely required to watch over the system and make small routine corrections».

Il vantaggio delle icone
L’impiego di un pannello operatore customizzato con un’interfaccia a icone garantisce un’esperienza d’uso molto intuitiva, paragonabile per semplicità a quella offerta dagli smartphone touch di ultima generazione. Non meno importante è la possibilità di sfruttare una connessione Ethernet per remotare le funzioni chiave della macchina e dei dispositivi accessori (bilance, telecamere, lettori di codici a barre).
L’obiettivo, precisa ancora Olivieri, è offrire agli operatori e ai capi-reparto un controllo pressoché totale sulla produzione: «Sempre più utenti vogliono controllare i propri impianti con la stessa facilità con cui oggi consultano il proprio telefonino. Per questo motivo abbiamo sviluppato un’interazione su touch screen che si ispira alle interfacce a icone dei device mobili, dunque facilmente comprensibile da tutti gli operatori a prescindere dalla loro nazionalità.
La possibilità di sfruttare una rete Ethernet offre inoltre ai capi-reparto la facoltà di preparare le ricette in remoto e interagire con la macchina direttamente dal proprio ufficio».
Potendo sfruttare un’architettura modulare e un sistema di programmazione molto intuitivo, Axomatic può soddisfare anche le eventuali richieste espresse in fase avanzata dai clienti finali, dall’aggiunta di reti di comunicazione ai componenti di terze parti (ad esempio bilance). Il ricorso alla componentistica Omron, inoltre, consente alla società di offrire un livello di supporto e assistenza molto estesa. «Il marchio Omron - conclude Luca Olivieri - è conosciuto e apprezzato in tutto il mondo non solo per la qualità dei suoi prodotti ma anche per la capillarità e la competenza del suo servizio tecnico».

The advantage of the icons
The use of a customized operator panel with icons interface ensures a highly intuitive use, comparable to that offered by the latest generation touch smartphones. No less important is the use of an Ethernet connection to remote the key machine and ancillary equipment (weighing scales, cameras, barcode readers) functions.
The objective, Olivieri goes on to say, is to give operators and section heads almost total control over production: «More and more users want to control their systems with the same ease with which today they consult their mobile phones. This is why we have developed a touchscreen interaction inspired by the mobile device icon interfaces, thus easily understandable by all operators irrespective of their nationality. The possibility of using an Ethernet network also enables the section head to prepare formulas remotely and interact with the machine directly from his or her office».
Being able to lever a modular architecture and a highly intuitive programming, Axomatic can also satisfy the requests expressed at an advanced stage by the end customer, by the addition of communications networks to third-party components (ie weighing scales). The use of Omron components also allows the company to offer a highly extensive level of service and support. «The Omron brand - concludes Luca Olivieri - is known and appreciated all over the world not only for the quality of its products but also for its extensive, expert technical service network».