Italian Pasta more sustainable, with Freedom®

Sustainability and environmental compatibility play an important role at Pastificio Granoro throughout the production process, from product creation right up to packaging. On this count, the longstanding agreement with Nordson Corporation guarantees efficiency, safety and quality, also at end of line.

Granoro is a family company, founded at Corato (Bari) in 1987 by Attilio Mastromauro. high-quality pasta in more than 150 different shapes and a wide range of products associated with the most traditional and authentic of Italian dishes, such as basic sauces, ready-made pasta sauces, seasonings, rice, pulses and extra virgin olive oil.
The desire to produce high-quality Italian pasta is the underlying principle and “vocation” that has distinguished a lifetime’s work by Attilio and his family, the Mastromauro family has made considerable investments in machinery and technology over the years to keep in line with the times and guarantee the quality and quantity of all of its products.

Nordson Corporation, the US adhesive technology specialist, with its headquarters in Westlake/Ohio and its Italian headquarters in Segrate, Italy, has been equipping the facility in Corato for many years. The Puglia based concern - that employs a total of 102 people - currently has 39 of Nordson’s end-of-line solutions in operation there. In view of improving the efficiency of its packaging lines, Granoro has chosen to implement the advantages offered by Nordson’s cutting-edge Freedom® systems for closing secondary packaging.

The check mark in the display of the Freedom® melter indicates there are no problems with the gluing process.

Compact systems
The central component of the Freedom® system is the melter and its included pump which does away with a conventional tank and only keeps the adhesive quantity actually required at the processing temperature. It works with a melting capacity of up to 12 kg per hour in a similar manner to a flow-through heater and only requires a short warm-up time of around 15 minutes.
The melting section is fed automatically from a 60 kg storage tank which is located immediately behind the device in the Granoro works.
The flow paths to the applicators are also short since the extremely compact central unit weighing around 45 kg can be individually fitted in the vicinity of the applicators with the help of the included mounting adapter. The central unit has dimensions of 838 x 533 x 279 mm (W x H x D). In Corato the feed hoses are just 2 m long.

The tankless Freedom® hotmelt application system is used on a Selematic cartoning machine at Corato plant.

Advantages: workplace safety and reduced consumption
The enclosed nature of the Freedom® system results in considerable benefits. Job safety is increased for the machine operators (the danger of being burnt due to carelessness when refilling hotmelt could never be completely excluded when using the previous tank-based device).
Since the hot adhesive is not subject to any influences from the environment, residual charring, which is unavoidable in the case of tank melting devices, is eliminated. A further positive effect of the tankless hotmelt adhesive application system is that a 30% reduction in energy consumption was also achieved due to the as-required melting process. Savings in adhesive consumption on the order of 70%, in particular through use of the integrated EcoBead pattern control system and Henkel Freedom® 6002 certified adhesive.

Partnership to optimise  the end-of-line adhesive system together:  Damiano Mastrofilippo, Production Manager of Pasticio Mastromauro in Corato, Fabrizio De Lellis Area Manager Nordson Italia.

Positive practical results and comments
Damiano Mastrofilippo, Production Manager at Pastificio Granoro in Corato with many years of practical experience, is extremely happy with the newly installed Nordson end-of-line adhesive application: «The Freedom® system has completely fulfilled our main aim of increasing line efficiency and workplace safety for the operating personnel.
The Nordson Freedom® system has worked without any problems since a couple of years. We have completely eliminated the nozzles clogging and so far we have not replaced any spare part. A particularly positive point is the bond quality that is very good».

Benefits of the enclosed nature of the system: residual charring is eliminated.