IPI s.r.l., based near Perugia, Italy, belongs to International Paper, an American global company in the pulp and paper industry, with manufacturing operations ranging from raw materials to packaging for most markets. IPI specializes in design and manufacturing of food packaging machinery. FlexLink has supplied a turnkey system for liquid packaging, utilizing the stainless steel conveyor gently handling unstable dairy containers.

“To manufacture a plant for a customer abroad, we wanted a partner who was able to relieve us from all handling problems and supplying us with a complete system, integrated by automatic control and management of line flow”, says Alessandro Bartolini, project leader at IPI.

System easy to use and maintain
“Handling food products, the structure had to be made of stainless steel. All other materials had to be both approved by the Food and Drug Administration and suitable to be cleaned with cleansing agents. Also we wanted a system which is easy to use and maintain, without any need of specialized manpower.”

Vibration free transport
“Cartons have a very small base with respect to their height. Therefore they tend to be unstable during transport, as a result of the elevated position of centre of gravity”, Marco Alberto, FlexLink application engineer points out. “It was then necessary to ensure stability to the transported products.” 

Electronic start and stop
“To minimize vibration, we decided to use standard slide rails with the lowest friction coefficient” says Marco Alberto. “At the same time, we used wheel bends, to provide changes of direction with a minimum amount of friction. In order to eliminate jerks, a number of electric inverters control both the conveyors stop and start as well as the speed of the lines.”

Opportunity to test in advance
“To optimize space, very low radius bends are used. To ensure a correct product handling at the same time, standard FlexLink steel double guide rails have been provided, guiding the ’gable top’ cartons both at the top and at the bottom”, adds Davide Curto, FlexLink project leader of IPI plant. ”FlexLink has fulfilled all our needs regarding service and delivery time”, says Bartolini, IPI. “They have given us the opportunity to test the solution in advance at their workshop in Turin. Then the system has been assembled, checked in our presence and delivered within five weeks.”