GIMATIC & TECMES : FAST ASSEMBLY OF CAPSULE AND COFFEE
Tecmes is an Autorotor Group company specialising in the design and production of special machines. Tecmes systems are used in various industrial sectors: automotive components, cosmetics, electrical, medical and pharmaceutical components, plastic components and food. A distinctive feature of the machines is the kinematics of the mechanical movements, driven by a single electric motor.
Because of their cam and leverage mechanical function, Tecmes machine movements are extremely fast. The pneumatic operation alone is left to the workpiece grippers. These are hi-tech pneumatic products specially developed for a single application. In collaboration with the Tecmes technical department, Gimatic has developed extremely fast grippers. But that’s not all. These are components suitable for contact with food.
Tecmes supplies numerous food and cosmetics companies. In the food industry, it specialises in the assembly of coffee capsules. Lavazza, Segafredo, Kimbo, Mokador, Espresso Cap, Co.Ind. and To.Da. are just some of the companies that rely on the productivity of Tecmes mechanical systems for capsule assembly. These machines can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, unsupervised. The numbers are impressive. Over 1.3 million coffee capsules are produced in a working week.
The concept of quality is one of the key variables that companies must consider today. For this reason, the company – based in Vaiano Cremasco (Cremona) – turned to Gimatic for the supply of pneumatic grippers for the positioning and handling of capsules. This is mainly the XP20-A model, a gripper designed to meet some of the needs of the food industry. The XP20-As are equipped with stainless steel jaws and an acetal resin guide. The latter is essential for a proper seal to prevent coffee powder (or other food residues) from reducing the gripper efficiency. In addition to food applications, Gimatic supplies Tecmes with high-efficiency compact grippers (the SGPs have a 95% energy efficiency) and high speed grippers (the HSs work with frequencies from 5 to 6 Hz).
The Gimatic choice was also weighted for energy certification needs of Tecmes machines. Users are increasingly demanding reduced electrical and pneumatic consumption. Suppliers of PLCs, as well as electro-pneumatic and electromechanical components, were also chosen based on the energy-saving performances of their products.