TPI July 2013

Mater ials handl ing, logist ics and packaging

a company that specialises in packaging machinery offers a line for filling metal, plastic and laminated tubes at speeds of up to 70 cycles per minute. one particularly impressive unit is said to fill tubes from 60 to 250 millimetres in length and 10 to 52mm in diameter (10 to 40mm for metal tubes) at volumes ranging from 1.5 to 350 millilitres. The pride with which the attributes of this model are enumerated lights up the company’s website. citing such hallmarks of innovative technology as ergonomic design and interchangeable formats, the firm plausibly declares itself a leader in automatic tube filling. The large claims that enable the marketing of this machine to demanding customers in the dairy, food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industries are only possible because another industry – tubemaking – makes them possible. The fine-tuned logistics of materials handling and packaging, standard operating procedure in a state-of-the-art tube mill, alone guarantee the integrity of tubes that perform impressively, even prodigiously, in later tests in other plants.

Photograph: Acimex, France