Rotzinger, a Swiss group of companies, with a mission to continuously optimize product flow for its customers, offers solutions, services and, software for a variety of industries such as pharmaceuticals & cosmetics and food & beverage. Rotzinger was asked by a leading food manufacturer to develop an adaptive secondary food packaging machine that meets very high demands of throughput along with the ability to support multiple package and product variations, all on a single machine. The machine is based on a multi-carrier smart conveyer system which requires doing actions on products while in constant high-speed motion. Cables were not a possible option for such a complex and high-speed task, nor were conventional wireless solutions. By utilizing CoreTigo’s IO-Link Wireless-based products which were designed specifically for wireless control and monitoring in factory automation, Rotzinger could now wirelessly control grippers on the movers without needing additional external robots, cables or other types of equipment.
This machine design results in reduced changeover time, machine footprint reduction, maximum capacity, and full flexibility to support multiple product and package types. These ultimately result in greater sustainability, as less energy, space, and parts need to be used within a machine. The number of machines decreases as well, since this allows for one machine to handle various products and package designs. An example of this machine in action and the benefits gained from the collaboration of Rotzinger and CoreTigo can be found in this video:
“We are delighted to partner with CoreTigo and to integrate their IO-Link Wireless products and technology into our advanced packaging machinery.” States Andreas Graf, Rotzinger PharmaPack CEO, “This partnership has allowed us to provide our customers with even more advanced capabilities and benefits, resulting in adaptivity, increased productivity, and sustainability.”
“Rotzinger is a leading company in the packaging machinery industry, and we are proud to have our IO-Link Wireless technology be part of their innovative machinery.” Says Eran Zigman, CoreTigo CEO. “The collaboration between CoreTigo and Rotzinger is a perfect example of how technology can be leveraged to meet the evolving needs of the industry.”
Partnerships and developments such as these demonstrate a fully connected ecosystem that enables real-time control and monitoring at any stage of the manufacturing process. Machines and production lines are enabled with more flexibility and an optimized design to improve operational efficiency and productivity. Such a packaging machine with IO-Link Wireless is breaking barriers that exist today with machine communication, and enabling solutions and designs that were not possible before.
About IO-Link Wireless
IO-Link Wireless is a deterministic, low latency (5 msec) and low synchronization rates (10’s of micro seconds), highly-reliable and scalable universal wireless communication protocol. Based on the IO-Link IEC 61131-9 standard, it is designed specifically for factory automation, coexisting with other networks – both wired and wireless.
About Rotzinger
The Rotzinger Group emerged from Rotzinger AG in Kaiseraugst, Switzerland. It was founded to federate the growing number of companies. Currently, eight companies with own products belong to the Rotzinger Group: Autexis, Demaurex, Hansella, MF-Hamburg, Packfeeder, Rotzinger, Rotzinger PharmaPack and Transver. Some of their respective histories go back a long way. Hansella, for example, was founded in 1921, while Rotzinger PharmaPack’s oldest predecessor company was founded as early as 1861. Since 2022, the Rotzinger Group has also had its own sales and service company in the USA.
About Rotzinger PharmaPack
Rotzinger PharmaPack is the competence center for pharmaceutical packaging within the Rotzinger Group. Its core business is solutions for the packaging and cartoning of solid and liquid end products as well as track & trace solutions for serialization and aggregation. Most of Rotzinger PharmaPack’s customers are at home in the pharmaceutical industry. They primarily pack bottles, vials, ampoules, jars, syringes, auto-injectors, pouches and blisters. Rotzinger PharmaPack offers both individual machines and complete systems as well as services and MES software. Rotzinger PharmaPack has been part of the Rotzinger Group since 2021. The company has its headquarters in Waiblingen near Stuttgart, Germany.