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Gen3 thinking drives TMC

Riddled with servo motors and governed by a single integrated controller that handles logic, motion, and HMI, the Zero machine is right out of the future.

Tissue Machinery Company's radical new wrapper is named Zero because it was designed from scratch to make maximum use of servo t
Tissue Machinery Company's radical new wrapper is named Zero because it was designed from scratch to make maximum use of servo t

Now being shipped to customers in Europe and soon to North America is a third-generation packaging machine that really takes the cake. Like any self-respecting third-generation machine, it has no mechanical line shaft because it’s built from the ground up around servo motor technology. What sets it apart from its third-generation peers and predecessors is the number of servo motors it deploys: as many as 25.

Built by Tissue Machinery Co. of Bologna, Italy, the machine is targeted specifically for overwrapping paper tissue rolls. It goes by the name of Zero, a reference to the fact that it is a next-generation system built from scratch (from zero, in other words) around servo motor technology

And what lets TMC build machinery unfettered by mechanical components? Key contributions are made by servo motors and drives from Elau, as well as Elau’s PacDrive™ automation system. Unlike traditional controls configurations, where logic is controlled by a PLC, motion by a motion controller, and HMI by yet a third device, the controls in TMC’s Zero machine are all integrated in the PacDrive controller. Running Elau software, it handles motion, logic, and HMI. According to TMC president Matteo Gentili, this brings increased simplicity because “it eliminates the need for multiple software programs, thus improving communications.”

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