ACMI SpA

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A specialist in the production of high technology bottling and packaging lines, ACMI SpA serves key food and beverage sectors such as mineral water, soft drinks, beer, wine and spirits, dairy and food

Founded in 1984 in Riccò, situated in the province of Parma, ACMI SpA began operations as a manufacturer of palletisers and depalletisers for the food and beverage industry. Over the years the company enjoyed rapid expansion of demand thanks to its focus on innovation and technological developments and its growing reputation as a specialist in all packaging processes. As a result of these developments, the company grew significantly expanding its production site and was able to build new premises in Fornovo Taro and Felegara.

“ACMI has a production facility of more than 20,000 square metres, which is divided into three facilities that are all situated in Italy, in the province of Parma. The main headquarters are dedicated to the production of palletisers, depalletisers and end-of-line equipment, while the other two facilities are specialised in the production of shrink wrappers, handle applicators, multipack systems, conveyors and stretch wrappers,” explains Mr Giacomo Magri, President of ACMI SpA. “We are in the process of building a new production facility a few kilometres from the main head office, which will enable us to further amplify our production capacity; the new facility has an overall surface of 5000 square metres.”

Today, using the experience it has gained over the last 30 years, ACMI develops, installs and commissions complete packaging lines in a turnkey manner for customers in all sectors of the food and beverage industry. Aside from producing single packaging machines that comprise of the dry end of the line, ACMI also handles the engineering and automation of the entire line as the main contractor. Thanks to dedicated project managers, ACMI is able to provide engineering and automation for any food and beverage packaging equipment; furthermore, its energy saving packaging lines have been designed to reduce the use of conveyors by focusing on efficiency and productivity.

Committed to enhancing its products and developing new solutions that can improve the packaging process for customers, ACMI has developed an impressive portfolio that includes Fenix shrinkwrappers, the revolutionary Twisterbox layer formation systems, Vortex fixed pallet systems and an innovative multipack system.

Continuous flow

Able to handle any types of containers or packs, the highly flexible Twisterbox can be used in all sectors of the food and beverage industry; this includes PET bottles, ten litre bottles, glass bottles, clusters of bottles, cans, packs of cans, hi-cone cans, jars, glass containers and so on. This system is usually placed before the palletiser or robot so the two can work together; the Twisterbox systems that are currently functioning handle more than 200 different formats.

“The Twisterbox is a continuous layer formation system, which consists of a series of robotic arms equipped with special grippers than move according to a specific programme that positions the packs and forms a complete layer,” says Giacomo. “The latest Twisterbox generation can handle 3×2 multipacks of cans at a speed of 140,000 pieces per hour palletised, even with over packaging. Other characteristics of the system include perfect rotation and positioning, multiliner function, the possibility of handling products with special shapes and fragile contents and wide flexibility.”

Another product that Giacomo is keen to highlight is the Compact Line: “This is a concept that leads us to consider the entire line as a single machine, a single system. In thissystem the various components work and move in a synchronous manner, generating a continuous flow that originates from the filler and ends with the finished pallet. The traditional accumulating tables that have the task of harmonising the different efficiencies of the single machines, disappear, which offers advantages such as reduction in space, reduction in purchasing costs, elimination of the stress on the bottle due to squashing and pressure of the accumulating table and great operating autonomy.”

The ideal supplier for large multinational groups as well as national bottlers and food companies thanks to its innovative solutions, Giacomo says ACMI has been involved in a number of notable projects: “In 2015 ACMI installed the fastest PET line for CSD in the world at the Coca-Cola Femsa Canlubang factory, in the Philippines. The line has a nominal filler speed of 81,000 bottles per hour and represents a showpiece in the world wide bottling sector. The line is highly automated and the system is handled in a completely automatic manner.”

Alongside this major project within the soft drinks field of activity, thecompany has also delivered two superior installations of Easypack systems for the production of bi-pack packaging of PET lines to 36,000 bottles per hour at Coca Cola HBC and a complete line for cans from 60,000 cans per hour high efficiency at the Sibeg plant.

Proud of its leading reputation, ACMI will continue to invest in R&D manufacturing machines with high levels of production performance to stay at the forefront of product packaging. Another way the company will remain competitive is through continuing its commitment to delivering guaranteed efficiency through periodic inspections that are to be carried out by specialised ACMI technicians in order to prevent stops that could slow down or reduce the overall production levels of the line.

“The bottling market is not an easy market sector; continuous investments are required both in terms of technology and human resources in order to maintain and cater for the high level of customer requests. During the current year our company has maintained a high position in the market and we foresee to close the year with a turnover increase of almost 30 per cent. Opportunity and challenges travel hand-in-hand, therefore we believe that each opportunity is also a challenge, however in virtue of ACMI being on the list of accredited suppliers for the most important national and international bottlers, we have a number of goals in place for the future that we believe we can achieve,” concludes Giacomo.