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MDA Technologies 3/2014

MDA Technologies 3/2014

Drive

Drive Technologies Record-sized toothpaste production needs massive geared motors Author: Alexander Lukas, Head of Research & Development at Ekato Systems, Schopfheim, Germany Peter Dittmers, Managing Director Germany, Nord Drivesystems, Bargteheide, Germany Alexander Lukas, Peter Dittmers Ekato, manufacturer of customized industrial agitators, has scaled up the largest model from its Unimix line to more than double the size, thereby implementing the largest discontinuous toothpaste production system in the world. The German drive specialist Nord Drivesystems supported the development of the new record-sized systems. 34 MDA Technologies 3/2014

Learn more about Getriebebau Nord Many manufacturers with a global reach are interested in concentrating production capacities in just a few places. The hygiene and personal care industries certainly follow this trend. Accordingly, there is a demand for ever larger batch sizes for products such as toothpaste. Furthermore, a larger range of variants is produced at each site. Therefore, modern plants must be capable of producing large volumes while at the same time providing maximum versatility. With this complex task in its sights, Ekato systems from Schopfheim at the southern reaches of the Black Forest in Germany has constructed a new plant for the discontinuous production of toothpaste. The state of the art up until now The maximal capacity of toothpaste production plants used to lie between 4,000 and 5,000 liters, with outputs of approximately 2,000 to 3,000 liters hourly. Continuous or batch production is possible. Continuous systems enable high throughput but are not very versatile with regard to product changes; since different ingredients sometimes require their own dispensing and blending technology, recipe changes often bring about conversions and readjustments. It also comes into play that toothpaste cannot easily be reworked when it is not sufficiently homogeneous. The biggest challenge with continuous plants is ensuring the uniform dispersion of active ingredients such as sodium fluoride, even after changes to the dispensing systems. On the other hand, the production rate of existing discontinuous plants cannot be significantly increased without major modifications in plant equipment. In order to meet the demands of a toothpaste manufacturer, Ekato therefore had to construct larger plants. 01 The new Unimix systems: at a record volume of 10,000 l each, they form the world’s biggest plant for the batch production of toothpaste MDA Technologies 3/2014 35

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