A complete Sacmi-Nuova Sima storage line has been supplied to Ce.Si. (Ceramica di Sirone), a major player on the Italian high quality floor/wall tile manufacturing and marketing scene for over 60 years.
The line is equipped with a storage system that uses LGVs, box storage units and loading-unloading machines. More specifically, it consists of a box loading unit with elevator to fill the tile cars at the end of the glazing line. Downstream lies the unloading unit, again equipped with an elevator, to feed the kiln.
However, the heart of the Nuova Sima line consists of the LGVs, which handle the storage boxes. An outstanding feature of this solution is automatic identification (via on-vehicle rotating laser scanners) of the vehicle position inside the plant. This lets the on-board computer perform real-time calculation of routing without any need for physical guides or on-floor references . Vehicles are also in radio contact with a central ground-based controller, which sends instructions for individual 'missions' and regulates in-plant operations.
Here too, the solution combines advanced technical features with cutting-edge safety devices that ensure slowdown where obstacles are encountered, lateral load protection and worker safety . Steps have also been taken to boost the speed of the LGVs (which have a maximum load carrying capacity of 6500 kg); they now move through the plant at a speed of over 1 m/s.
Sacmi Group company Nuova Sima played a pivotal role in designing the handling, storage and end-of-line solutions in keeping with industry 4.0 requisites. Nuova Sima also oversaw the supply of a ground-based computerized station to Ce.Si: this collects all the machine pick and place requests in the plant and combines them to optimise LGV routing and efficiency. Individual callpriority management,real-time reading of vehicle status and calculation of the shortest or least traffic-laden route to destination are just some of the available features, all made extremely simple by the user-friendly operator interface.
A long-standing Sacmi partner, Ceramica di Sirone has also taken a further step forwards by combining the new automated storage line with a digital printer produced by Sacmi-Intesa. Featuring 5 colour bars complete with flow-fill distribution devices, the Sacmi Digital solution (which hasindependent colour modules that caneasily be removed from the central platform) provides a native resolution of 360 dpi and an effective fired product printing width of 300 mm. An automatic print platform cleaning system completes the picture to ensure decoration tasks are spotless at all times. Last but not least, the system features an extremely user-friendly touch screen interface.