The Milan-based producer of paints and powder coatings has re-engineered its production process, in line with industry 4.0 standards. The company created in Milan in 1973 is known for its specialised paints and powder coatings used across a number of industries, for applications such as anti-graffiti, high temperature, and zinc-rich primers.
Its distribution network covers all of Europe, with customers in Belgium, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Poland, Greece, Czech Republic, Russian Federation, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Ukraine. With its research and development laboratory, the company is continually innovating ahead of the market, improving product performances, formulations, and production techniques.
Production quality parameters
Pulverit’s latest innovation has been the introduction of RFID traceability as part of its production control overhaul. The new production control system now covers the whole production line, ensuring full compliance with production quality parameters. Technicians and management receive real-time monitoring updates for each batch in production, through each step of the process thanks to smart automation.
Technicians and management receive real-time monitoring updates for each batch in production
And the benefits extend to customer service, with progress updates now being shared with customers via the Pulverit web portal. The new production control system allows the operator in the filling phase to assign a production batch to a specific production cone, monitoring on a touch screen the weight and other production parameters, and automatically reporting any anomaly. In the mixing phase, the system identifies the batches being processed using RFID readers installed on Promixon mixers, sending to a middleware all the values collected by the PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) of the mixers.
Superior reading performance
Eventually, in the extrusion phase, an RFID reader on the floor identifies the cone in transit and displays on a screen all the data related to the contents of the batch. Again, any anomaly is recorded and notified via real-time alerts. From a design point of view, this phase came with a number of technical challenges regarding the calibration and positioning of the readers in order to read only the cone in transit.
Pulverit worked closely with a select number of industrial IoT specialists, such as RFID system integrator NGWay. TraceToo was chosen for its unique experience in supply chain automatic identification. And the Xerafy RTI Trak On-Metal RFID tags were selected for their proven durability in manufacturing environments and their superior reading performance surrounded by a high density of metal elements.
