Sytrama, active since 1975 in the industrial automation sector, with a particular focus on plastic molding applications, has developed expertise in the design and manufacture of Cartesian axis robots for injection molding machines.
The full range of standard Cartesian manipulators covers injection molding machines with clamping forces ranging from 40 to 6,000 tons. This allows us to meet the needs of a wide variety of customers, from small molders to large multinational companies. In addition, Cartesian robots are also used in different fields, such as machine tool servicing, assembly lines, welding, and palletizing, to name a few. Sytrama’s commercial strength lies in its ability to provide customized solutions for its products, as all design, assembly, and testing processes are carried out in-house.
Plastic injection molding is a sector that is showing signs of growth, albeit with challenges. The global molding market has exceeded significant values, and forecasts estimate steady growth in the coming years, despite the slowdown linked in particular to the automotive sector, which has been heavily affected by the change due to the conversion of production to hybrid and fully electric cars.
The market is also evolving, with demand increasingly focused on improving productivity, reducing cycle times, and improving energy efficiency. More and more companies are approaching Industry 4.0, where digitization, smart factories, robotics, real-time monitoring (IoT), and more flexible production processes are increasingly in demand.
This creates opportunities for Sytrama to position itself as a key supplier of Cartesian robots and automation systems capable of meeting the growing demand from customers seeking greater efficiency, lower energy costs, and greater reliability. Technologies such as energy saving for reducing compressed air consumption and regenerative braking of linear axes for recovering electrical energy are some of the technologies that Sytrama makes available to its customers for greater environmental sustainability aimed at reducing waste.
“The market challenges us with increasingly aggressive competition from international competitors, who are able to offer products at significantly lower costs than those manufactured in Europe, but with quality and safety standards that are not always comparable to ours”, says Marco Zilioli, General Manager of Sytrama-Roboline. “So, in order to compete, we constantly invest in providing high-end products, focusing above all on safety, where the use of SAFE drives on all manipulators in production ensures compliance with the most stringent EU regulations – he continues –.Performance and safety are the main aspects on which Sytrama bases the manufacture of its manipulators and automation systems, guaranteeing high quality standards”.
Investments also concern the development of control software for Cartesian manipulators, where the trend is increasingly towards guaranteeing the end user an experience based on ease of use, accompanied, however, by the possibility of integrating and expanding the features for managing the peripherals that accompany most of today’s more complex automation systems. Thanks to proprietary software developed entirely in-house, the management and interface of peripherals such as vision systems, material selection systems, advanced transport systems and so on, are perfectly integrated into the control of the work cell through the use of fully customizable HMI systems that complement the standard SCP2 control of the robot.
The ability to provide customized, turnkey solutions for end customers is one of the aspects that ensures Sytrama achieves its objectives in terms of both volume and results. At the same time, the service network provides customers with the support they need to quickly resolve any problems or faults that may occur during normal operations. Thanks to the ability to connect remotely to its robots, our support team can reset alarms, check for anomalies, and provide support to on-site operators to manage restarts in a short time, without the need for a Sytrama service technician to be physically present, with obvious advantages in terms of production continuity and intervention costs. This operating mode also allows for a considerable reduction in emissions linked to the transfer of technical personnel to the customer’s premises, to the benefit of an environmental sustainability policy.
“The K trade fair held in Düsseldorf, Germany, was an important showcase for Sytrama to demonstrate its capabilities. Working closely with parent companies Negri Bossi and Nissei Plastics, Sytrama was responsible for developing the automation aspect, integrating various peripherals, including the ones supplied by other partners”, Zilioli stated. “We are very pleased with the feedback received from visitors during the fair”.
There were two applications based on Cartesian robots capable of handling moulded products separately from the sprue, thus automatically ensuring the collection of waste material to be reintroduced, after grinding, into the production cycle. The percentage of recycled material is such as to guarantee the achievement of the required quality standards, while at the same time offering savings in economic terms and, above all, greater sustainability and benefits for the environment.
The third application integrated a 6-axis anthropomorphic robot that handled the demoulding of the pieces and its subsequent deposit on a newly designed transport system, based on a series of mobile tiles capable of moving contactless on a flat surface by exploiting the magnetic field generated by the control system. The product was then checked by a camera to detect any moulding defects; last, a QR code containing production information is laser marked, thus ensuring the traceability of the piece.
“The fair was also an opportunity to meet with the NB and Nissei branches to establish future strategies and explore new commercial opportunities,” concludes Zilioli. “I am sure that in the coming months we will capitalise on what we gained during the fair”.
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