Unicorn: Elettric80’s next generation of parent roll handling

With over 40 years in the market, Elettric80 specializes in the development of automated logistic solutions for daily consumer goods manufacturing companies in the tissue, beverage and food sectors and other diversified areas. Its tailor-made solutions allow the management of supply chain activities and guarantee a significant improvement in factory efficiency and in product traceability.

In its most recent launch, the company presented to the market its next generation of Laser Guided Vehicle (LGV), the new Unicorn.

Targeted specifically for the tissue industry, the Laser Guided Vehicle (LGV) has been designed and developed by Elettric80 to improve the automated warehouse management and movements of parent reels formerly handled by the Model Elephant (Clamp) LGV.

According to the company, the Unicorn is a welcome evolution that ensures noteworthy advantages and resolves various problems.

The most visible change is the absence of clamps. The new Unicorn picks up the reel using expandable shafts, no longer relying on clamps, and having zero contact with the reel’s exterior surface means the right reels can be automatically delivered to where and when they are needed, in the same condition they come off the paper machine.

Another significant benefit of Unicorn is that reels can be stored in direct contact with one another back-to-back, increasing storage density space by around 6-7% and reducing the risk of fire propagation. The machine has also been designed to automate the movement of the reel’s spent cores, a task that until now was almost exclusively managed manually.

Like the Elephant, the new Unicorn is designed to vertically stack reels up to 3 levels high, or up to 9.0 meters (29.5 feet) maximum stacking height. It can lift reels of up to 5 tons and up to 3 meters (118.11”) in diameter, there-by covering virtually the entire range of the tissue industry and meeting the ever-increasing demand for automated reel handling.

In short, check out the main benefits of The Unicorn:

• Zero contact, zero tissue reel surface deterioration and ZERO broke, thanks to the elimination of the clamps
• Due to the elimination of the clamps, there is no reel deformation or consequent interruptions in converting
• Increase in warehouse capacity of approximately 6-7% due to the reduction and elimination of distance between reels also on account of the elimination of the clamps
• Better reel position control for “back-to-back”, “side-to-side” and “core-to-core” placement and deposit of the reels
• 100%-reel placement flexibility provides for desired unwinding directions
• Picking and returning of spent cores or partial rolls thanks to no minimum diameter limitation
• Completely automates the parent reel life cycle, from the reel’s pick-up at the paper machine to the return of the spent core.

To learn more about The Unicorn and other Elettric80’s solutions, visit: elettric80.com/en/