- Italy-based cosmetics company integrates Watson-Marlow 314D and 314X flip-top pumpheads into a custom-built filling machine
- Watson-Marlow peristaltic pumps ensure accuracy, efficiency and reduced downtime in fragrance filling
- Watson-Marlow pumps are used in a primary packaging machine (filling and capping) for perfumes in 2 mL vials
ATS designs and produces automatic machines for the primary and secondary packaging sector, for its customers in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, chemical, food and beverage, and sanitary industries. ATS offers a range of filling machines, including the OCTAGON monoblock for filling and capping, MG-X cartoning machine and a primary packaging machine (filling and capping) for perfumes in 2 mL vials.
Demands for fragrance-filling pump
A cosmetics company approached ATS with a requirement for a filling machine to produce perfume samples for retail stores. The ATS machine required precise filling of 2 mL quantities into plastic or glass vials, with the capability to adjust volumes from 1 mL to 100 mL.
Some of the challenges included:
Maintenance downtime: The pump needed to avoid being extensively and regularly cleaned, which causes production downtime, and increased water, chemical, and energy consumption.
Contamination prevention: Handling different fragrances, with various chemical features, meant the pump needed to avoid cross-contamination, and the alteration of perfume batches.
Accurate dosing: Precise filling was crucial for product consistency and cost-efficiency, to achieve the right batch of 2 mL of fragrance.
Contamination-free with precise dosing
ATS integrated Watson-Marlow 314D and 314X flip-top pumpheads into the filling machine to address these challenges effectively for the cosmetics company.
Reduced cleaning and contamination: The pumpheads’ design, with only the tube contacting the product, minimises cleaning and eliminates the risks of cross-contamination. Less cleaning compared to other types of pumps results in sustainability benefits such as a reduction of water, cleaning chemicals, and energy consumption. A quick, error-free tube replacement further enhances efficiency.
Precise dosing: The pumps deliver accurate and repeatable filling to keep chemical costs to a minimum. The Watson-Marlow pumps deliver the correct batch of 2 mL fragrance with less pulsation and avoid product waste caused by over or under-dosing fragrances.
Flexibility: The cosmetics company can use the pumpheads to dose different fragrances without contamination as only the tube comes into contact with the product and a silicon tube replacement can be quickly completed.
Before ATS built the customised, primary packaging machine (filling and capping) for perfumes in 2 mL vials for its cosmetics customer, it conducted immersion tests to determine chemical compatibility between the silicon tube and the fragrances. The tests were successful and ATS proceeded to build the filling machine.
By selecting Watson-Marlow peristaltic pumps, ATS has delivered a high-performance, cost-effective, and sustainable solution for its customer’s fragrance filling needs.
The 314 pumpheads have brought some key benefits to ATS’ filling machine:
- Significantly reduced cleaning time and associated costs
- Elimination of fragrance contamination risks
- Precise dosing results in less product waste, which achieves savings in chemical costs
- Increased machine uptime due to minimal pump maintenance
- Energy savings compared to traditional pump technologies
Pietro Spagnolo, Sales Engineer for WMFTS in Italy, said: “ATS is using silicon tubing because chemical compatibility is important. The fluid doesn’t destroy the tube, and the silicon is smooth so it enables high precision. This is a new project, a new application, and ATS decided to use peristaltic pump technology. They knew of Watson-Marlow through another customer and got in touch to discover what we could offer.”
Features
- Rapid and simple tube loading flip-top pumphead
- Four roller rotor for higher performance and less pulsation
- Up to 1200 mL/min continuous flow
- Up to 2400 mL/min intermittent flow
- Accepts 2.4 mm wall tubing for higher pressure applications
- Snap-fit 314X extension pumpheads available
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