A family story

Zipperle is a historical family business, deeply rooted in its territory. We are in the north of Trentino-Alto Adige, a region famous for the Alps and unspoilt environment, an ideal place for anyone working with natural raw materials focussing on quality and authenticity.

In 1951, Hans Zipperle began a story based on passion, research and ongoing technological development. In just a few years, the company became one of the main producers of juices and fruit purées in the region until, in the 1980s, the path of the South Tyrolean factory crossed that of another large Italian company, Rossi & Catelli.

Camillo Catelli and Hans Zipperle thus created a relationship of trust and mutual collaboration between their respective companies, which continues today with the aim of guaranteeing increasingly efficient and technologically advanced production in the field of fruit processing.

Just think that in the last ten years, CFT Group has designed and installed three fruit purèe aseptic filling lines for Zipperle, comprising aseptic fillers, sterilizers and a state-of-the-art evaporator, a double-effect Apollo Mixflow capable of concentrating the purée to 32 brix; in the meantime Zipperle has managed to drastically reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and become one of the first companies in Italy to have an environmental audit.

The new project

By 2019, the time had come for further expansion of the production capacity: Zipperle has in fact begun to produce fruit juices and drinks that are sterilized and packed in various sized aseptic bags (5, 10, 15 or 20 litres), which are then sold to be combined with carbonated drinks or juice dispensers.

The new line that we designed for this occasion has a multi-purpose characteristic, allowing Zipperle to work not only with juices, but also semi-finished products such as natural, concentrated fruit purées filled with the bag-in-box system, that represents the company’s core-business. This means very high flexibility, because it is a single line capable of working products with a viscosity that varies between 10 and 1500 cP.

A second key feature of this project is the very small footprint: at the request of the customer, the entire line (sterile filling and packaging) was in fact set up in a very limited space of about 80 m² on two floors.

The aseptic filling line developed for Zipperle was made with the following components:

Olimpic TC tubular aseptic sterilizer

• Patented heat exchange technology, hygienic design and no thermal expansion stress
• Quick and easy maintenance
• Long production cycles and minimum temperature difference between water and product

Aseptic tank

• Allows the filler to be constantly fed
• Allows for maximum dosing precision, up to ± 20 grams from the set point

One head Minipak aseptic filler

• Filling valve which guarantees a perfect seal, even with particularly dense or fibrous liquids
• The valve is automatically washed after every single filling
• The machine allows high flexibility, able to fill aseptic bags with a capacity from 5 to 25 litres
• Ideal for fruit purèe aseptic filling

CFT Robotics

The filled and dried aseptic bags are packed inside cartons and then palletized. At this stage the CFT Robotics technology, which takes care of the end of the line, comes into play.

After being formed, the cartons are filled with the aseptic bags from the filler, via an automatic system equipped with a hopper for inserting the bag inside the carton itself.

The cartons are then closed by a sealer for top flaps and labelled. The next step takes place thanks to a robotic system: an anthropomorphic robot picks up and palletizes the cartons automatically and without the need for any size change even in the presence of many different sizes as in this case. The software developed allows the robot to recognize the size concerned and consequently the motorized gripper is able to automatically adapt and pick it up for palletizing. In addition, thanks to the “Pallet Maker” software for palletization configuration, in the event of new sizes, the customer is able to create different setups automatically.

The use of robotic technology has allowed for the use of less space and the ability to insert the line into the area available inside the plant, in addition to guaranteeing much lower line management and maintenance costs than those of a traditional solution.

Once the pallet has been formed, it is wrapped in plastic film make it stable and ready for shipping or storage.

CFT Group and Zipperle

We are particularly satisfied with the latest development project for Zipperle, also because what we designed are two 100% integrated solutions for fruit purèe aseptic filling and packaging, with the added advantage for the customer to have a single point of contact for the whole project.

The story of our collaboration with Zipperle tells of two companies that during their long journey have pursued objectives of a continuous search for quality and constant innovation, values which even today, after 70 years, continue to be the basis of all business choices.

In particular, at CFT Group we are very proud to continue to collaborate with those, who like many of our clients, perfectly embodying the spirit of our work: understanding, anticipating and guiding the needs of the market.

Fruit purée market prospects*

The global fruit purée market is expected to grow at an average rate of 4.4% annually by 2023, with a total value of over $14 billion. Fruit purée is used as an ingredient and food product and, if processed correctly, retains most of the acid, sugar and colour of the fruit. It is used as an ingredient in the food processing industry for preparing baby food, jams, pastries and baked products. The growth in the market is mainly driven by the rising demand for natural, healthy food ingredients.

Being a naturally healthy food, fruit purée is emerging as an ideal substitute for various synthetic ingredients that are often added to food to improve flavour and sweetness. This factor is also increasing the demand for fruit purée worldwide.

The CFT team for this project:

• William Dattaro – Sales Area Manager
• Marco Galeazzi – Aseptic Engineer
• Stefano TIberini – Robotics Engineer

*source: mordorintelligence.com, zipperle.it