The coreless roll by Rotomac – a brand of IMS Technologies won first place at the Sustainable Packaging News Awards in the “Resource Efficiency” category and was a finalist at the Sustainability Awards 2023 in the “Pre-commercialized Climate” category.

These awards promote the adoption of cutting-edge and sustainable technologies in the packaging industry.

The coreless aluminum foil roll developed by Rotomac represents a significant innovation, the result of years of research, development, and experimentation. It replaces the traditional cardboard core with a thin sheet of paper, offering multiple sustainability and efficiency benefits.

The core of the new roll weighs just 7.2 grams, reducing paper usage by 73%. The annual production only requires the movement of one truck, instead of the eight needed to transport the cores of traditional rolls, with advantages in logistics, storage, and CO2 emissions—reduced by 87.5%.

Additionally, the reduced use of paper and adhesive materials leads to lower production and storage costs for manufacturing companies.

Mylab: A New Approach to Product Development

Mylab is the Customer Innovation and Application Center of IMS, an 800 m² area directly connected to the company’s headquarters and the production facility in Calcinate.

It fosters the exchange of know-how among employees. In this facility, manufacturers and converters from various industries have the opportunity to meet experts, view machines in operation, conduct tests with specific materials, explore new applications and technologies, and attend training courses.

Mylab is the Customer Innovation and Application Center of IMS – is a 800 m2 area directly connected to the company’s headquarters and the Calcinate production hub, which encourages the exchange of know-how between employees. In this area, manufacturers and converters operating in different sectors can meet experts, view the machines in operation, carry out tests with specific materials, explore new applications and technologies, participate in training courses.

MAIA® – the Industrial IoT platform developed for the division’s customers – is a cloud-based application that allows users to collect data from machines and visualize it through easy-to-use, highly representative custom dashboards.

Thanks to sensors and smart devices, the platform acquires and analyzes data on machine performance and production processes. By using machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms, it monitors machine components, simplifying both preventive and predictive maintenance, reducing costs, and increasing productivity. Furthermore, it provides suggestions to optimize settings, enhancing both efficiency and product quality.

MAIA is accessible on both desktop and mobile platforms, enabling continuous monitoring and timely interventions in case of malfunctions or errors.

In the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform, a customer satisfaction indicator was introduced at the end of 2022. The feedback, provided after each interaction with the service, has enabled the collection of highly valuable data aimed at improving the service offered and managing complaints and non-conformities.

This process is in line with the requirements for ISO 9001 certification.

The average ratings provided by customers range from 4.5 to 4.6 on a scale from 1 to 5, both for the spare parts service and for customer assistance. The more than 400 evaluations received covered both the overall quality and the timeliness of the intervention.

R&D Project Supported by the Sustainable Growth Fund

In 2023, thanks to the contribution from the Sustainable Growth Fund of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, a research and development project was launched for a new family of roller-supported slitter-rewinders for the digital and sustainable converting of paper, nonwoven fabrics, and similar materials.

In 2024, topics related to the developments of MAIA, IMS Technologies’ IoT platform, will be further explored. Specifically, the focus will be on machine learning, virtual assistants (such as ChatGPT), and consumption prediction.

The commitment of IMS to innovation, is confirmed also by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy that in 2023 confirmed the eligibility to the Fund for Sustainable Growth of the company’s research and development project concerning a new family of slitter rewinders with carrying drums for the digital and sustainable converting of paper, non-woven fabrics and the like. In particular, the Ministry and the competent bodies verified “the technical feasibility,economic and financial sustainability,technical quality and impact of the project” with a total benefit of 1.7 million euros on a total recognised cost of 4.8 million euros.