Fernholz and FDM: a partnership for sustainable innovation in plastics technology

The plastics industry is a sector that requires constant innovation and adaptation. In this dynamic environment, W. u. H. Fernholz GMBH & Co. KG, based in Meinerzhagen and Schkopau – Germany, is at the forefront of sustainable innovation: in recent years, it has significantly reduced packaging weights and film thicknesses and increased energy efficiency. Founded in 1963, today it is a leading manufacturer of multilayer PP, PS and PET sheets as well as decorated and printed PS sheets.

In March 2022, Fernholz started the expansion of its plant in Schkopau. In this case, the challenge was to ensure consistent product quality, especially in terms of colour and material composition, and to reintroduce a considerable amount of side trimmings into the inline process after the grinding devices. Fernholz needed a robust and accurate solution that tracked recipe history and identified production batches and found these features in FDM products. To meet these requirements, FDM designed together with Fernholz a material handling system with two gravimetric loss-in-weight (LIW) dosing systems for the new coextrusion line.

Another issue was the customer's concern about the energy consumption of the entire system. This gave rise to the idea of installing a central vacuum that could simultaneously serve several hopper loaders and even be expanded for higher throughput.

To keep noise emissions low and save space in the extrusion hall, it was decided to build a separate room for the central vacuum system.

A SIEMENS S 7 controller developed in-house by FDM has been used to regulate the negative pressure in the central vacuum tube. In fact, FDM's team of software developers can adapt the SIEMENS S 7 technology to fully meet customer requirements, which is particularly important if there is a need for communication with machinery or data logging systems.

It is this kind of synergy and collaboration that companies need in today's competitive industrial landscape. The partnership between Fernholz and FDM is a shining example of how technical expertise and industry knowledge can be combined to achieve outstanding results.

Besides dosing & blending systems for extrusion lines, FDM designs and engineers complex material handling systems, including storage silos, pressure and vacuum feeding systems, as well as drying and crystallisation systems. It is precisely this last aspect that is becoming increasingly important in the growing recycling industry.

For any information, please visit our website https://www.piovan.com/fdm/ or contact us at:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Piovan Group

FDM, based in Troisdorf, Germany, is part of the Piovan Group.The Piovan Group is the world's leading player in the development and production of production process automation systems for the storage, transport and treatment of polymers, bioresins, recycled plastics, food liquids, food and non-food powders. In recent years, the Group has also been particularly active in the development and production of production process automation systems related to bio-economies and circular economies for the recycling and reuse of plastics and for the production of plastics that are naturally compostable in the environment, seizing cross-selling opportunities. Since October 2018, Piovan S.p.A. has been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in the STAR segment. With more than 85 years of experience, almost 2,000 employees in 14 production plants and 43 branches/service and sales offices distributed worldwide, the Group is always close to its customers, on a global basis, also through the continuous innovation of the solutions developed and the constant support that, starting from the design phase of the systems, extends to their installation and start-up as well as their operation. Revenues for the year 2022 reached EUR 531 mln.