OCRIM and Paglierani introduced titanium in their production processes. The performance of the accessories is improved: greater efficiency, greater resistance to wear and lower maintenance costs. An innovative solution to enhance the operation of already operating milling plants.

Important Technological Innovations

Titanium is a metallic element with known properties, but able to reserve many surprises, given that its potential is highlighted with the progress of technology. Extremely light, stainless, with low thermal expansion and high mechanical and wear resistance, titanium is increasingly used as a primary material in the machinery components for food processing. In the Paglierani factories, titanium is already used for the coating of specific accessories that are subjected to particular abrasions in the production process. The Research & Development department of OCRIM has also set itself the goal of identifying an innovative technology that could offer greater benefits to the milling market in terms of performance and duration for obtaining a time optimization and reduction of maintenance costs. The solution was found right in the use of titanium, currently tested on fluted rollers, whose flutings strongly affect the performance of the plant. The rollers are subjected to a special treatment that provides the coating only on the fluted rollers and this is the best solution to ensure a much longer life of the rollers currently used by the entire milling industry. It’s known that the duration of the roller is thus directly dependent on its hardness. This coating causes a considerable increase in the surface hardness values and consequently increases the durability of the fluting over time. The benefits deriving from this solution are substantial: savings in terms of maintenance costs (an average duration of about 3 years with no maintenance); fewer plant stops to change rollers; lower costs for the renewal of fluting and/or the purchase of new rollers and, above all, better milling plant performance. OCRIM, to carry out this process, has adopted a cutting-edge system whose investment, concerning machinery only, has a value of 1.5 million euros.