Albert 3-in-1 Servo Integrated Machine: How Brazilian Packaging Converters Cut Machine Footprint and Wiring Hours

Brazil is the ninth-largest plastics market in the world, consuming 6.5 million tonnes of resin annually, with packaging accounting for approximately 42% of total consumption. The packaging converting industry in the state of São Paulo operates approximately 2,800 injection moulding machines, ranging from 80-tonne to 1,200-tonne clamp force, serving food, beverage, personal care, and industrial packaging end-markets. The machine builders who supply these converters have historically used the standard "distributed" hydraulic drive architecture: a separate servomotor, a separate drive cabinet (mounted on the machine frame or as a standalone enclosure), and a separate gear pump connected through a flexible coupling and a bell housing. This configuration works, but it occupies floor space, requires 40–60 metres of wiring per machine between the drive and the motor, and introduces failure points at every interconnect — the coupling, the wiring terminals, and the enclosure cooling fan.

The Albert 3-in-1 Servo Integrated Machine, as we manufacture at VICKS, eliminates the distributed architecture by integrating the servo motor rotor, the drive electronics, and the Internal Gear Pump into a single coaxial housing. The entire assembly is 850 mm long (for the 22 kW size) and mounts directly to the hydraulic manifold block on the injection machine — no separate cabinet, no motor-to-drive cable loom, and no coupling alignment procedure. This article covers the measured impact of this integration in three Brazilian packaging converter facilities.

For the technical specifications of the Albert 3-in-1 unit, see the Albert 3-in-1 product page. For the broader range of motion Control Solutions, theintegrated electro-hydraulic servo unit page covers additional configurations.

Converter A — 45% Footprint Reduction on a 650-Tonne PET Preform Machine

Converter A is a packaging converter in Jundiaí, São Paulo, producing PET preforms for the Brazilian beverage bottling industry. The plant operates 18 injection moulding machines, of which 4 are in the 600–800 tonne range. In Q1 2025, the plant replaced a 37 kW Standard Servo Motor + drive cabinet + external gear pump assembly on a 650-tonne machine with a single Albert 3-in-1 unit (30 kW equivalent at the pump shaft, with the internal gear pump displacement matched to the preform mould cycle requirement).

The measured results after 6 months of production: machine footprint reduced from 13.5 m² (machine + separate drive cabinet + cable tray) to 8.1 m² — a 40% reduction. The eliminated drive cabinet (1,200 × 800 × 400 mm) had been floor-mounted adjacent to the machine base, occupying floor space that was previously used for preform bin staging. The wiring hours for the hydraulic drive system dropped from 62 hours (motor power cable, encoder cable, brake cable, drive cabinet power supply cable, thermistor cable — all routed through a cable tray with 65 mm minimum bend radius) to 6 hours (one power cable to the Albert unit, one CANopen communication cable back to the Machine Controller). The maintenance team reported that the first troubleshooting event (a communication fault on the CANopen bus) was resolved by replacing a 3-metre CAN cable — a 20-minute fix versus a 3-hour diagnostic on the previous system.

Energy consumption data from the 6-month period: the Albert 3-in-1 unit consumed 187 MWh versus 212 MWh for the previous system over the same production period — a 12% reduction. The improvement comes from two factors: the internal gear pump in the Albert unit has a volumetric efficiency of 96% versus 88% for the external gear pump it replaced (the internal gear pump's tighter internal clearances reduce slip), and the direct integration eliminates the mechanical loss through the coupling (2–3% of motor power).

Converter B — 60% Wiring Reduction on a 280-Tonne Thin-Wall Packaging Machine

Converter B operates in the thin-wall packaging sector — margarine tubs, ice cream containers, and yoghurt pots — using high-speed injection machines with 280-tonne clamp force and a 2.5-second dry cycle time. The plant in Indaiatuba, São Paulo, retrofitted 5 machines (all 280-tonne, all running thin-wall PP) with the Albert 3-in-1 unit in a phased programme from September 2024 to March 2025.

The wiring reduction was the headline metric. On the original configuration, each machine required: 25 metres of 4-core × 6 mm² motor power cable (from drive cabinet to motor), 15 metres of 4-core × 0.5 mm² shielded encoder cable, 10 metres of 2-core × 1.5 mm² brake cable, 8 metres of 4-core × 2.5 mm² drive cabinet main power supply cable, and 5 metres of earth bonding cable — totalling 63 metres of cable per machine across 5 machines = 315 metres. On the Albert 3-in-1 configuration, each machine requires a single 4-core × 2.5 mm² main power cable (12 metres) plus a 2-core shielded CANopen cable (12 metres) — totalling 24 metres per machine × 5 = 120 metres. The cable material cost saving alone was R$ 8,600 (approximately USD 1,550) across the 5-machine programme.

The wiring labour time dropped from 68 hours per machine to 14 hours per machine — a 79% reduction. The electrical contractor's lead electrician reported that the Albert 3-in-1 unit was "the simplest servo drive installation I have done in 22 years — no drive cabinet mounting, no motor cable termination in a junction box, no coupling alignment." The maintenance call rate for the first 6 months of Albert 3-in-1 operation was 0.3 calls per machine per month, versus 1.1 calls per machine per month for the previous distributed system — a 73% reduction in unscheduled maintenance events.

Why the Internal Gear Pump Matters for Packaging Applications

The internal gear pump in the Albert 3-in-1 unit deserves a specific discussion because the Brazilian packaging sector operates on tight cycle times where pump cavitation at elevated oil temperatures is a recurring problem. The standard external gear pump in the converters' previous systems had a typical volumetric efficiency curve that dropped from 92% at 40°C (new oil, clean filter) to 78% at 55°C (operating temperature after 4 hours of continuous high-speed cycling). The internal gear pump in the Albert unit maintains 94–96% volumetric efficiency across the temperature range of 35°C to 65°C, because the internal gear design has a larger tooth contact area and tighter internal clearance compensation through the crescent seal. For a thin-wall packaging machine running a 2.5-second cycle, the maintained volumetric efficiency means the pump displacement sizing is accurate — the machine does not need to extend the injection dwell time to compensate for pump slip as the hydraulic oil warms up through the production shift.

For the control system compatibility, the Albert unit integrates seamlessly with the machine controller through CANopen — the same fieldbus protocol used by the machine's PLC. The Keba computer-based controller originally specified for this application is detailed on the Keba computer product page. For the full electric injection moulding alternative, see the all-electric IMM product page.

Converter C — Weight and Installation Logistics in a Multi-Storey Plant

Converter C is a packaging converter in a multi-storey factory in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo. The plant has 11 injection moulding machines on the first floor (installed on a reinforced concrete slab rated at 1,200 kg/m²) and 5 machines on the second floor (installed on a steel frame mezzanine rated at 750 kg/m²). The weight of the hydraulic drive assembly was a critical constraint for the second-floor machines — the original distributed system (37 kW motor + drive cabinet + flexible coupling + bell housing + gear pump) weighed 420 kg. The Albert 3-in-1 unit weighs 185 kg for the same power rating — a 56% weight reduction.

The weight reduction permitted the converter to install 3 additional Albert-equipped machines on the second floor mezzanine without structural reinforcement (the original plan had called for steel beam reinforcement at a cost of R$ 180,000). The installation logistics also improved: a single Albert 3-in-1 unit was lifted into position by two technicians and a pallet jack, whereas the previous distributed system required a 2-tonne hoist, three technicians, and 4 hours for the assembly and alignment procedure. The Albert unit was mounted to the manifold block and connected to the machine power supply in 45 minutes from the time the unit arrived at the machine base.

The ABT servo motor variant for lower-torque density applications is covered on the ABT servo motor product page. For direct-drive applications where space is less constrained, see the direct drive servo motor page.

Hydraulic Oil Temperature Reduction — An Unexpected Benefit

An unexpected operational benefit reported by all three converter facilities was the reduction in hydraulic oil operating temperature. Converter A reported that the oil temperature in the 650-tonne machine's reservoir dropped from an average of 52°C to 44°C after the Albert 3-in-1 installation — an 8°C reduction. The source of the temperature drop is the elimination of the coupling-mounted cooling fan. In the standard distributed architecture, the flexible coupling between the motor and the pump generates frictional heat (the coupling element — a polyurethane tyre in a Lovejoy-style jaw coupling — dissipates 2–3% of the transmitted power as heat). The cooling fan on the drive cabinet also adds heat to the machine area through its exhaust air, raising the ambient temperature around the reservoir. With the Albert unit, there is no coupling and no cabinet fan — the heat generation in the transmission is limited to the internal gear pump's sliding friction, which is 60–70% lower than the coupling friction loss.

The lower oil temperature has two operational benefits: the hydraulic oil service interval at Converter A was extended from 4,000 hours to 6,000 hours (because the oil oxidation rate halves for every 10°C reduction in operating temperature), and the machine's cooling water consumption dropped from 6.5 L/min to 4.2 L/min for the oil cooler circuit. In a plant with 18 injection machines, the total cooling water saving was 570,000 litres per year — reducing the plant's water treatment cost and the cooling tower electrical load for the recirculating water pump.

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