Dosing technology has convinced Henkel

With nearly 140 years of success, Henkel holds globally leading market positions both in the consumer and industrial sectors and is well known for brands such as Persil, Schwarzkopf and Loctite. In its worldwide operating business area “Laundry & Home Care”, Henkel was searching for an optimal dosing solution for their products.

The German company is operating a pilot filling machine in its process development department for testing purposes. By using this filling machine various fluids with different volumes and different packaging can be tested. ViscoTec provided its Pharma Dispenser to Henkel, in order to be tested. These dispenser take over the filling function in the pilot filling machine. This is how Henkel and the Pharma Dispenser from ViscoTec came into direct contact for the first time.

The ViscoTec Pharma Dispenser has convinced Henkel in its application as demonstrated in the following – a feedback conversation between Sebastian Gerauer, Pharma Business Unit Manager at ViscoTec und Dr. Matthias Sunder, Senior Manager at Henkel AG:

Gerauer: Dr. Sunder, you were recently performing some tests which included the use of ViscoTec dosing pumps, especially the Pharma Dispenser 3VPHD8 and 3VPHD12. What exactly have you been testing with the ViscoTec Pharma Dispenser?

Dr. Sunder: It was basically a matter of filling highly viscous products. Both pumps have been operated with different fluids from our main field of application. The first test was with some liquid handwash (Pril) and the second with a liquid detergent (Persil). The viscosity of the fluids lies between 2.000 and 3.000 mPas.

Gerauer: How was your first impression of our filling pump?

Dr. Sunder: The dosing operation was very simple to adjust. By changing the dosing speed, by the possibility to set up a suck back after dosing to get a clean cut of the thread and through the easy combination with different dosing nozzles, the Pharma Dispenser could be individually tailored to any dosing application.

Gerauer: Have you been satisfied with the test results?

Dr. Sunder: For one of our test, we had to dose 11g samples. We achieved a standard deviation of only 0.017g! With these pumps it is possible to dispense small amounts (starting from 0.5 ml) very accurately and with a highly repeatable level. Also by using the pump within a small production batch for several hours the pumps run reliably and the dosing were reproducible. Yes, we are very satisfied with the results.

Gerauer: Are there further advantages besides the precise dosing results, which left a positive impression?

Dr. Sunder: The cleaning of the system is very easy and can be done without any residues within the pump. Thanks to its construction, an easy flushing is sufficient to clean the pump. Also a further positive aspect: because of the compact design of the dosing unit (pump and drive) it is possible to get the dosing needles very close together.

Gerauer: Could you please summarize your personal assessment regarding our products?

Dr. Sunder: The pump system is ideal for dosing various fluids in the “ml” range. The high flexibility in the programming allows a very good adjustment for each dosing applications!