ITM Poland, part of the ITM Group, is located in Radom, an industrial town one hour South of Warsaw. The company was established in 1991 and has grown to 450 employees today, all devoted to creating new equipment for primary and secondary machinery. 

At Radom, the main goal is developing and producing machines that meet the requirements of the industry in the future. Commitment to this goal has brought ITM to where it is today: a leading innovator for the tobacco industry.

In the past months, ITM Poland has built a brand new Filter Technology Centre. The purpose of this centre is twofold: development and manufacturing of advanced filter equipment and providing test facilities for customers who want to develop new filter products.

To celebrate this milestone, a series of one-day Open House events were organized between May 17 and May 27. The theme of the open house was the “Filter of Tomorrow” and highlighted two different aspects. 

Firstly, tomorrow’s tobacco market requires new types of filters, with specifications that go beyond what current equipment can deliver. 

Secondly, the filter production line of the future must become much more flexible to meet the demands of a highly diversified market.

Both aspects were covered during the open house, where a live demonstration was given of a full production line for multi-segment filters. The line included the new Polaris-C charcoal filter maker, the MoniQ filter sampling system, the Gemini tray filler, the Taurus C and Gemini unloaders, the Pulsar FIFO filter reservoir and finally the Solaris multi filter combiner. During the live demonstrations, ITM demonstrated how changes between different filter production runs can be made in less than half an hour. Another part of the demonstrations showed how filter rod logistics and distribution can be optimized, using the Gemini compartment tray handling system, the CSI automatic rod storage system and the Flexlink mass flow rod transportation system.

Apart from the main theme of the open house - the Filter of Tomorrow - ITM showed other recent innovations and developments, such as its Atlas tobacco cutter which provides 1% savings of tobacco and its Delphi tobacco reclaimer - specifically adapted to future filter types, with special provisions to prevent the contamination of the reclaimed tobacco by new materials like charcoal. 

Also on show were ITM’s Flexible Tobacco Feeding System offering a rapid tobacco blend change and FPP Pouch packing and a high speed manipulator - offering innovative packing of snus products.

“ITM believes filter making to be a field where innovations are essential in the near future,” said a company spokesperson. “Players in the industry will have to become more flexible in production than they are today. In the past, ITM has shown its commitment as an innovation partner. In our brand new Filter Technology Centre, we can now take our partnership even further - by providing customers with realistic test facilities and the support of highly skilled engineers. We will show what is possible and feasible in filter making.”