Automation’s value on the rise

No doubt – automation’s value is on the rise, and also at interpack: In the run-up to the world’s leading trade fair for the packaging industry, packaging OEMs are throwing key words such as technology offensive and modularity into the ring.

They are supported by suppliers of automation solutions; those automation suppliers provide software solutions, control and drive designs that enable the packaging OEMs to develop even more flexible and fully automatic machine lines. In Düsseldorf, the technology behind all those key words can be experienced again and again. But it will also be about how to reduce the complexity of electronic packaging machines -- for instance, performing motion control and traditional PLC functionalities together on a single automation platform. Some of the benefits: easier startup, better diagnostics and cost reduction.

Back to modularity: Speaking of modularity, you will have to start with control architecture first. Only if you set up an integrated control design you can responsively adapt to individual customer specifications later. And there will be a continuous increase in these specifications with retailing/retailers and the food and beverage industries responding to changing demographics.

Smaller households and more focused target markets require greater product differentiation. Today, smaller 6-count packs are gaining in popularity over 24-count packs. Moreover, retailers increasingly require rainbow packs with shelf space limited and the customer desiring more product diversity. Therefore standard, inflexible packaging lines and single-purpose machines are reaching the limits of their usefulness. Smaller batch sizes and frequent format changes require flexible solutions and higher packaging machine performance in the same footprint. So far, robots have not been widely employed in primary and secondary packaging processes. The use of robots, however, leads to more flexible packaging processes, and the footprint of a packaging line can be reduced through the elimination of complex transport processes.

This explains the trend toward integrating robotic modules in primary and secondary packaging processes.