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Packaging Trends

New calculation of time in automation

© Gerhard Schubert GmbH Verpackungsmaschinen

In the 50s, when a machine replaced manual work in some process stages, it was said that the procedure had been automated. Now, in the 80s, this keyword receives a wholly new dimension. “Automatic“ means literally “without human intervention“, and the now-available computing power of microprocessor technology helps to achieve it. For some, the idea of the factory without people is a spectre, and for others it is a distant aim.

Software reduces machinery

Freely programmable control, servomotors and improved sensor technology are available to the designers. If a computer programme guides the movement, new motion sequences are achieved by entering coefficients. This reduces the standstill times for format adjustments by up to 80 %. Because any point within a coordinate system can be moved to with servo control, less machinery is required for the transmission of movement. Servomotors make it possible to have machines with finely coordinated movements. This is used in tubular bag machines among others, to increase the accuracy of production and filling of packages.

First packaging robots in the world

Gerhard Schubert (Gerhard Schubert Verpackungsmaschinen, Germany) is the first to bring a packaging robot to the market-ready stage. In order to demonstrate the potential possessed by this technology, he has a robot play a game of “draughts” at the interpack 1981. The visual recognition system shown at the interpack 1987 is a necessary addition to his approach of reducing machinery and shifting the functions to the software.