floor system machine

The packaging industry has undergone revolutionary changes that were unimaginable ten years ago. Over the years, the industry has seen different sizes and shapes of packaged goods. There is no doubt that good packaging will attract customers. However, packaging should spread its magic through interaction. It should accurately describe the internal product and the brand that made it. For many years, the personalized connection between brands and consumers has been driving packaging design.
Customization and personalization have always occupied a huge share in the packaging industry. Traditional packaging companies maintain profitability through mass production of products. For a long time, the equation was simple-keep low costs by accepting only large orders.
Over the years, automation and robotics have played an important role in providing cutting-edge technology for packaging solutions. With the latest industrial revolution, packaging is expected to gain stimulus by establishing its network value.
Nowadays, as consumer needs continue to change, there is a clear need for sustainable and cost-effective packaging machines. The main challenge for machine manufacturers is to economically produce a batch, improve overall equipment efficiency (OEE), and reduce unplanned downtime.
Machine builders are focusing on strengthening the structured approach to achieve customized packaging technology. The industry-driven multi-vendor environment seeks collaborative partnerships to ensure operational consistency, interoperability, transparency and decentralized intelligence. Moving from mass production to mass customization requires rapid production conversion and requires modular and flexible machine design.
Traditional packaging lines include conveyor belts and robots, requiring precise synchronization of products and systems and prevention of damage. In addition, maintaining such systems on the shop floor is always challenging. Various solutions have been tried to achieve mass customization-most of which are not economically feasible. B&R’s ACOPOStrak has completely changed the rules of the game in this area, allowing adaptive machines.
The next-generation intelligent transportation system provides unparalleled flexibility and usability for the packaging line. This highly flexible transportation system expands the economics of mass production because parts and products are quickly and flexibly transported between processing stations via independently controlled shuttles.
ACOPOStrak’s unique design is a leap forward in intelligent and flexible transportation systems, providing decisive technological advantages for connected manufacturing. The splitter can merge or split product streams at full production speed. In addition, it can also help manufacturers produce multiple product variants on the same production line and customize packaging with zero downtime.
ACOPOStrak can improve overall equipment efficiency (OEE), multiply return on investment (ROI), and accelerate time to market (TTM). B&R’s powerful Automation Studio software is a single platform for complete software development, supporting the company’s various hardware, ensuring the success of this approach. The combination of Automation Studio and open standards such as Powerlink, openSafety, OPC UA and PackML enables machine manufacturers to create seamless communication and well-choreographed performance across multi-vendor production lines.
Another notable innovation is the integrated machine vision, which plays an important role in achieving and maintaining high quality in all packaging stages of the production floor. Machine vision can be used to check different processes, such as code verification, matching, shape recognition, QA of filling and capping, liquid filling level, contamination, sealing, labeling, QR code recognition. The key difference for any packaging company is that machine vision has been integrated into the automation product portfolio, and the company does not need to invest in additional controllers for inspection. Machine vision improves productivity by reducing operating costs, cutting inspection process costs, and reducing market rejections.
Machine vision technology is suitable for very special applications in the packaging industry, and can improve productivity and quality in many ways. However, until today, machine control and machine vision are considered two different worlds. Integrating machine vision into applications is considered a highly complex task. B&R’s vision system provides unprecedented integration and flexibility, eliminating the previous shortcomings associated with vision systems.
Most of us in the field of automation know that integration can solve major problems. B&R’s vision system is seamlessly integrated into our automation product portfolio to achieve extremely precise synchronization for high-speed image capture. Object-specific functions, such as brightfield or darkfield illumination, are easy to implement.
Image triggering and lighting control can be synchronized with the rest of the automation system in real time, with an accuracy of sub-microseconds.
Using PackML makes a supplier-independent packaging line a reality. It provides a standard look and feel for all machines that make up the packaging line and ensures consistent operation. The modularity and consistency of PackML enables self-optimization and self-configuration of production lines and facilities. With its modular application development method-mapp technology, B&R has revolutionized application development in the field of automation. These modular software blocks simplify program development, reduce development time by 67% on average, and improve diagnostics.
Mapp PackML represents the machine controller logic according to the OMAC PackML standard. Using mapp, you can effortlessly configure and reduce the developer’s programming work for every detail. In addition, Mapp View helps to easily manage and visualize these integrated programmable states across different platforms and displays. Mapp OEE allows automatic collection of production data and provides OEE functions without any programming.
The combination of PackML’s open standards and OPC UA enables seamless data flow from the field level to the supervisory level or IT. OPC UA is an independent and flexible communication protocol that can transmit all production data in machine, machine-to-machine, and machine-to-MES/ERP/cloud. This eliminates the need for traditional factory-level fieldbus systems. OPC UA is implemented using standard PLC open function blocks. Widely used queuing protocols such as OPC UA, MQTT or AMQP enable machines to share data with IT systems. In addition, it ensures that the cloud can receive data even if the network connection bandwidth is low or intermittently unavailable.
Today’s challenge is not technology but mentality. However, as more and more original equipment manufacturers understand that the Industrial Internet of Things and advanced automation technologies are mature, safe, and guaranteed to be implemented, obstacles are reduced. For Indian OEMs, whether they are SMEs, SMEs, or large enterprises, understanding the advantages and taking action is critical to the packaging 4.0 journey.
Today, digital transformation enables machines and production lines to aggregate production scheduling, asset management, operational data, energy data, and more. B&R promotes the digital transformation journey of machine manufacturers through various machine and factory automation solutions. With its edge architecture, B&R also works with factories to make new and existing devices smart. Together with energy and condition monitoring and process data collection, these architectures are practical solutions for packaging machinery manufacturers and factories to become efficient and smart in a cost-effective manner.
Pooja Patil works in the corporate communications department of B&R Industrial Automation India in Pune.
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