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The future of packaging
Current and future developments in the automation of packaging machines
In recent years, a fundamental change has taken place in the packaging machine industry. Mechanical machine concepts belong to the past; electronic machines increasingly dominate the market. In the future, the PC as control unit and the servo technology as a drive element will be the key technologies for all electronic packaging machines. The users need simple and innovative automation architecture which reduces life cycle costs while at the same time improving the machine performance, stresses AMEFT's guest author Klaus Weyer.
The Packagers’ Current Demands
The conversion of packaging machine technology is in full swing worldwide. Traditional machine building is increasingly giving way to electronic control and drive technology, which means dramatic changes in the engineering of new machines. The fundamental change affects not only the machine building, but also the packaging industry. Particularly in the USA, this branch of industry is experiencing unrest and uncertainty. No wonder, then, that the largest packagers, including Procter & Gamble, Hershey Foods and Kraft Foods want to influence the newly emerging technology of the machines. Above all, they fear a proliferation of different technologies, which the personnel of the packaging industry could no longer master. The wish for standardisation in the field of automation technology is growing stronger and stronger. The aim is to
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service staff for the machines can no longer be expected to use two or three different programming units and software in order to search and localise an error, should any problem arise in the machine.
Standardisation is a must
Key control units such as PLC and motion control simply have to be combined and programmed with one and the same standardised language and a standardised application program. Of course the operating and visualisation software should also be able to access the data in the PLC and motion control. In any case, the automation solution will become increasingly complex. The only way to be able to handle it will be fully digitalised structures for all hardware assembly groups in combination with a guaranteed, extensive flow of information. The most important requirements are software functionalities that fulfill the high requirements in terms of dynamics, flexibility and precise cycle and angle synchronism of the packaging machine. As a result of the ever increasing requirements in terms of flexibility, product quality and machine capacity, more and more electronic packaging machines are being built. The servomotor drives of a machine replace conventional mechanics. Even today, a number of 20 servomotors is not unusual in such machines. And of course it should be possible to always use the same automation con-
create a certain order with the help of standardised hardware and, more importantly, software. It would certainly be too easy to see a standard only in the interface between control and motor controller. A standardisation includes above all a sensible architecture in hardware and software, the reduction and standardisation of all interfaces and the simplification of the automation solution. The
Even today, the share of electronics and software in packaging machines is about as high as the mechanical share.
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PA C K A G I N G
cept, whether a machine has 2 or 30 servo axes. It is just as important that hardware and software functionalities are tailored specifically to the technologies of the packaging machines. As a rule, packaging machines are part of packing lines and represent only one element in a series of upstream and downstream machines. In order for the packing line to achieve its production capacity, however, very different kinds of information have to be exchanged between the machines via standardised interfaces. The large American packing firms agree that easy serviceability of the machine is the most important aspect. If an error occurs in a machine, there should be a sophisticated error search system that indicates the actual error and thus makes it easier for the service staff to find it. The easier such a diagnosis is, the more widely it is accepted. In any case, however, it must be possible to diagnose errors via modem or Internet, which enables the specialist to look for errors over long distances.
Controller based automation system. The easy structure of modern automation concepts for packaging machines. Detailed information: www.pacdrive.com
Automation solutions with no limits
Summing up all the requirements of the packaging industry, they rightly call for a clear and clean architecture of the entire automation technology in the machines. It is obvious that only international standards are suitable for that purpose.
Filling machines, a typical Pacdrive application.
Benefits with PacDrive s Tailored to the packaging market s Standards in programming and communication s High Performance Controller, Drives & Motors s Easy to understand & expandable s Plug & Play
One thing, however, can already be said: The commercially available conventional PLC and motion control systems by no means meet those requirements. In view of those requirements, Germany's ELAU AG, which concentrates 100 per cent on the automation of packaging machines, developed a suitable control and drive concept. PacDrive, which was developed on the basis of PC technologies, uses only standardised hardware, interfaces and software in order to offer packaging companies an automation system that uses the same structure for both small and large machines. The entire performance improvement is mapped in the software and dramatically reduces the life cycle costs of a machine. s
Foto credit: Alcoa.
An innovative capping machine application with 32 servo axes for the beverage industry.
Klaus Weyer is the marketing manager at Germany's ELAU AG. For further details about the company, please see page 47 of this issue.
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