CONTROL AND INSTRUMENTATION | MACHINERY


ogy and precise measuring instruments with line or CIS camera technology. “In battery production, the smallest deviations


lead to rejects,” said Florian Kortekamp, project and business development manager at BST. “BST Coating Control delivers competitive advantage by increasing plant efficiency.” Reliable real-time measurement of the coating


layers reduces the number of line stops, it says. In combination with the Frame Guide web guiding system, it maximises control accuracy through robust edge detection via a central control unit and closed-loop image processing algorithms. Thanks to continuous coating positioning, no


further manual offset correction by the machine operator is required. “The accuracy of the entire system is twice as high as that required by the industry,” said Ko- rtekamp. This is the second generation of Coating Control


and provides live camera images of the coating as well as an intuitive user interface, says BST. The system detects minimal production defects and takes immediate action to reduce reject rates.


Shorter printing Isra Vision has developed ViewStar, a web viewing system for printing applications. It offers the possibility of shortening the work step with its RegisterControl module. This function ensures automated setting of the flexographic printing units in the register. The system uses print marks to check the position of the respective colour printing unit and adjusts it for optimum register accuracy. Automated adjustment saves labour time as well as material and energy – leading to higher efficiency and sustainability in production.


Transparent production Reifenhäuser, in collaboration with start-up company RE, has provided digitalisation solutions to a number of its plastics processor and packag- ing customers – helping them to raise production efficiency. In one example, one FFS-PE bag manufacturer


operates a heterogenous production site with more than 30 extrusion machines from various vendors and generations. Third-party OEM tools display data for eight machines separately at each HMI. Other operational data is entered on paper and processed later in a back office. Data synchro- nisation between systems like ERP and MES occurs sporadically through paper printouts or labour- intensive file exports and imports. Because employees such as machine operators


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make decisions based on intuition and past experience, the result is inefficient processes leading to high wastage, high maintenance costs, and other avoidable expenses. The solution was to introduce c.Hub Middleware – which connects all assets, peripheral devices, and other units – regardless of vendor, age or type. It captures and harmonises all process parameters in real time, which ExtrusionOS then visualises in clear live trends. Anyone from the team can access the data from anywhere, gaining new insights into the production process and its challenges. Assuming that production costs for a machine


are US$7.2 million, increasing process efficiency by just 1% can save US$72,000. The more machines connected to c.Hub – and the more process steps optimised – the greater the savings. Installing c.Hub Middleware also helped a manufacturer of PET films for food applications to meet increasing demands from customers and regulatory authorities – in order to ensure product quality. Here, quality assurance was inefficient and expensive. This is partly because searching for errors in the process is time-consuming, and adjustments do not lead to the desired increase in overall equipment efficiency (OEE). The c.Hub Middleware helped to capture all relevant process parameters from production. Because it can monitor all key parameters and associated thresh- olds in real-time, it makes the production’s quality status transparent to all user groups at all times.


CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: � www.wh.group � www.ndc.com � www.riverdaleglobal.com � www.maguire.com � www.bst.elexis.group � www.isravision.com � www.reifenhauser.com


March 2024 | FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION 41


Above: BST’s coating control system can raise efficiency in the produc- tion of battery separator film


IMAGE: BST


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