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FEATURE MACHINE BUILDING, FRAMEWORKS & SAFETY
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Coping with the migration to more sustainable paCkaging strategies
C
onsumers are very quick to criticise – particularly when it comes to over-sized packaging. However, it’s possible that the
e-commerce retailer might not be able to sustain the higher cost of stocking different box sizes, or have an automation system that can cope with varying sizes. Customers today also expect sustainability.
But, for manufacturers, switching from rigid to flexible packaging, light-weighting, thin-walling, incorporating recycled content, moving from multilayer to monolayer material, migrating from plastic to paper, and rethinking packaging to make it more sustainable, is highly complex. Adapting a production and packaging line to accommodate new materials, formats and designs and is a huge challenge. The key to a painless transition to sustainable
packaging lies in technology: algorithms, motion control, programming, sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI). These need to be harnessed to drive flexible and future-proof automation solutions that are intelligent and dynamic enough to cope with whatever they encounter. Flexible films used in form, fill and seal, flow
wrapping and pouch making, are one example. These are a huge focus area for innovation, as not only are many brands looking to switch from rigid to flexible formats, but there is also an existing base of film users who are wanting to move to more eco-friendly films. Their strategies range from downgauging to thinner films to switching to recyclable monolayer films, biodegradable films, paper films or films with recycled content. However, most packaging machines today can’t
accommodate these ‘new’ films and there are a number of challenges to address in order to adapt this equipment to run emerging materials: film tension control and sealing; thin films burn and tangle more easily; paper films tear; and films with a high recycled content are inherently variable from one batch to the next. Even slight changes in film thickness lead to
uneven winding and unwinding and increase the tension on the film. This can cause defects during pouch forming and sealing. The result is films that are unworkable and more waste. So what is the solution?
From machinery capable of producing ‘made to measure’ cardboard boxes to systems that can
cope with recyclable films, OMRON is developing automation solutions that can keep up with today’s consumer demands for sustainable packaging, as Patricia Torres, industry
marketing manager Food and Commodities, OMRON Europe, explains
solutions for oems
To address the problem, OMRON has developed the Film Tension Control System, which provides synchronised control of tension, feed and cut. This system is one of a series of ‘Function Blocks’ for optimising film processing in form, fill, seal machines. Essentially, engineers at the company have developed an algorithm and programmed it into the motion control platform, making it easy for OEMs and system integrators to build this functionality into a machine. Temperature control is a challenge when
sealing. Thinner films are susceptible to burning and the variability of recycled films means that running the sealing system at a constant temperature will result in defects. Here, AI can be used to enable dynamic temperature control. A sensor on the sealing bar links to an adaptive algorithm within the control system that will automatically adjust the sealing temperature when it encounters variability in the material. AI-driven dynamic temperature control has
potential value not just on flexible film lines but in any packaging application involving heat and variable materials. One opportunity is in blow-moulding. Many brand owners are opting to outsource blow-moulding because of the complexity of producing lighter weight bottles incorporating recycled content. Closed loop temperature control can solve this problem. But it is not just on primary packaging
operations that manufacturers are migrating to more sustainable packaging strategies.
2 DESIGN SOLUTIONS OCTOBER 2022 0
Secondary operations such as cartoning and palletising are undergoing transformation.
improving palletising
As smaller orders of multiple SKUs become the norm in the retail supply chain, one of the most obvious ways for FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) manufacturers to make sustainability gains is to optimise the pallets they ship. Most robotic palletisers in use today were written for programming pallet patterns with identical boxes. Developing a solution that enables arranging multiple layers in a pallet, and that can control multiple palletising stations, is a major challenge. Engineers at OMRON are working on this
and have improved the palletising process, embedding an easy-to-use ‘function block’ into its automation system that allows setting up different layers and controlling multiple stations from one single controller. This makes it possible to easily build flexible palletising systems without extensive reprogramming. Through clever control and automation,
oversized cartons and wasteful fillers could soon be a thing of the past. OMRON technology has helped its partner machine builders to develop a cartoning platform based on its cutting-edge motion control platform that enables cardboard boxes to be ‘made-to-measure’, so products can be delivered in a box of just the right size.
OMRON
https://industrial.omron.co.uk
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