Finishing Equipment
Automation in Finishing and Driving Innovation
o begin with, we need to look at the word automation, not etymology but the subtext that is often ignored when we use this term in the modern day. When we talk about automation, what we are talking about is “further automation”. The individual processes we have existing machinery for are simply the historical processes we deemed both repetitive and valuable enough to be reestablished using a machine, one that usually replaces a human skill or manual labour. When we talk about automation recently, we are referring to processes that have not yet been automated, so why have those processes not been automated over the last century, or more, and why are they now?
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While automation has reduced manufacturing limitations over time to increasingly commoditise certain products, the changing economic landscapes throughout history highlight diff erent factors. Energy and labour costs are currently high, for example.
Primary value creation: processes that make critical transformations to materials that form the original purpose of the product. Secondary value creation: processes that support the primary value creation, in the printing industry this can be lamination or packaging, etcetera.
Tertiary value creation: the processes that support and facilitate the sale of the product, validating and fi nalising the manufacturing process.
These principles can be applied at diff erent scales and at diff erent points in the supply chain. For example, in the whole supply chain, a packaging business is considered secondary as it protects and retains the value of the primary product, but within the packaging business, the primary value creation is the packaging itself. With almost all primary and secondary value creation stages already automated to a high level, innovators are trying to fi ll in the blanks. Costs need to be carefully balanced with the value creation stages to off er a product at a reasonable price, but with the major value creation stages already optimised, there are fewer opportunities for printers and converters to increase existing or fi nd new profi t margins. Within the current economy, especially in the UK, energy costs are a signifi cant cost center, as
are manual and skilled labour. Labour itself is seen as a risk factor due to availability and reliability. Furthermore, with much of the print industry contracting, these factors become even more signifi cant.
Recognising these principles helps us understand the ‘why’ regarding automated processes and to look at the future, we must reference the past to reach logical conclusions. The traditional setup of a production fl oor includes areas of isolated production where a machine sits by itself and materials and products are taken to and from, or perhaps more sophisticated is the modern production line where machines work together and the items are transported between production phases using other mechanical processes. This leads us to the current generation of automation.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE? During the illustrious industry 4.0, the forefront of these concepts where each process is 1) optimised, and 2) connected, data fl ows not just between the production modules but also via a wider network allowing for control: observation, decision making and intervention. However, we have seen little in the way of a sea-change, as wisdom prevails and baby steps are made instead.
Finishing machinery manufacturers and software developers work to fi nd the last morsels of progress in some areas while facing new series of opportunities in others. The connected nature of the machinery, the shorter runs with faster reaction and changeover types present new challenges for converting equipment manufacturers. Baumann, for example, whose fully automated cutting systems can manage the market changes in the carton sector, while their pile-turning solutions are better appreciated in the more analog corrugated sectors. We are now seeing more downstream progress, with names like VARO and Heripack producing highly automated systems with a much lower barrier for entry, while K&B Duran’s end-of-line automation options are also a lot more viable in the real world.
A clear metric that simply cannot be ignored is the adoption rate of technologies and systems that can create change in a market in real time. While dreaming of the fully automated smart factory, business owners continue to invest in aff ordable, tried and tested systems, such as Young-Shin Die-Cutters.
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Dec 2024 / Jan 2025
www.convertermag.com
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