The packaging industry has seen a revolutionary transformation of technologies to maintain the competitive edge in the sector. Increasing competition and awareness of consumers are factors presenting the industry with matchless challenges and pushing boundaries to adopt new technology and innovations in packaging. With the increasing focus on the return on investment from the market, most packaging industry OEMs are now tech-savvy. Acknowledging that technology can fill the gaps in growth, they are keen to shed age-old techniques and transform them into more controlled approaches.
Adaptive is the future
While packaging machinery OEMs are forced to move with market variations, in such a competitive market, a machine builder always differentiates its machines through high-quality performance and by consistently equipping these with the latest innovations which create an edge. OEMs believe that conventional packaging lines can be designed in one of two ways.
They can be intermittent, with the product transported from station to station – filling, gluing, and wrapping, while stopping at each step along the way. The disadvantage of this approach is that the cycle time is determined by the slowest station. The other possibility is continuous motion, where the stations move together with the conveyor. However, to succeed in a world of mass customization, eCommerce, direct-to-consumer, and omnichannel strategies, you need machinery that’s built to adapt. Thus, to meet this challenge, progressive machine builders are delivering machinery that adapts to the products being made and packaged, rather than forcing products to conform to a rigidly sequential process.
B&R India has been closely associated with machine manufacturers in developing innovative solutions based on end-consumer demands. It has helped to create awareness about the benefits of implementing adaptive manufacturing through track-based and planar product transport systems integrated with robotics, machine vision, and digital twins and controlled with our core automation platform.
Achieve excellence in manufacturing
B&R’s versatile industrial transport systems help products move through production lines more efficiently while simultaneously improving quality. The linear-motor-driven ACOPOStrak is a revolution in adaptive manufacturing that helps to extend the economy of mass production – down to batches of one. This helps consumer product manufacturers to produce and pack many variants of a product on one machine, without needing to interrupt production.
Parts and products are transported quickly and flexibly from a processing station to a processing station on independently controlled shuttles. These hot-swappable shuttles used in the system can be replaced within seconds without requiring any tools, making product changeover, maintenance, and diagnostics easier.
ACOPOStrak is a generational leap in intelligent, flexible transport systems, helping boost productivity and maximizing RoI. Its unique design delivers decisive technological advantages for adaptive, connected manufacturing. It helps extend digital transformation aspirations to include motion control and mechanical design too. ACOPOStrak boosts overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), multiplies return on investment (ROI), and accelerates time to market.
New ACOPOS 6D
ACOPOS 6D, the new generation of adaptive manufacturing is ideal for small-batch production with frequent changeover between products of different designs and dimensions. With the introduction of magnetic levitation technology, the traditional model of linear product transport is now dissolving to reveal a multidimensional processing space. A space where the boundaries between transport and processing disappear. In addition to carrying products, the transport system also executes multi-axis processing tasks adding essential flexibility in a fraction of the space.
Only for digital version: B&R is at interpack 2023 from 4th – 10th May 2023 in Düsseldorf, Hall 06 – Booth E6, check out adaptive machines live in action
(PSA’s team of Naresh Khanna, Shardul Sharma, Ron Augustin, and Nessan Cleary are present at Interpack to bring you exclusive stories, insights, and scoops from the ground.)
