Sustainability initiatives in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries place considerable emphasis on the package design and packaging materials to minimise wastage. Packaging machinery builders, the final cog in the value chain that enables these initiatives, are the unrecognised heroes here. The challenges that packaging machinery builders confront as materials and package sizes change create an endless stream of challenges. Achieving a mutually beneficial approach to sustainability requires a high degree of cooperation between machine builders and manufacturers. As the CPG industry continues on its path to sustainability, manufacturers place increasing importance on improving energy efficiency and the effectiveness of manufacturing operations.
Moreover, the industry is now pushing toward increased use of recyclable content in packaging materials, which creates a whole new playing field.
Forward-thinking packaging machine builders now develop eco-efficient solutions that operate with a wider range of materials, consume less energy and require less floor space. The industry is experiencing a renaissance in machine design that will enable CPG manufacturers to reach the next plateau of efficient packaging operations in both the primary and secondary stages. This requires an holistic approach to eco-efficiency that provides both operational and product benefits.
In their current pursuit of eco-efficiency, many manufacturers often erroneously assume that packaging operations and packaging lines are one continuum. In fact, packaging lines are a chain of individual machines that need to be optimised in isolation, while also considering the optimisation of the production flow between machines. The manufacturer has the means to optimise the production flow between individual machines, but the packaging machine builders are ultimately responsible for optimisation within the envelope of the machine.
Designing for eco-efficiency
Designing packaging machinery for eco-efficiency is not trivial, as it fundamentally requires analysis down to the individual actuator, optimisation of the cycle times, and determining tradeoffs between electrical and pneumatic power. An interesting presentation by a machine builder at the 2009 ARC Forum in Florida provided an inside look into the type of analytics required to design a packaging machine that is near optimal in terms of eco-efficiency. This particular machine builder has taken a very analytical approach to streamlining the design of its packaging machines. This includes analysing energy usage in both run and idle states, reducing energy consumption (via AC drives, motors, servos, and pneumatics), allowing wider material variations (ie, feedstock forgiveness), incorporating aerospace structural design, and considering total lifecycle cost.
Mechatronics and structural analysis
This machine builder’s approach analyses every aspect of the machine in terms of its contribution to waste. Aerospace design techniques have enabled the weight of structural components to be minimised while not compromising strength. Increasingly, more complex shapes of structural elements requires competency in the machine builders organisation to use CAD, Finite Element Analysis, and ultimately, to shape and mill the contours of structural components with more advanced metal fabrication equipment. This is necessary because the structural components represent the critical juncture where waste can be eliminated by not over designing a machine. Furthermore, it directly reduces the forces required to move the mass of the structure, resulting in lower energy consumption, smaller motors, reduced compressed air consumption, and more. Using a streamlined design approach for eco-efficient machinery leads directly to improved mechatronic solutions.
Automation control strategy optimises machinery cycle times
Another salient point is that machine control is no longer necessarily a series of sequential ordered operations. Overlapping of operations that reduce the overall cycle times should be considered. This machine builder’s machine control strategy utilises the maximum internal and external cycle overlap. This streamlines machine operation such that individual operational cycles are performed in parallel, eliminating waits or pauses internal to the machine. By performing operations in parallel rather than sequentially, individual operations have more time to complete their function. Control strategies that utilize sequential events often drive designers to reduce cycle times by increasing accelerations; but higher accelerations increase energy consumption and require larger actuators. Thus, overlapping or paralleling individual operations has a huge impact on a machines energy efficiency as well as its initial cost (smaller actuation translates into lower costs).
For more information contact Larry O’Brien, ARC Advisory Group, (+1) 781 471 1126, [email protected], www.arcweb.com
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