Automation creates flexibility
Upbeat mood in the packaging sector despite high cost of raw materials

The packaging industry is one of the briskest markets. Production
volumes for packaging and packaging machines are estimated at around s400 billion worldwide. European machine suppliers, in particular, are forever bringing in innovative ideas to make packaging machinery faster and more flexible.

At the moment German Engineering Federation VDMA is reporting full order books for packaging machines. After a long dry spell, it is particularly pleasing that domestic demand in Germany is noticeably back on the increase. “The investment backlog in Germany appears to be clearing slowly,” commented Richard Clemens, General Manager of the VDMA’s Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association. As export business is also still in full swing—the average export quota is 80 percent—he sees the current year with confidence.

After slight growth to e4.2 billion in 2005, he thinks the e4.5 billion mark could be reached this year. The 300 or so German manufacturers of packaging machinery will then have stepped up their production output by almost a third since 2000.
The VDMA’s Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association is, therefore, expecting another clear upturn in sales in 2006. This comes on top of the general demands made by all branches of industry, such as the integration of new modules or systems in existing IT structures, high flexibility and simplified, rapid retrofitting.
High degree of automation
One competitive advantage of European machinery manufacturers is their high degree of automation, responding to the demand across all industries—food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturers need flexible filling and packing plants for smaller batches. Individual machines of a plant can be designed as modules and combined differently as required. This calls for open automation architecture. Thanks to the implementation of servo technology, packaging plants can now be modified by customizing the software, not the application. Components for different assemblies are constructed in the same way. Further options of modification are possible by using the same basic unit. Development and test periods for a plant are more easily calculated, and costs minimized.
Flexibility is one of the most important criteria in final packaging. Top loaders, now being used in primary, secondary and tertiary packaging, are of growing significance. These consist mostly of pick and place robots, product feed and possibly product grouping, as well as a module for the supply of packaging such as trays or cardboard boxes. Top loaders can also be customized to specific company conditions. The robots are equipped with scanners which detect the position of the product on the conveyor belt, pick it up and place it in the appropriate box.
Series-produced TLM packaging machines made by Schubert are good examples of this. TLM machines are suitable for the packaging of individual products of any kind. The controls of TLM machines are located at the top, giving easy access to all functional units. A TLM machine can erect a carton from flat blanks, take the product from the conveyor belt, place it into its packaging and seal it—wholly in line with market requirements. Should requirements change, a TLM packaging machine is flexible enough to adapt.
Stopping the Counterfeiters
Product piracy is a growing source of concern for German mechanical engineers. According to a current VDMA study on this subject, two thirds of the companies interviewed suffer from this problem. Counterfeiting now affects not only spare parts but whole machines, which in many cases only resemble the original in terms of their design and therefore seriously damage the original manufacturer’s image. About 30% of the companies interviewed estimate the annual loss of turnover due to product piracy at 5% or more.
A tool from Rondo, made in collaboration with AlpVision, identifies counterfeit products easily and clearly. This security tool, the so-called Cryptoglyph, was developed by AlpVision. To identify products or their packaging (e.g. carton or blister pack), an invisible mark is placed on the packaging in a single procedure. The distribution path can also be retraced using the Cryptoglyph. A Cryptoglyph consists of thousands of tiny dots which form a secure photocopy of the data. The dots are arranged in such a way as to be invisible to the naked eye. However, a standard scanner and appropriate software can be used to check whether an item is authentic.
Plastics on the up
Plastics have become the most important packaging material in the past decade. They represent some 43% of today’s German packaging supplies market with a total of about s26 billion. Last year, the 700 or so manufacturers in the industry increased their turnover by 5.8% to s10.5 billion (IK, German Industrieverband Kunststoffverpackungen). However, the mood in the packaging supplies sector is being spoilt by raw material prices, which rose by up to 60% in 2004. The cost of packaging plastics increased by between 5% and 10% in 2005. Against a background of worldwide raw materials shortages, manufacturers of plastic packaging and film are concerned about their ability to deliver. According to the IK, the crucial factor is not so much changing crude oil prices as the fact that worldwide refinery capacity is too low. This situation was further exacerbated by Hurricane Katrina which caused enormous damage in south-eastern parts of the USA. The most important packaging plastics, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), are the most severely affected.
This, in turn, means a demand for reusable packaging. Two companies, Siepe and Nittel of Kerpen and Raunheim, Germany, respectively, have joined forces to develop a new steel drum/PE combination. This is an open head sheet-steel drum with a PE lining insert. The liner has two PP, G2 and G3/4 fasteners, which are opened and closed by the cover. This new packaging is particularly suitable for the chemical industry, as well as for food and pharmaceutical products. It is ideal as reusable packaging as the liners can easily be changed. Reconditioning and disposal are also possible owing to the separation of steel and plastic.
The companies are just as interested in smooth-running processes as they are in saving materials. Support in optimizing the processing of flexible packing materials is available to users of the German Fraunhofer Application Center for Processing Machinery and Packaging Technology (Fraunhofer AVV). They have developed a measuring device for web tension to better analyze the causes of malfunctions brought about by machinery and packing materials. The online measuring facility calculates the web tension profile, and provides important information about local pressure points in packing material webs.