The right path

Two global players - Nestlé and B&R - promote open technology standards to enhance productivity and rationalize systems development, thereby also improving OEE sustainability and ROI in the packaging sector.

The 2012 International Packaging Conclave was held in Greater Noida (India) in late 2012, but with the quality of the talks and speakers featured, it’s still making waves in world of automation and machinery manufacturers for packaging. In addition to bringing together 110 participants – including top managers from some of the most prominent end-user companies in the food & beverage and pharmaceutical industries, the conclave’s theme was of the utmost interest for the various applicable sectors: “Integration and collaboration across the packaging value chain”. Together, speakers and participants addressed the potential for improved productivity, OEE sustainability and ROI in the packaging industry.

PackML = consistency + trasparency + greater efficiency
During the central panel discussion on the role of open technology in the future of packaging line automation, Dr. Bryan Griffen, Electrical & Automation Engineering Manager at Nestlé and chairman of the OMAC Packaging Workgroup (OPW), spoke about the key benefits that embracing a technology standard like PackML could bring to end users, OEMs and system integrators. Griffen recalled Nestlé’s realization that imposing a single automation supplier for an entire packaging line is neither practical nor feasible, and that the best results are obtained when machine builders use the technology that best suits their needs. “At the same time,” said Griffen, “we still need to be able to integrate these machines to create a functional packaging line.” OMAC guidelines like the PackML standard establish functional specifications and preferred suppliers rather than proprietary brand specifications. This gives machine builders the freedom to select whatever technology best meets their requirements, while allowing end users to easily and fully integrate the machines on the line. By going with international standards like PackML, the expert added, you can get consistent information and a common look and feel over installed lines as well as new installations, even using disparate automation technologies.

openSAFETY means an end to the “fieldbus wars”
Maurizio Tarozzi, Global Technology Manager for Packaging Solutions at B&R, explained how openSAFETY, the first open and the only bus-independent safety standard for all Industrial Ethernet solutions, can take packaging line integration and effectiveness a step further. Presenting a case study featuring a complete beverage line for filling water into plastic bottles, Tarozzi illustrated how openSAFETY is able to transfer safety data such as E-stop button activation, light curtain violations, etc. between disparate PLC technologies used throughout a single packaging line. Griffen pointed out how safety networks can provide a new level of integrated safety and diagnostics. Even with industrial bus organizations each proposing their own safety network, Griffen sees openSAFETY - an IEC-compliant protocol that can run on the application layer of any major network – as a potential solution to what have been dubbed the “fieldbus wars”.

B&R Technology: quality and safety A global industrial automation leader, B&R combines the most innovative technologies with the best product engineering in order to supply complete industrial automation, control, motion, vision, safety and communication solutions, all harmonized through one modern software development environment. Of the numerous proposals for automation developed by B&R (in Italy since 1987) and well-received by machine builders, worth note are two particularly innovative products that will be presented at SPS/IPC/Drives Italia. The new Automation PC910 industrial PCs stand out for their performance and flexibility. Indeed, as the only industrial PCs on the market with controllers based on third generation Intel Core-i processors, and they represent the most powerful computing architecture in the automation sector. Like all B&R industrial PC series, they are robust and reliable and guarantee extreme versatility at low cost. ACOPSmotor is a high performance motor with integrated servo-drive and protection grade IP65 (thus created with food sector applications in mind). With a compact format, equipped with a hybrid signal and feed cable, this device can be positioned wherever needed on the machine, with a reduction in panel size and simplified wiring, thus facilitating the creation of de-centralized architectures.