When it comes to selecting packaging machinery for your line, experts say there are particular machine attributes that you simply can’t live without:

Choosing what packaging equipment to add to your line is far from a simple decision. You most likely have a long list of requirements to consider as well as a capital budget to abide by. Fortunately, you can quickly narrow your search by finding out which 5 traits experts consider essential in a packaging machine. Having the following key qualities will allow for easy integration into your packaging line:

1) Reliability

Machine dependability is essential to all integrated packaging lines, says John Merritt, formerly managing director of Tiromat Medical Packaging and currently president of Dallas-based Merritt, Myers Inc. “If you cannot produce consistent product with minimal machine stoppage, it doesn’t matter if you can operate at high speeds or not,” notes Merritt. Among the elements of machine reliability, he says, are robustness, consistent performance and minimal downtime. Also, possessing a self-diagnostic tool is a plus. For example, Missouri-based Multivac offers chamber packaging machines that feature such a tool, allowing operators to perform minor maintenance repairs and to avoid paying hefty maintenance costs.

2) Flexibility

Flexibility is becoming more of a must because of an “increase in varieties of products, product sizes and product configurations that packagers must run on the same packaging lines,” says a recent Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) survey. In fact, more than 59% of survey respondents indicated that they plan to order packaging machinery this year to boost their lines’ flexibility. In order to make a line more flexible, experts say, machines must be able to communicate with other equipment on the line. Also part of the flexibility equation is a machine’s ability to facilitate easy and rapid changeover. For example, Minnesota-based MGS Machine Corp. offers toolless changeovers on all new equipment while Multivac has a system on its form-fill-seal that allows for quick changeover.

3) Rapid validation

“Validation is everybody’s hot button these days,” says Tim Allen, MGS regional sales manager. It’s not enough for the machinery supplier to validate its own machine’s process; buyers often want to perform the procedure themselves or to rely on a third party. Moreover, being able to validate a packaging machine quickly is important as it figures into a product’s time to market. As a result, suppliers like MGS are providing documentation to help customers with the validation process. In fact, MGS supplies specifications and protocols even before the machine order is completed. Moreover, redundant sensors can assist users with the validation process, says Patrick Ditchfield, market development manager for medical packaging at Multivac. Sensors can verify each other and allow users to validate their machines rapidly.

4) Efficiency

Efficiency must accompany speed, says Ernie Bancroft, eastern regional sales manager for Klockner-Medipak/Dividella/Rondo Packaging Systems Division of the Korber Group. He points out that a machine that’s faster than another is not necessarily more efficient because the slower machine could enable quick changeover, needing less setup and conversion time and thus satisfying a broad range of inventory requirements, “which may be the efficiency your operation needs,” he notes. Moreover, PMMI’s study underlines the importance of throughput to purchasers, and throughput is a byproduct of efficiency. In fact, the PMMI observes a “continued emphasis on improving productivity and efficiency through the purchase of high-tech packaging machinery.”

5) Compatibility

There are several aspects to machine compatibility. First of all, a new machine should feature a design and configuration that allow it to fit in with the user’s current units. Second, it must be able to communicate with the other machines on the packaging line. Moreover, users should try to have common interfaces between machines, says Walter Berghahn, director of sales and marketing for Uhlmann. In this manner, “start and stop signals can be synchronized,” he notes. Additionally, Bancroft recommends using open architecture and controls to boost machine compatibility and thus facilitate integration.

Source:

Five Machine Features Your Line Needs
Daphne Allen
Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News, December 2003
www.devicelink.com/pmpn/archive/03/12/003.html