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Planning Packaging Automation: Where to Start
Thomas Bornemann, Director Sales & Marketing, and Dennis Feldbusch, Area Sales Manager, of Hastamat explain how food manufacturers can move from manual to automatic packaging. Hastamat first needs the package type and whether the product is placed oriented or in bulk, then studies the bottleneck. Dennis Feldbusch recommends a turnkey line over piecemeal equipment, so the machines are synchronized and there is one contact person.
Key takeaways
- Thomas Bornemann says Hastamat first needs to know the type of packaging and whether the product is placed oriented or in bulk, in trays, cans or bags.
- Dennis Feldbusch says the first step with a bottleneck is understanding it, then designing a system customized to the product and the customer's needs.
- Dennis Feldbusch recommends a turnkey line over piecemeal equipment because everything is synchronized and there is one contact person for the whole line.
Common questions
- Should I buy a turnkey packaging line or integrate equipment piecemeal?
- Dennis Feldbusch of Hastamat recommends a complete turnkey solution over piecemeal equipment. With one supplier covering buffer and distribution systems, the multihead weigher, the transfer system and the bagger, everything is synchronized and the customer has one contact person for the whole line in case of a problem or service.
- What information does a packaging machine supplier need before designing a system?
- According to Thomas Bornemann of Hastamat, the first information needed is the type of packaging and how the product should be placed into it: oriented or in bulk, and whether it is tray filling, can filling or bag filling. With that, Hastamat designs a system for the application.
- How does a new packaging line connect to existing upstream equipment?
- Thomas Bornemann of Hastamat says it is much easier for customers to have one single supplier with responsibility for the whole project, and that it is very simple for Hastamat to synchronize its machines with upstream equipment.
Transcript
Tom Rougeux, President, Piepenbrock Packaging
Where should a food manufacturer start when automation becomes inevitable by cost or employment issues?
Thomas Bornemann, Director Sales & Marketing, Hastamat
So in general the equipment for producing the products are already existing, and most of the customers, they are changing from manual packaging to automatic packaging, and they have to do it step by step. And the next system after the production lines is the packaging machines, means our systems.
Tom Rougeux
So you come into a company and currently you mentioned stick products, so I'm thinking celery sticks, we see that in the marketplace. They're packaging celery sticks by hand. Where does Hastamat come into the picture? How can they help begin with the engineer with understanding what's required?
Thomas Bornemann
I mean, in general we have to know the first of all the type of packaging and how we should place the products into the package, means orientated or in bulk unorientated. Is it the tray filling, is it the can filling or the bag filling? So that's our, the information we need up front, and then we are designing the right systems for the application.
Tom Rougeux
Okay, so what if they have a bottleneck? How do we address that?
Dennis Feldbusch, Area Sales Manager, Hastamat
So first of all we need to understand the bottleneck first, and then, like, like Thomas mentioned, we will design, or mostly we will design a customized system for the customer, specialized on the products, on the needs the customer have. And yeah, first of all is understanding the problems.
Tom Rougeux
Where the bottlenecks occur, that sounds reasonable. So you're the packaging engineer in your company. The big question I think they might have as well: should we hire one company to design everything, or should we buy and integrate piecemeal? Should we solve one bottleneck and then move to the other, or how should we, how should the packaging engineer approach that?
Dennis Feldbusch
Yes, so our recommendation for sure is to have a complete turnkey solution, and that's what we offer. So we can offer from the, we can take over the product, the customer products from the process line, feed it with buffer system, distribution system if needed, into our own multihead weigher with also platform, and into a transfer system bringing it, bringing the weighed product or the counter product down to the packaging machine, so in our vertical bagger, for example. So we can offer the complete turnkey solution. So the big benefit is everything is perfectly synchronized. You have one contact person for the whole line, so in, in a case of a problem or service case. So for sure we recommend a turnkey solution instead of a piecemeal equipment.
Tom Rougeux
Okay, how does that work with controls, and where does the handoff usually take place with controls?
Thomas Bornemann
What do you mean with controls?
Tom Rougeux
The controls package, the sensors, the HMI. How do you handshake with the end of the production line?
Thomas Bornemann
I mean, this is also important question, because this is much more easier for the customers to have one single supplier with one responsibility about the whole project. And but for us it's also very simple to synchronize our machines with upstream equipment.
