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Where to Start with Packaging Automation
Thomas Czioska, Head of Sales & Marketing, and Christoph Recher, Sales Manager, of LoeschPack explain where packaging engineers should start when planning automation. Czioska recommends reviewing the whole packaging process, from after processing up to palletizing, and measuring the full line to find bottlenecks. Recher says that on a limited budget, automation usually starts at the front of the line, where speed and complexity are highest.
Key takeaways
- Thomas Czioska recommends looking at the whole packaging process, from after processing up to palletizing, to see where the most costs can be saved.
- Christoph Recher says buyers with less packaging experience are better served by one supplier for the complete process, and Thomas Czioska notes problems usually occur at the interfaces between equipment.
- On a limited budget, Christoph Recher suggests starting automation at the front of the line, which has the highest speed and the most complexity.
Common questions
- Where should a packaging engineer start when planning packaging automation?
- According to Thomas Czioska of LoeschPack, engineers should look at the whole packaging process, from after processing up to palletizing, to see where they can save the most costs. He recommends measuring incoming products, product quality, line speeds and the efficiency of the whole line to find the bottlenecks.
- Should I buy a complete packaging line from one supplier or use specialized vendors?
- According to Christoph Recher of LoeschPack, it depends on your packaging experience. Companies with a strong understanding of the process can divide it among specialized suppliers. Without that experience, one supplier for the complete process avoids headaches when problems arise. Thomas Czioska adds that those problems usually occur at the interfaces between equipment.
- Which part of a packaging line should be automated first on a limited budget?
- Christoph Recher of LoeschPack says you usually start right at the front of the line, because it has the highest speed and the most complexity, and in the end the single product is what the customer buys, so it deserves the most focus.
Transcript
Tom Rougeux, President, Piepenbrock Packaging
So the first question I'd like to present to you is, where should the packaging engineer start? When they start thinking about their equipment, they need to know they need a packaging piece of equipment when labor costs are too high or current capacity make automation unavoidable. So where should they start?
Thomas Czioska, Head of Sales & Marketing, LoeschPack
They always should look at the whole packaging part, begins from the, after the processing, up to the palletizing. So he has to have the whole picture to figure out where he can save the most costs.
Tom Rougeux
Okay, and when you're looking at a company to help you get through this, should you look at one company to do everything, or should you look at individual companies for individual pieces?
Christoph Recher, Sales Manager, LoeschPack
It depends a little bit about your experience with packaging equipment. When you say you have a very well understanding of the packaging process, you might divide the complete process to specialized companies that know best for, for each step they're doing. When you don't have that knowledge or that experience, it's always easier if you're going with one company who can supply you with the complete process, because that does not give you a lot of headaches afterwards, when there are problems and the guys are pointing at each other.
Tom Rougeux
And where do those headaches usually occur?
Thomas Czioska
Normally always at the interfaces between the equipment itself.
Tom Rougeux
All right, so when a packaging engineer is looking at their processes, more often than not they're going to identify some bottlenecks. So how do they identify the bottlenecks when they're looking at a line, and how should they address them?
Thomas Czioska
Normally they should look at the whole equipment from the beginning up to the end. They should measure all what they have, so how many products are coming in, how do they come in, what's the quality of the product, what's the speed of the lines, measure all the efficiency of the whole line to figure out where the bottlenecks are.
Tom Rougeux
Okay, and when they're looking at a line, is there a logical place to start with the automation if they don't have a budget to do everything at once?
Christoph Recher
I would say usually you start at the right at the front, because this has the highest speed, the most complexity, and in the end the single product is what the customer buys, and that should be the utmost focus on.
Tom Rougeux
All right.
