Automation at the supplier level

Suppliers are making large investments in the automation of their production process and manufacturing tasks.
Automation at the supplier level

Automation is a strong topic in the label and packaging world, as spoken about by Mike Fairley, L&L director of strategic development, who identifies the ‘trend towards press and finishing line automation, self-managing presses, Cloud-based assistants, smart data management and smart printing systems, Wi-Fi control, and even fully hands-free and lights-out production.’

This applies across the whole printing press and finishing line community, whether analog or digital, sheet- or web-fed, narrow or wide web, and into all aspects of converting and finishing, from inspection to slitting and die-cutting, cold foiling, and spot or gloss varnishing.

But automation is increasingly prevalent earlier in the supply chain too, with manufacturers and suppliers automating a growing number of their activities, from producing finished goods, to preparing shipments and warehouse management.

Avery Dennison, Ritrama, Frimpeks and Herma have made such investments. Herma, for example, has commissioned a fully automatic packing machine at its UK headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire, producing 50 to 60 ready-to-ship pallets with rolls of self-adhesive materials an hour, and running 24 hours a day in a three-shift operation. Only one operator is required to run the automated machine, which frees manpower to facilitate growth in other areas. Ritrama’s facility in Moore, South Carolina is designed to be the company’s most modern and productive plant worldwide, with the 30,000 sqm facility using advanced robotics for internal logistics and packaging, as well as having a fully automated storage and retrieval system for all warehousing requirements. The Sappi Alfeld site features a fully automated roll wrapping system, which feeds into a fleet of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) that stack the rolls in the warehouse, with pinpoint precision, ready to pick for shipment.

AGVs

AGVs are to be seen at a number of suppliers’ facilities, including thermal transfer ribbon manufacturer Armor, where they were introduced in 2015 with standard sized machines for moving pallets around the factory and larger models operating inside the warehouses. Guided by lasers, the AGVs move with minimal operator intervention and among the workers to bring the coated jumbo reels directly onto the slitting machine. As the AGVs follow a set path, collision with humans or damage to the products is avoided.

AGVs are one element of Armor’s program to automate large portions of its production process. This process started over a decade ago with the robotization of slitting machines in order to support the company’s strong growth in all its markets (see pxx for more). Following successful testing at Armor’s main factory in France, this technology has since been extended to the company’s subsidiaries around the world.

Further automation has included the palletization of ribbon boxes, and the palletization and wrapping of jumbo rolls to be shipped to the company’s slitting facilities around the world.

Frederic Thepaut, industrial manager at Armor, explains that such investments have been made to improve the company’s safety, quality and productivity. Robots are always running, except when maintenance is required; can work long, repeat shifts; can repeat tasks and processes ad infinitum; and operate inside fenced-off areas, improving safety.

The result is to the benefit of both the company and its employees, he explains. ‘Our philosophy is to automate with robots each non added value task of our processes and bring higher value to the job of operators, together with less physical constraints and more safety. Robots have not taken workers’ jobs, rather it has made and will continue to make it change. Today the main non added value tasks are the handling and flow of products between the workshops and the storage area. In parallel, Armor workers are valued in a more technical job where not only their manual expertise is esteemed but also their capacity to lead a highly technical machine. They become automated machine drivers, which is a skill they easily use to grow their career.’

Armor has also automated online quality control, checking the quantity and quality of each layer coated onto the PET film at a machine speed of 600m/min. This identifies defects, quarantines defective, and allows analysis and improvement of its production processes. This helps to improve the end-user product experience, and bring higher customer satisfaction.

Quality

‘Thanks to automation and robotization, we have a better repeatability of our process. The quality has been improved because it has become more consistent, and the operator can spend more time on quality and machine controls,’ says Thepaut. ‘Productivity has been improved because the reliability is better, with fewer production breakdowns, and the manipulation is done much quicker than by human arms.

‘Workers on robotized machines are very proud and happy to drive such equipment, and it is much less tiring for them. Their knowledge increases with the technology, and they are not only a “push button operator”; we have more and more experts in machine operation. And once experimented with at our main factory in France, we export the technology worldwide to Armor slitting subsidiaries. Our co-industrialized model with strictly identical tooling in all our subsidiaries provides our engineers with opportunities to travel and work on automation programs in any Armor entity.’

To deepen automation within its activities, Armor has started building its own robots and is looking at ways to automate other areas of its activities, with a dedicated industrialization team working on these projects.

A dedicated automation feature area is planned for Labelexpo Europe 2017

David Pittman

David Pittman

  • Former deputy editor