subject: Do You Make These Mistakes with Your Automated Packaging? [print this page] Do You Make These Mistakes with Your Automated Packaging?
It is important to understand that the manufacturing automation that you have in your plant is a totally different system from the automated packaging that you use to wrap your products. You will probably not design the automated packaging solution for your products as a part of your manufacturing operation. It is true that there needs to be a very intimate relationship between the two systems, however. The closeness of this relationship is determined by the type of product that is being manufactured, the market place for which the product is created, and the pressures that are placed on the packaging by outside sources. The packaging requirement can often be somewhat dictated by the manufacturing process as well.
There is a great range of package types that are used for the final wrapping of products before they leave the plant to go to their customer destinations. On one end of the spectrum are the heavy, very durable products, like steel drill pipes or cast iron fittings that are usually put into cardboard boxes, if anything at all. You would not use an overhead crane to pack your light bulbs, you probably would use a pick and place robotic with a gentle touch. The light bulbs would be put into protective packages because of their fragile nature. The types of automated packaging in these cases are dictated by the type of products produced and these packaging devices may be very similar as well. The automated packaging that would be used to handle durable goods would able to perform the function without regard for the fragile nature of the product. This might be an overhead crane system for drill pipes that would load the products into steel packaging frames for shipment. For the automated packaging of light bulbs a pick and place robotic might be used because of its ability to gently and precisely move bulbs from a tray into their packaging. The characteristics of the automated packaging must fit very well with the characteristics of the product being packaged.
The requirements that are made on packaging by outside sources from the manufacturer or the customer will sometimes dictate how packaging is done. The regulations by agencies that control the production and packaging of food and drug consumables is an example. When you are ready to have automation work done for the packaging of these types of products you can rely on the solution provider that you use to assist with any legal requirements that you will need to know in order to set up packaging correctly.
Environmental issues have come to the forefront of any packaging that is being done of products everywhere. There is a drive to reduce as much as possible the waste created from any type of packaging. There are definite laws that will impact how your packages are disposed of recycled, or reused. The fact that automation makes it easier to put products into wrappings has to be counterbalanced with the necessity to make those packages environmentally friendly. There may need to be some thought put into the type of automation that would be used for packaging in your plant if the result of its use has some negative impact on the environment.
Packaging types can sometimes be the result of a compromise between different factions of your company. If this compromise is not reached effectively there may be problems with the packaging function. The automated process can put your products into certain types of containers. The marketing department wants the products to be in a certain type of container. Purchasing would desire for the packaging to be of a certain type because the cost is lower. Distribution will be interested in a package that can be easily handled in the warehouse and shipped readily. There may be another department that has some agenda about the way that the products should be packaged. The automation process will probably have the most substantial vote here, and the others will need to get as many of their requirements built into that process as can be accepted realistically. If there is no formal department for the management of packaging and its functions in your company, there may be some packaging problems if the packaging compromise is not created efficiently.
You will be selecting the automation packaging solution that will allow you to let automation do as much of the work as possible in putting your products into effective packaging that is received well by your customers. After all that is the main group that your company is interested in satisfying. If you have satisfied that group within the law, morale limits, and the cost limits of good business then you should be satisfying all the other groups inside and outside your organization.
