PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2016

TRADE SHOW REVIEW 56 PET planet Insider Vol. 17 No. 11/16 www.petpla.net Industry 4.0 and its advantages for the packaging industry Self-optimising factory The injection moulding machine manufacturer and systems expert Engel presented all three areas of its smart factory programme – smart machine, smart production and smart service – at K 2016. With the help of the networking and integration of production systems, the systematic exploita- tion of machines, process and production data and the use of decentralised, intelligent assistance systems, the manu- facturing processes in a smart factory will be able to contin- uously optimise themselves. Industry 4.0 is different for every undertaking, and there are also differ- ences from industry to industry. “For the packaging industry, Industry 4.0 primarily means two things: network- ing and integration.” explains Michael Feltes, Head of Engel’s Business Unit Packaging. “The aim is to control the complete manufacturing cell including the moulds, hot runners, IML automa- tion and quality control systems, from the display of the injection moulding machine.” The pooling of all process data along the complete product crea- tion process then offers the opportu- nity to find optimisation potentials and to exhaust the capabilities of all com- ponents in the manufacturing cell. smart machine The human-machine interface will play an increasingly important role in the factory of tomorrow. As the processes become increasingly complex because of greater integra- tion and automation, its management and control needs to become simpler and more intuitive. Self-adapting, decentralised systems increase pro- cess capability and quality, without the machine operator having to assimilate additional specialist knowledge. For example, the iQ software prod- ucts from Engel continually analyse critical process parameters in order to identify and immediately compensate for deviations even before rejects are produced. While iQ weight control keeps the injected melt volume and the viscosity constant throughout the entire injection moulding process, including the holding pressure phase, the new iQ clamp control software determines the mould breathing to continually readjust the clamping force. Even if the environmental con- ditions change, or the granulate qual- ity fluctuates, the software solutions keep the process constant and con- sistently ensure high product quality. As mould temperature control also affects efficiency and quality, Engel had already introduced an electronic temperature-control water manifold system at K 2010 and has continu- ously developed this further since then. Engel e-flomo monitors and documents all cooling and tempera- ture control circuits of injection moulds and independently regulates either the flow volumes or differences in tem- perature. Today, Engel e-flomo and temperature control unit merge at con- troller level to form a single unit. With the help of the new iQ flow control software, the pump speed is adapted automatically to current requirements based on the measurement values determined by Engel e-flomo. The Engel e-flomo increases the process stability and therefore lowers the reject risk, whilst the automatic speed adjustment ensures that temperature control requires less energy. smart production Engel’s exhibition stand was already a regular small business with seven highly integrated and auto- mated production cells plus the iQ demonstration injection moulding machine. All production cells were networked together using Engel e-fac- tory to be able to view and analyse the current condition of the individual injection moulding machines, their utilisation and output from a central computer. With e-factory, Engel has its own MES (manufacturing execution system) in its product portfolio that is specifically tailored to the require- ments of the plastics processing industry and achieves a high level of vertical data integration. It even takes account of the number of cavities in the mould. In addition, e-factory is claimed to ensure greater transparency. Bottle- necks and downtime are localised at a glance. Only in this way is it possible to optimally utilise the overall avail- able capacity of machinery. The condi- tion and process data transferred in Engel e-factory enables the processor to have a view of the entire production process from the central computer.