Pack Expo International, the largest packaging event in the world in 2018, with more than 2,500 exhibitors and 50,000 visitors, will take place from 14th to 17th of October at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. This leading international trade show brings together end users and suppliers from every packaged goods industry.
Increased automation to handle rising demand
Currently, the overall food and beverage market in North America experiences growth, although slower than in other parts of the world. PET, metal packs and flexible pouches represent the top three types of packaging sold. As producers face a rising demand for a variety of SKUs, they look towards automation solutions and equipment that is easy to operate and integrate.This is why more and more manufacturers in the North American market are considering extensive automation projects, a trend especially prevalent in the pharmaceutical industry.
Stephane Banville, Zone Vice President North America, Gebo Cermex, explains, “The Gebo Cermex portfolio offers solutions to handle any type of packaging. For us, Pack Expo International is an excellent opportunity to display what our solutions can do for the market. For instance, our EIT (Efficiency Improvement Tool) is a powerful combination of Web-based applications with MES (Manufacturing Execution System) and MOM (Manufacturing Operations Management) functionalities. Designed for the manufacturing/packaging industry, EIT is the added-value link between plant floor and business systems, supporting continuous improvement, maintenance, quality, sustainability and traceability initiatives. Introduced in 2018, the new cloud-based structure boosts operational benefits with quick access to a mass of securely stored data, actionable via a bunch of powerful analytical tools. This allows for increased collaboration and information sharing as well as optimised responsiveness and decision-making.”
AQFlex – A breakthrough product handling technology for all markets, speeds and configurations
Liquid packaging producers are becoming increasingly demanding when it comes to their line requirements. They cannot afford to compromise on optimal performance in terms of production uptime, efficiency and reliability, always paying close attention to minimising Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). AQFlex has been introduced by Gebo Cermex to answer these challenges, as it is an all-in-one product handling technology able to accommodate any product, whatever the application, whatever the market, in all container materials, formats and shapes, full or empty, while also enabling automatic changeovers and ensuring total care of product integrity. The solution – on display at Sidel Group booth at Pack Expo International (S-2901) – can operate at any speed, from 1,000 to 100,000 containers per hour, delivering energy savings of up to 60%, without compromising high efficiency (99.5% even at high speeds). This unprecedented packaging line performance is coupled with the best accumulation/space ratio on the market: it is up to 40% smaller compared to traditional solutions.
CoboAccess_Pal: Two advanced industrial palletisers for low and medium-speed lines
With over 5,000 palletising/depalletising solutions installed around the world and more than ten years of experience in driving the implementation of collaborative robotics, Gebo Cermex recently introduced CoboAccess_Pal, an advanced industrial cobotic palletiser, available in two configurations:
- CoboAccess_Pal S is an affordable mobile, fenceless & compact cobotic palletiser for low speed featuring Universal robot with payload up to 10kg and an automation platform combining a PC and PLC
- CoboAccess_Pal M is a robust industrial cobotic palletiser for medium speed featuring Fanuc CR15 collaborative robot with high payload up to 15kg and Dual mode of operation (Pure Cobot / High Speed mode)
Visitors to the Sidel Group booth S-2901 at Pack Expo Chicago will enjoy a first-hand experience of CoboAccess_Pal M, to capture all the advantages offered by cobotic solutions in terms of compactness, flexibility, production line efficiency, reliability and – especially – increased welfare for operators.
EIT – Operational intelligence to support continuous improvement
The highly flexible EIT automatically records 24/7 raw production data, calculates a wide array of KPIs to help measure performance, analyses production issues, detects efficiency loss sources and performs root cause analyses. Currently installed in more than 70 countries, it is designed to ultimately decrease unplanned downtime, reduce waste and costs, and increase the plant’s output, as it gives employees at all levels of the organisation real-time access to relevant and actionable information on production-related issues.
Stephane Banville, Zone Vice President North America, Gebo Cermex, highlights, “Our market-leading data acquisition and plant intelligence system is a universally proven solution that can be applied to all markets including beverage, food, home and personal care, dairy, healthcare, chemical and electrical, regardless of location, business model and production assets. EIT implementation is not limited to Sidel and Gebo Cermex equipment. Our system can also be installed on third party equipment as well as on new or existing lines worldwide with global support provided for all the installations.”
GES – Innovative thinking paired with world-class expertise
Stephane goes on, “To develop innovative and customised line solutions, we combine over 50 years of experience in the design of packaging lines and the factory environment with a permanent technology-watch and rational approach. This enables us to offer a wide scope of services to North and South American markets.”
With Gebo Engineering Solutions (GES) as an autonomous business unit within Gebo Cermex, the company offers a complete range of engineering services to the packaging industry all along the packaging line lifecycle: plant design, process and utilities, controls and automation, packaging solutions, project management, and productivity improvement.