Packaging machines - The benefits of field networks

Faced with new technologies such as field networks, manufacturers in the packaging sector are questioning the interest, mode and cost of integrating such solutions into their machines and automation systems.

Several options are available to manufacturers: network architectures can be centralized, distributed or mixed, using systems of varying complexity (sensor/actuator bus, equipment bus, fieldbus).

A survey was carried out to clarify the situation and propose technical and economic criteria to help select a solution: three typical applications were submitted to some fifteen integrators, who were asked to propose solutions. The answers were more or less clear-cut, depending on the complexity of the subject: simple systems tend to call for a centralized architecture, which is generally more economical: but as soon as the application becomes more extensive (with PC, robot, etc.) and requires digital data processing, the decentralized solution takes precedence, all the more so because of its many advantages: less wiring, and therefore less cost; faster, more flexible implementation, operation and maintenance, etc.

The action presented here consists in validating the technical and economic criteria highlighted for each typical application, by comparing them with the reality of industrial packaging systems and machines.

For each manufacturer, the analysis focused on 2 or 3 of their machines, from the point of view of the choice of automation architectures and the technical solutions implemented for these automations.

The present document represents the overall synthesis of these analyses. It explains, compares and validates the typical solutions currently offered by manufacturers or integrators of automation systems in the specific context of packaging, and suggests possible developments in relation to the selection criteria identified in the previous study.