40 PW MAY2022
AUTOMATION
OEM APPLICATION NOTE
Primer: Machine-to-Machine Communication Via PackML At PACK EXPO East 2022, Ron MacDonald of OMAC walked attendees through key states of PackML, highlighting their impact on successful packaging line operation. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
PackML Primer
What CPGs/brands need to know
By Dave Greenfield, Director of Content, Automation World The PackML automation standard is used in the packaging machine industry to transfer and receive consistent data between machines on a packaging line. While it’s well known to machine builders, it offers important lessons for end users of equipment in food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and other consumer packaged goods industries. At PACK EXPO East 2022, Ron MacDonald, R&D expert engineer at Nestlé and Chairman of OMAC (the Organization for Machine and Automation Control), which manages the PackML group overseeing the standard, gave a presentation to help end users understand how PackML helps manage packaging line flow to make their operations more efficient. In his presentation, he explained four key states of the PackML standard: Held, Suspended, Blocked, and Starved. The ‘Held’ state indicates that a machine on packaging line—such
PackML machine states described by OMAC’s Ron MacDonald.
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as a filler, capper, or case packer—wants to execute its operation, but some factor is holding it back. These factors can vary depending on the product being processed. For example, it could be caused by the temperature of the product; for a case packer, it could be that not enough cartons are available. The “Suspended” state in PackML indicates an issue with a machine on the line. Essentially it means that the machine in that state is waiting on another machine on the line to have its issue corrected before resuming function. In this state the machine can restart operations as soon as the problem causing the issue is addressed, “with no operator intervention required,” MacDonald explained. As the name implies, the “Blocked” state in PackML indicates a blockage on the line according to sensor data. “The ‘Blocked’ sensor is generally the most important performance monitoring sensor on the line,” said MacDonald, underscoring the impact of the “Blocked” state on packaging line performance. Likewise, the “Starved” state indicates that a machine on the line is not getting enough product to perform regular operation. “All of this matters because labor and material costs are high and end users want to get the most productive use out of their packaging equipment,” MacDonald said. That’s why “OEMs like to build in PackML on their equipment so that they all have the same kind of dashboard for communication.” Highlighting how the PackML states relate to automated machinery on the packaging line, MacDonald used an illustration of a packaging line section between a filler and a capper. “A ‘Blocked’ sensor would be positioned after the filler, while a ‘Starved’ sensor would be placed before the capper to maintain surges or infeed pressures,” he explained. “Surge sensors are positioned in between these two sensors to measure nominal and overspeed flows of prod-
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