FPT 2:2020

Increasing Depth

of Integration Bio based gas barrier coatings for paper

Is it the end for non -recyclable plastic packaging?

Flexible packaging sees demand boost as coronavirus changes consumer patterns

Flexo-Graphics rapid growth leads them to work smarter not harder 1

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From sliced ham to pre-cut fresh produce – choosing the right packaging is a key issue in the food industry. Companies need to protect food products from oxygen, moisture, chemical and biological contamination while keeping them fresh for as long as possible.

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In an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, governments worldwide have introduced social isolation measures that have fundamentally changed modern living. These new restrictions on daily life have had a huge impact on how we consume FMCG goods.

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The European Green Deal and thus also the circular economy will be a decisive pillar of European politics in the coming years. In its action plan of 11 March 2020, the European Commission outlined the concrete measures that can be expected from the political side in the field of circular economy.

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Nothing perhaps defines our consumer-driven society of recent decades better than plastic. Its growth in production since the 1950s – largely driven by packaging – has been extraordinary. We now produce a staggering 300 million tons of it each year.

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The market is full of new applications for web guiding systems and the trend shows no sign of slowing down. The latest keywords include cross-process networking and integration, resource-saving production, and an ever-greater ease of use. BST eltromat has a long-standing reputation for meeting new market requirements with its innovative ideas and constant process optimizations.

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Flexo-Graphics was having a problem – and it was a good problem to have. Business was growing rapidly, but they realized their internal processes were not keeping up with production demands.

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186 Countries Have Signed UN Pact to Reduce Plastic Pollution

Few days ago nearly every country in the world has agreed to a legally binding pact to deal more effectively with plastic waste. This means that countries now have the right to refuse plastic waste imports to their shores. Previously a big chunk of plastic waste had been imported by some Asian nations.

But these countries are increasingly resistant to these imports, as they realize the profound health and environmental implications of receiving plastic waste.

These are excellent news for the recycling industry in Europe and North America (even though the USA hasn’t signed the pact). New waste collection and recycling centres will be created in the vicinity of large plastic producers.

Recycling machinery producers such as the Austria based market leader Erema shall benefit vastly from this measure, new jobs will be created. These are the obvious benefits stemming from this recent United Nations Pact.

There may also be a rise in the use of biodegradable plastic, as predicted for years by researchers and associations. The only thing that seems to be missing is the willingness to pay a premium price, and accordingly designed landfills.

All in all, exiting times lay ahead of us.

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Bio based gas barrier coatings for paper From sliced ham to pre-cut fresh produce – choosing the right packaging is a key issue in the food industry. Companies need to protect food products from oxygen, moisture, chemical and biological contamination while keeping them fresh for as long as possible. Multilayer materials, in which each layer offers specific characteristics, are frequently used to protect food from deterioration. Due to the decrease of mineral oil resources, it is crucial to develop packaging materials based on renewable resources. Although paper is bio based and recyclable, its poor gas barrier usually makes it unsuitable as a primary packaging material for foods. In addition, recycled paper often contains residues of mineral oil based printing inks, which can migrate from the packaging into the food products. Hence, Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV based in Freising, Germany develops new highly advanced bio-based water vapour, oxygen and mineral oil barrier coatings as well as bio-based adhesives.

The overall innovation target is to substitute and improve the functionalities of conventional, fossil-based food packaging materials by bio-based multilayer structures.

Protein and cellulose cal-based polymers based oxygen barri- such as ethylene vinyl ers alcohol (EVOH) copolymers as barrier materiTo minimize the amount als. Therefore there is of oxygen that penean urgent need to detrates the packaging, velop a sustainable companies typically use packaging material expensive, petrochemi-

which is both economical to produce and environmentally friendly.

Fraunhofer IVV researchers therefore use cellulose as well as various proteins instead of

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petrochemicalbased polymers.

Proteins such as casein, lupine, potato, sunflower, rapeseed and whey protein were transformed into applicable water based liquid coatings. These natural materials extend the shelf life of food products, and moreover the protein coatings are biodegradable.

The results of the research are promising. “We devel-

oped different protein formulations that can be used as the raw material for an oxygen barrier coating.

We are now looking for industrial and research partners to bring these developments into industrial application� says Dr. Martina Lindner from the Fraunhofer IVV.

For the first time, also the mineral oil migration through protein based

coatings was evaluated.

It was shown, that the barrier of polypropylene against alkanes vastly increased due to protein coatings. Moreover, the barrier increased during storage time, to reach a minimum of migration after about 14 days. This can be explained by the cross linking process of functional groups of amino ac-

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ids in the protein ma- cracking during packaging forming, the protrix. teins were subsequently But how is it even posmixed with varying consible to make barrier centrations of various layers from proteins? edible plasticizers. The Fraunhofer IVV research for the perfect searchers tested a formula was a tricky range of different modiprocess for the research fication methods in orteam based in Freising. der to obtain suitable For example, the extenprotein formulations sive use of softening with outstanding filmagents decreases the forming properties. To barrier effect against make the protein coatwater vapour and oxyings flexible enough in gen, which means that order to avoid their the packed food is no

longer adequately protected.

A second approach, which Fraunhofer IVV scientists follow, is the development of nano cellulose based coatings. Nano cellulose is produced from wood and shows a very high barrier against oxygen and mineral oil. Nano celluloses have a hydrophilic surface, are water -soluble and can therefore be applied as a wa-

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ter based dispersion coating. However, for the application, there is a need for further functionalization of the nano celluloses, in order to achieve suitable material characteristics. This could be done by chemical grafting, which allows the introduction of further functional groups, which are for example hydrophobic or curable.

Hydrophobization improves wetting of coatings on hydrophobic surfaces such as PP or PE, curing increases the oxygen barrier at higher moisture levels, which is typical for most of the packed food products. With this new material, the replacement of EVOH, Polyamide (PA) and Polyvinylidene chloride (PVdC) could be possible in certain applications. In future, new sources for nano cellulose are foreseen.

These could be short fibered recycled pulp, which was otherwise incinerated, wheat straw

or wheat husks or bac- and thus rather polar. teria nano cellulose with This is the reason, why they often show good high purity. barriers towards nonWax and cutin based polar substances such water and water vaas oxygen, but no barripour barriers er against polar subCurrently, the most stances such as water.

Fraunhofer used polymer in food Therefore, packaging is polyeth- IVV researchers looked ylene (PE), which shows for biological processes, a very high water va- where the transport of pour barrier and good water is limited by saleability. Apart from plants themselves – the usage as water va- and found waxes and pour barrier, PE coat- cutin. Waxes occur on ings are also applied as the surface of plants hydrophobic coatings that grow in warm and (extrusion coatings) on dry climate zones, and fibre based packaging so protect themselves to reduce the negative from water loss. Cutin impact of water vapour is a natural polymer on the mechanical sta- that can also be found bility of the packaging. on plants, as an intermediate layer between Although proteins were the wax surface and the shown to have a good cellular structure beoxygen barrier, they do neath. not necessarily also Fraunhofer have a high water va- Therefore, pour barrier. Biological IVV researchers exprocesses in which bio tracted waxes from natbased raw materials ural plant surfaces. The grow are commonly wa- plants used were olive, ter based. Consequent- ivy and lemon as reprely, many bio-based ma- sentatives of European terials are water soluble plants. As a benchmark,

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Carnauba and Candelilla waxes were used, which are produced in South America. The extracted waxes were transformed to a water based dispersion coating and applied on plastics and papers. The researchers showed, that water permeation through a packaging material can indeed be reduced by bio-based substances, such as waxes. The water vapour barrier of the coating itself was even comparable to PE: <5g/ (m2*d)! It was evident, that ethanol extracted olive cuticula wax is comparable to commercial waxes, whereas other process conditions and application of alternative solvents lead to extraction of other compounds, which reduce the barrier.

Consequently, ethanol extracted olive wax is the most promising wax, also concerning the extraction yield. In the next step, the Fraunhofer IVV technicians car-

ried out pilot plant trials and proved that the upscaling of the coating process is feasible and even led to results that are better compared to

the lab scale trials. Other industrially available waxes that Fraunhofer IVV now works on are e.g. rice waxes. Basically, all natural waxes

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have melting points of <90°C, which affects sealing and scratch resistance properties of the coating. Therefore, the scientists now work on the further improvement of these properties.

Apart from the waxes, cutin is a promising raw material. Based on the natural prototype, also a cutin-based coating for paper products was developed, which is water repellent and thus increases dimensional stability and tear strength of paper based products under humid conditions. The coating can be applied as a water-based dispersion or ethanol based solution.

The Cobb-value, describing the water absorbance of paper, can be reduced to <1g/ m2/60s by a wax or cutin coating of ~1g/m2.

This could be a useful application for e.g. water repellent envelopes, vegetable transport trays, carton wrappers

for yoghurt cups or other applications, where water condenses on fibre based packaging surfaces.

Thus, this coating could be a bio based alternative to PEextrusion coatings for paper and polymer substrates.

erties. In addition the good oxygen barrier of the proteins is maintained.

Therefore a coating based on micellar proteins can substitute petrochemicalbased barrier polymers, such as EVOH, and at the same time function as laminating adhesive Bio based micellar often required in multiadhesives layer packaging.

Apart from barrier coatHowever, up to now the ings, Fraunhofer IVV reapplicability of this searchers additionally coating is limited to fidevelop bio-based adbre based substrates. hesives that simultaneAs water is used as solously show a high oxyvent in the formulation gen barrier. Therefore it canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be used in polythese adhesives commer-polymer structures bine the properties of as the water canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be two materials in a sinremoved after the lamigle layer thus potentialnation process. As a rely decreasing the matesult neither the oxygen rial use in food packagnor the adhesive proping. erties are achieved.

For this Fraunhofer IVV In the ongoing project has developed a special ECOAT, funded under process for extracting the European frameproteins from agrifood work Bio Based indusindustry residues. In tries Joint Undertakthis process the proings, a novel solvent teins undergo structural system is being develchanges resulting in the oped at Fraunhofer IVV desired adhesive propallowing the use of the

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performance of bio based and fossil-based gas barrier coatings is by applying nanoscale thickness inorganic silicon oxide, aluminium oxide or aluminium coatings by physical vapour deposition (PVD).

Such coatings can increase the gas barrier by approximately two orders of magnitude as long as the coatings are virtually defect-free.

However, in real applications, such inorganic coatings always contain some defects, which allow the permeation of The final formulation small quantities of gas. will then be applied on both a laboratory and The concept of bio pilot plant scale. The based packaging materesulting laminates will rials, in which paper rebe characterized for places the fossil-based their oxygen and water polymer substrates for vapour barriers, bond PVD, has existed for strength, and mechani- decades. And indeed, cal stability in the PVD is already widely Fraunhofer IVV labora- used with paper subtories. strates, but only for decorative purposes.

Inorganic coatings Gas barrier improveon paper ment is not achieved One efficient strategy to when applying a coating further increase the to paper by PVD, and micellar proteins in plastic packaging. This will be further combined with a reactive crosslinking system, so various properties of the protein-based adhesive can be customized.

These include the solubility of the layer, the mechanical strength, and the barrier properties. Once these challenges are overcome, a suitable coating formulation will be developed ensuring optimal processibility of the coating formulation.

the reasons for this are now understood by Fraunhofer IVV scientists. In the Fraunhoferapproach, paper is precoated with a thin layer of polymer that smoothens the paper surface. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We found, that low aluminium thickness, large paper hygroexpansion and large paper roughness are main factors to increase the gas permeation of PVD-coated paper. Thus, we reduce substrate roughness by applying specially developed polymeric precoatings and we steer the hygroexpansive behaviour by the choice of suitable papers and by the pre-coating. Now we are working on the industrial application of our research results,â&#x20AC;&#x153; says Lindner.

An emerging technology for the application of inorganic coatings, which is also investigated at Fraunhofer IVV, is atomic layer deposition (ALD). Due to a sophis-

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ticated layer-by-layer deposition process it is superior to other coating techniques (PVD, CVD) in view of coating quality, homogeneity and thickness control.

An additional advantage of ALD is that the process can be carried out at normal pressure.

Highly conformal, dense and almost pinhole-free coatings can be produced, even on surfaces with features with high

aspect ratios (e.g. poly- roll-to-roll ALD coating meric coated paper). In line. that way, but still dependent on substrate properties, it is possible to achieve very high barriers for oxygen and water vapour with extremely thin coatings (several tens of nanometers). The use of ALD for the deposition of migration barriers is also a subject of current research at Fraunhofer IVV with its patented

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Flexible packaging sees demand boost as coronavirus changes consumer patterns In an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, governments worldwide have introduced social isolation measures that have fundamentally changed modern living. These new restrictions on daily life have had a huge impact on how we consume FMCG goods. The freedom to eat out at a restaurant or simply to do the weekly food shop is either severely hampered, or impossible. The speed at which governments have introduced these measures is unprecedented, and many sectors of the food processing industry are being forced to quickly adapt to a rapid change in consumer behaviour as a result.

How have consump- service sector tion patterns (restaurants, cafĂŠs etc) changed? and through the retail sector, which naturally Lockdown measures favours pre-packaged naturally caused a wave food in smaller, conof panic buying and sumer-sized packagstockpiling across Euing.In Europe, we have rope and North Amerialso seen demand for ca. In addition, the sudambient foods (such as den lack of choice pastas, rice and flour) around how and where double or even triple we consume food has over the outbreak perialso forced huge volod, although we are umes of food consumpnow seeing sales leveltion away from the food

ling off. Frozen foods have also reported a significant increase in demand, but will likely plateau as we approach summer. Demand for comfort foods, such as chocolate and confectionery, baked goods and biscuits, as well as alcohol and tobacco, has also risen, as people tend to turn to these products in times of stress.

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In the US, coffee is in high demand with consumption estimated to be at least 50% higher than typical for this time of year. Related packaging growth is focused in high-quality, high-value printed laminates for the retail market.

Converters manufacturing unprinted flexible packaging for the meat and cheese sector are also reporting higher than usual orders. And, of course, the coronavirus outbreak is a major health crisis, so the healthcare sector has also been heavily impacted. Demand for flexible packaging in medical supplies, such

as gowns and swabs, has seen double-digit growth over the outbreak period.

How big is the demand boost for the US and Europe?

We are already seeing the effect of the consumption boost flowing through the supply chain. Converters have pre-ordered large volumes of plastic film, anticipating a shortage in flexible packaging raw materials. Biaxially -oriented PET (BOPET) film producers in both Europe and the US, for example, are reporting an uplift in bulk orders from packers looking to meet increased de-

mand. As a result, we expect flexible packaging consumption in both Europe and the US to see a material uplift in the short term.

This will be followed by a slight easing as we move through the year, as social isolation measures are slowly lifted. After a disappointing 2019 in both regions, we expect to see US demand for consumer flexible packaging increase by high single digits this year, compared to 3% in 2019. In Europe, demand growth fell back to under 1.5% in 2019, but could climb to above 5% this year. It is, however, important

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ing up – bar the availability of solvents, which is causing ink manufacturers some logistical issues.

Transportation costs have risen sharply, acting as the main cost driver for an increase in European BOPET film prices in March. Constrained food supply could pose another risk. The impact of lockdown measures on the workforce is a cause for concern. For example, will reCan the supply chain strictions on the movecope? ment of workers result One area of concern is in a lack of fruit and fragility in the supply vegetable pickers? chain. Sourcing of flexiAnd will the coronable packaging raw mavirus outbreak affect terials is currently holdto note that these projections are dependent on the extent of the current lockdown which could materially change if we see an extended period of isolation. The coronavirus outbreak could also spark an increase in China’s low per capita consumption of flexible packaging.

You can read about this in ‘Could flexible packaging reduce the threat of future outbreaks?’

the sustainability agenda?

Packaging sustainability was a major talking point coming into 2020. It has taken a back seat during this crisis but will obviously come back to prominence once the current situation eases.

However, it is worth noting that if crude oil prices remain low, the use of virgin plastic will be a very attractive proposition compared to more expensive postconsumer-recycled content.

The postcoronavirus world will undoubtedly be very cost-conscious.

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The Plastic Packaging Industry’s Path to a Circular Economy The European Green Deal and thus also the circular economy will be a decisive pillar of European politics in the coming years. In its action plan of 11 March 2020, the European Commission outlined the concrete measures that can be expected from the political side in the field of circular economy. The German plastics packaging association IK and the French partner association Elipso have closely examined and evaluated the Commission’s announcements with regard to plastic packaging. The result is a joint statement of the French and German plastic packaging industry.

A functioning circular economy – that is, the collection, sorting and recycling – of plastic packaging is also the aim of industry and trade, and consumers also expect recycling to be expanded. With 1 million tonnes of recycled material and 90% recyclability, the German plastic packaging industry has set itself

for Far-reaching structural change in the supply of raw materiWith the signing of the als declaration in Brussels, all participants reaffirm The change from a linethe EU Commission’s ar to a circular, resource goal of using ten million -optimized and climatetonnes of recycled plas- neutral economy imtic in new products by plies a profound struc2025 and send a strong tural change in the supsignal in the direction of ply of raw materials. a recycling economy.

The plastic packaging industry has set itself ambitious targets for

ambitious targets the year 2025.

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the circular economy that are in line with the Commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s requirements.

The plastic packaging industry in Europe is contributing to this change through innovation and investment in sustainable packaging designs and manufacturing processes aimed at closing material cycles, and through collaboration in value chain initiatives such as the Circular Plastics Alliance. To achieve this, industry needs clear objectives, legal certainty and reliable framework conditions from politicians.

terventions, which lead to great uncertainty and hold back investment in the plastic packaging market. In this context, it should be unmistakable: The circular economy must remain a market economy, not only in order to ensure prosperity and quality of life in Europe, but also to be able to achieve the defined goals safely and efficiently. The change to a circular economy must be achieved

through marketoriented measures such as transparent financial incentives that leave the greatest possible scope for fair competition for the best solution.

The joint statement is primarily aimed at political decision-makers within the EU, Germany and France, but also at economic stakeholders.

The circular economy must also remain a market economy However, some of the measures announced in the Action Plan, such as the EU plastic levy, product bans and detailed legal regulations for packaging design, are disproportionate and sometimes discriminatory market in-

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Is it the end for non-recyclable plastic packaging?

How BOBST and its partners are pioneering new high barrier monomaterials laminates as environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional plastic Nothing perhaps defines our consumer-driven society of recent decades better than plastic. Its growth in production since the 1950s – largely driven by packaging – has been extraordinary. We now produce a staggering 300 million tons of it each year. But we know that the qualities that make plastic so suited for packaging – its versatility, durability, impermeability – also make it very environmentally unfriendly; non-biodegradable and challenging to recycle.

Increasingly alarming projections around environmental damage have changed attitudes and focused minds in recent years. Environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic are no longer a nice-to-have aspiration for companies; they are absolutely essential. Indeed, the major brands – Pepsi-

Co, Unilever, Nestlé, Mars, Coca Cola Company to name a few – are challenging their suppliers to achieve the target of 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.

“The over has Eric

Development Director, BU Web-fed at BOBST. “We’ve gone past the tipping point. The sense of urgency, the political will, the resources – they are all now in place. The packaging industry is at the forefront of making alternashift in mindset tives a reality, and the the last two years progress in innovation been huge,” says in a short space of time Pavone, Business

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extraordi- of several layers of dif- easy, but we believe ferent types of plastics. we are in the process of making a breakFinding alternatives to “Plastic is not one sinthrough.” plastic is difficult, par- gle material – it comes ticularly for food pack- in many different varie- A watershed moment aging, for which high ties, and most flexible for our oceans? barrier protection packaging is a combiBecause it is the comagainst oxygen and nation of them,” says bination of various polwater is an absolute Eric Pavone. “When we ymers that makes remust. Any alternative talk about replacing cycling plastics so diffineeds to have similar plastic, we are actually cult, the ultimate aim properties in terms of talking about replacing is to create functional preservation and pro- a wide range of lamimono polymer materitection, versatility and nate materials, includals. But mono polyprice – all while being ing PET (polyethylene mers traditionally don’t visually pleasing to the terephthalate), aluminperform to the level of foil, PVC, PA consumer. And part of ium multi polymer materithe challenge can be (polyamide), and they als. And even if serfound in the variability all have their different viceable mono polyof flexible plastic pack- benefits for different mers are found, they aging – stand-up types of packaging. need to be produced pouches, sachets, Finding high barrier alwith the same machine films, bags, liners, ternatives with only efficiency throughout wraps and so on – one polymer rather which generally consist than several is not has been nary.”

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the whole value chain of requirements were met in terms of processabilpackaging. ity, barrier, safety and At a recent tradeshow optical quality. The diffor the plastics and rubferent types of monober industry (K material standup 2019), BOBST along pouches on show – mawith several partner chine direction-oriented companies presented (MDO) polyethylene, biwhat they believe to be axially oriented polyetha watershed moment – ylene (BOPE), biaxially new high barrier monooriented polypropylene materials laminate solu(BOPP) and cast polytions designed for recypropylene (CPP) – were clability. the outcome of considThe project involved us- erable investment and ing different high barri- intense research by the er mono-materials partners. structures, each one “The feedback we heard thoroughly tested to at K 2019 in response guarantee all industry

to these new high barrier mono-materials laminates was phenomenal,” says Eric Pavone.

“Sustainability is such a clear focus for so many companies – now that we are starting to demonstrate tangible solutions, the excitement is really growing.

But we appreciate that this is a journey.”

A partnership bringing real progress The development of these new high barrier mono-materials laminates came about thanks to an industry

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partnership of some of the leading innovators in the field. BOBST is one of the world’s leading suppliers of substrate processing, printing and converting equipment and services for the label, flexible packaging, folding carton and corrugated industries. It provided the use of its Competence Centers for high barrier, printing and lamination to test the viability of the new materials throughout the production process.

The other partners in the project include Dow, a PE resin supplier for the first step in the production chain, Brückner Maschinenbau for the production of the biaxial stretched polypropylene and polyolefin-based films, Hosokawa Alpine for the production of MDO linear density polyethylene (LDPE), ELBA to convert the finished reels into pouches, and Constantia Flexi-

bles to produce metal- and do it alone. By lized high barrier LDPE bringing the best minds standup pouches. together, we are making real progress – fast.

As well as its state-ofNow we want to take the-art Competence these materials to the Centers, BOBST brings next level and start proexpertise in metallizaducing them on a more tion and clear coating industrial scale.” technology. The use of new high barrier mono- Are we on track for materials laminates 100% reusable, recymeans the metallizer clable or compostable design has had to packaging by 2025? change to improve the “The high barrier monoprocessing ability of materials laminates rethese materivealed at K 2019 were als. BOBST has pioa significant breakneered improvements in through, but there are metallization and clear still several stages to coating technology to get through before such allow mono polymer materials are in wide materials to be prouse,” says Eric Pavone. cessed.

“At interpack and drupa “We feel we have a this year, BOBST and huge amount of exper- its partners will antise to contribute to this nounce the exciting enterprise, but we next stages, including wanted to establish full high barrier PLA and partnerships because it paper packaging strucmakes sense to pool tures, moving us one our engineering know- step closer to our goal.” how” says Eric Pavone.

In the short term, use “This is one of the most of polypropylene (PP) urgent challenges fachigh barrier monoing the world today, so material laminates repthere is no time to try

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resent a ‘lower hanging fruit’ as the industrial solution is available now worldwide. LDPE, MDO and BOPE have greater recyclability potential but still require major research and development time and investment to convert these into industrial-scale operational solutions. But with the huge investments in R&D going into these solutions, the

feeling in the industry is but BOBST and its inpositive. dustry partners are making it a reality. We “We are on the right are confident that the path to developing rework we are doing will usable, recyclable bioultimately have a trefilm or paper alternamendous positive imtives to traditional nonpact on the industry recyclable plastic flexiand the environment.” ble packaging on an industrial scale in the next few years,” says Eric Pavone. “Even just a few years ago this would have been almost unimaginable,

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Increasing depth of integration BST eltromat consistently creates new possibilities for its customers thanks to innovations and ongoing developments in the field of web guiding. The market is full of new applications for web guiding systems and the trend shows no sign of slowing down. The latest keywords include crossprocess networking and integration, resource-saving production, and an ever-greater ease of use. BST eltromat has a long-standing reputation for meeting new market requirements with its innovative ideas and constant process optimizations. We met Ingo Ellerbrock, head of product management and recognized specialist of webguiding at BST eltromat, to learn more about the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future plans.

Reviewing the recent exhibitions and events in 2019: Which were the most exciting topics?

It is clear to see that the topic of networking and integration is becoming increasingly significant in the era of Industry 4.0 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the web guiding sector is no different. With regard to manufacturing flexible

packaging solutions, for example, the web guiding systems used in applications such as extrusion, printing, and packaging have not always been networking well enough to provide usable data. Establishing a cross-process network for these systems opens up various possibilities for optimizing the entire manufactur-

ing process at every level. It allows the data from the web guiding process to be used in both upstream and downstream processes resulting in less waste and ensuring maximum production quality.

For quite some time now, integrating quality assurance systems into a cross-process level has been a core task

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fulfilled by BST eltromat for its customers. Indeed, this applies to all the industrial sectors in which the company is active.

Which possibilities does BST eltromat offer its customers here precisely?

With PROSolutions, our company has developed an effective modular visualization and operating platform, which allows straightforward cross-process integration of elements. The individual components of our web guiding systems can be connected on a plugand-play basis. This intelligent technology also forms the basis for cross-process networking of our systems via PROSolutions. It is important to note that the modular design of this platform offers the flexibility required so that customers can map their individual processes.

PROSolutions provides production managers and machine operators with a flexible and adjustable user interface, featuring elements such as graphic representations on the display, for maximum control and a clear overview of the associated quality assurance systems. The intuitive operating platform comes complete with a

convenient touchscreen monitor for exceptional ease of use.

Machine operators can switch quickly and easily between the various systems and applications for convenient access to detailed quality assurance information.

PROSolutions also makes it possible to operate easily individual systems remotely, read system parame-

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set- 2019 fall exhibitions BST eltromat showcased the benefits of The innovative platform the interplay between allows BST eltromat to its solutions and sysnetwork virtually any tems from various innumber of quality asdustry partners accordsurance systems within ing to Converting 4.0 the company. The highfor the very first time. er the number of inteOne example was the grated systems, the interaction of a CLS more machine operaPRO 600 digital line and tors benefit from the contrast sensor from consistent, compatibly BST eltromat with a simple, and intuitive slitting machine. The inoperability of the teraction allowed the PROSolutions applicasensor technology and tions. Even in the case the motor-driven knife of complex quality asaxle of the slitter to be surance requirements, set up automatically. the platform provides The sensor automaticalmachine operators with ly moves to the preset unique transparency lines and then supplies and process reliability information for optimizwhen it comes to opering the cutting process. ating their systems.

The automatic alignCan solutions from ment of the cutting patother manufacturers terns simplifies the cutbe also integrated ting process and greatly reduces setup times. It with the platform? also eliminates sources Of course. This is yet of defects, which helps another area where our to prevent waste. company is consistently opening up new possi- BST eltromat is conbilities for its custom- stantly on the lookout ers. In fact, during the for ways to provide custers, and tings.

adjust

tomers with as many possibilities as it can for networking their quality assurance systems. This is why the company is involved in the OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture) task force within the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA). This interface is intended to standardize the way the various production systems are networked. It is with this in mind that BST eltromat showcased the new ekr CON 600 net controller at the K Show 2019, as the controllerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future-oriented technology is open to future integration requirements.

The system architecture makes it possible to incorporate various fieldbus systems without changing the operating and connection systems.

Is this a completely new controller?

The ekr CON 600 net is a refined version of the

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globally renowned ekr 500 digital controller, which is already wellestablished in the market. Its touch-screen display makes it just as intuitive to operate as any other controllers from BST eltromat. The ekr CON 600 net allows customers to integrate the web guiding systems easily into their fieldbus systems with ease, and to use the collected data through these systems to optimize their own processes. This means they can incorporate web guiding into their processes and work more efficiently as a result. They can also minimize waste to save both materials and costs.

more resource-friendly alternatives. This applies in particular to manufacturers of flexible packaging solutions.

Cross-process networking of quality assurance systems and their integration with other systems can make a vital contribution toward establishing resourcesaving production processes. By increasing both efficiency and process reliability within the packaging production industry, it helps packaging manufacturers to avoid waste and reduce it significantly and produce more environmentally friendly.

Manufacturers of flexible packaging materials are working hard on up to 100 percent recyclable substrates made of monopolymer materials to replace the multipolymer composites that have been the norm up to now. Does this mean there are new requirements for web guiding systems?

The new packaging materials must offer both the same performance and aesthetic quality of the existing substrates, and the same level of efficiency during the manufacturing process of the flexible packag-

And thus produce more environmentally friendly?

Especially the packaging industry is under huge pressure to reduce the environmental footprint of its products and production processes and to work towards

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ing solutions. Depending on the application, the innovative packaging materials also create new requirements for web guiding systems â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for example, in relation to roller coatings or sensors. BST eltromat is no stranger to challenging itself and working alongside its customers to develop new solutions for individual requirements. No matter which direction the new packaging materials develop in, BST eltromat will continue to support the market with various flexible solutions well into the future.

When it comes to establishing more environmentally friendly production processes for flexible packaging solutions, a major consideration involves minimizing the use of materials.

This is where innovative sensor technology comes into play. In the future BST eltromat will

showcase various solutions for saving more material than ever â&#x20AC;&#x201C; even at high machine speeds â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with the help of web guiding systems.

This is set to become increasingly important as the sector strives to achieve more resourcefriendly production processes involving ever more elaborate packaging designs.

ture along with a significant reduction in the height of the guiding device. In addition to improving the structural design, the company has also continued to optimize the achievable accuracy and response behavior of its web guiding systems.

BST eltromat is well known for the user friendliness of its soWith regard to integrat- lutions. Are there any ing web guiding pro- innovations in this cesses, there is another respect? aspect to consider: Ease of use is one of when faced with such the most essential criteincreasing complex proria that determines the duction machines, the suitability of production market needs more systems for Industry compact solutions that 4.0. With its pioneering can be integrated more innovations, BST elflexibly into machines tromat has been conand therefore take up stantly raising the bar less space. This is exfor quality assurance actly why BST eltromat from one decade to the has completely overnext in terms of ease of hauled the design of its use. Consider the intuiweb guiding systems tive touch-screen disfor wide webs and plays on controllers brought new ideas to from BST eltromat, for life. The changes inexample.

These are clude further optimizawidely thought of as the tion of the steel strucmarket standard for

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both convenience and safety. Even then, there are always new ways to make life even easier for machine operators.

Sometimes all it takes is a relatively simple idea that just has to be implemented intelligently.

This is why BST eltromat now incorporates two-dimensional QR codes into the user interface of its controllers, as machine operators can scan them with their smartphones for direct access to the digital system operating instructions and setup videos. This information is also available on the company website. The corresponding pages of the digital operating instructions open immediately, depending on where in the menu the machine operators scan the codes. The intelligent system also uses the system settings of the mobile device to automatically detect which language version to launch. What’s even better is that machine operators do not need a

special app or software to swiftly access straightforward answers to their questions. All they need is a QR code scanner on their mobile device. BST eltromat uses standard technology to really maximize the ease of use of its quality assurance systems for its customers.

This is just one of many examples of how our company considers the process as a whole and makes full use of the technical possibilities available today for the benefit of its customers.

In a globalized world, the wide range of individual requirements is also on the rise in the field of web guiding.

With system integrator expertise and a global presence regarding the company’s sales, production, and service network – which includes over 50 subsidiaries and partners – BST eltromat is an ideal partner to customers all over the world. All the more so as our company is constantly developing its solutions and also works in close cooperation with customWhich country is curers to develop bespoke rently the most adsolutions time and vanced referring again. packaging 4.0 and digitization?

This question can hardly be answered in general terms for individual countries. Rather, the digitization of processes in packaging production is being pushed forward worldwide. The label Made-in-Germany still stands for high quality.

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Flexo-Graphics rapid growth leads them to work smarter not harder Flexo-Graphics was having a problem – and it was a good problem to have. Business was growing rapidly, but they realized their internal processes were not keeping up with production demands. As their business grew and expanded, the need to clean their aniloxes effectively grew and expanded as well. Their problem was that the method of cleaning they used to clean their aniloxes “broke down too often and too fast.” Due to this unreliable cleaning system, Flexo-Graphics employees spent a few hours a day cleaning rolls by hand as well.

Two employees were dedicated to the manual cleaning of not only the anilox rolls, but the trays and parts as well.

They used a combination of solvents and other cleaners but were having a hard time getting everything truly clean. Tim McDonough of Flexo-Graphics tells us that “our eyes were really opened when an ink vendor showed us how dirty our ‘clean’

aniloxes were” despite a Flexo Wash machine all the time and effort there. they had put into cleanDIRTY ROLLS AND ing them.

BAD TIMING McDonough began chatThey did a demo of ting with Mike and Pattheir dirty anilox rolls in rick Potter prior to Lathe Flexo Wash anilox belExpo and the TLMI cleaner and found the Annual Meeting a few results to be years back: “They edu“remarkable” and that cated me about the their rolls “were not Flexo Wash machine nearly as clean” as they and what it could do.” thought they were, acAfter measuring their cording to John Witmer, cleaning space, they Operations Manager. found that they could fit

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They learned how just a slight change in the cleanliness of an anilox roll really affects the color. They also determined that “staying at color” was dependent on the cleanliness of the anilox roll.

McDonough explains, “much of our customer base was moving to tight color tolerances

and we felt the Flexo Wash solution would give us the cleanest rollers and best chance to regularly reproduce spot colors within the acceptable Delta.”

Time was also a huge factor in their decision.

Before, determining the time to clean the anilox rolls took some

planning, because it would mean the press was down for an hour.

Figuring out when the cleaning would take place during the day, between jobs and all while trying to keep up with an increased production schedule. Also they could only clean two anilox rolls at a time in their ultrasonic

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cleaner and it take one hour.

would to more repeatable color and tones which is critical in a highly reFIRST PURCHASE: petitive business. Our ANILOX CLEANER ability to easily hit color In 2017, they pur- led to more press up chased their first anilox time due to less time cleaner, a Handy 2x2. It spent dialing in color or could clean four rolls at changing anilox rolls.” a time with a much McDonough also cites shorter turnaround time that “we also improved of 15-20 minutes maxipress run time by not mum (sometimes only having to clean an 10 minutes using the anilox roll that was alQuick Wash). ready in the press. PriIn 2018, they pur- or to Flexo Wash it was chased a new press, not uncommon for us to which was a 17” press run up a job with a with 10 colors. This new “clean” anilox only to press, and the fact that see that color was lacktheir work was much ing and that we need to more in the “UV World”, give the anilox another taxed their ability to cycle to try to get it keep everything clean. cleaner. Now a roller is Flexo-Graphics went either clean or it is not. from a negligible use of There no longer is alUV Ink to using UV Ink most clean.

50% of the time, in just Here are some statisthree short years. tics of their results: The improvements in They print 250 days a their system were eviyear. dent: “we spent far less time at the sink which They used to spend 10 resulted in more time minutes prepping each running the press. In roll and then one hour addition, clean rolls led cleaning in the old sys-

tem. After the cleaning, they would rinse the roll again.

Now they spend about five minutes to load and unload four rolls into the Flexo Wash unit.

The cleaning process takes 15 to 20 minutes.

Upgrading to the Flexo Wash system took them from two rolls per hour cleaning capacity to a potential of 12 to 16 rolls an hour.

Cleaning supply cost was $1720 a year. The first year with Flexo Wash system, the cost was $1520, but they cleaned four times more anilox rolls.

Cleaner rolls have improved their print quality.

SECOND PURCHASE: PARTS WASHER McDonough says “In 2019 we added our second UV converting line.

We had two helpers cleaning ink pans, blades, rollers per shift.

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Needless to say, this was becoming a bit time consuming and not a productive use of time in a tight labor market.

I called several TLMI friends for references on parts washers and the consensus was that the Flexo Wash parts washer did everything it was advertised to do.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

Flexo-Graphics has “a history of investing in equipment to improve efficiencies and Flexo Wash fit that bill. The amount of labor and machine time we have saved allowed us to easily realize a return on investment inside of 12 months on both the This expanded UV pro- anilox cleaner and the duction also “tipped the parts washer.” scales in the way we cleaned our press parts” and for that reason, 18 months after they bought the Flexo Wash Anilox Cleaner, they purchased the Flexo Wash Parts Washer, a PK 200 WR. McDonough says “upon installation we were able to free employees to perform more of the press helper role they were brought on to do rather than spending a shift cleaning pans. This led to more productivity on our servo presses and much faster cleaning of press parts”

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