DESIGN GUIDE

MACHINE DESIGNS FOR

PACKAGING

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MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING DESIGN GUIDE

The design of machinery for use in the packaging has evolved with
consumer demands. Today, motion systems abound in bagging, sealing,
cartoning, and various other equipment types. Assembly and control
subtypes abound to offer various levels of flexibility and reconfigurability.
▼
In this exclusive Design Guide, the editors of Design World outline an
array of packaging machine applications and motion solutions — including
electric motors, pneumatics, linear assemblies, controls, sensors, and
networking elements.
▼
LISA EITEL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive editor

Packaging in context .................................................................. 3

Carton making and packing ....................................................... 8

Filling in packaging operations ............................................... 13

Pick-and-place functions in packaging operations ............... 15

sponsored by:
Label printing and scanning in packaging operations ......... 18

Stretch wrapping in packaging operations ............................ 19

PET bottle manufacturing ........................................................ 21 us.mitsubishielectric.com/fa/en

© Copyright 2023 WTWH Media • September 2023

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@designworld /DesignWorldNetwork @linear_motion
FIRST THINGS FIRST:
PACKAGING IN CONTEXT
Blister packaging of pharmaceuticals can require flexible machine routines to accommodate varied product quantities, sizes, and formats.
Image: Itsanan Sampuntarat
P
ackaging machinery uses cutting-edge automation,
and it’s no wonder. Facilities that parcel products need
to deliver high throughput, but modern consumers
demand smart packaging in the form of no-fuss
containers that protect everything from M&Ms to patio
furniture. What’s more, there’s a continuous drive to customize
packages and let consumer-facing companies wrap products for
bulk distribution, single-item sales, and everything in between.
To satisfy these design objectives, packaging machinery over
the last decade has become increasingly adaptive. That’s been
evident in a range of motion components and fully integrated
designs at recent Pack Expo events. More specifically, the
newest adaptive machines are:
• Modular (so they can be reprogrammed if not physically
reconfigured on the fly)
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• Fitted with HMIs (to let operators feed high-level
operational data into machines as needed)
• Based on components that satisfy the efficiency, safety,
and networking standards of multiple regions.
At the core of all these sophisticated elements are motion-
control and power-transmission mainstays. Most all packaging
machines include mechanical frame and power-transmission
elements (including linear motion drives and guides); motors and
drives; and motion controllers not unlike those used for the last
40 years in mechanizing and automating equipment. However,
the accuracies and other performance characteristics of these
machines’ power-transmission elements have steadily evolved
and improved to complement the latest servomotor offerings
(synchronous ac and otherwise) as well as increasingly advanced
electronic control capabilities.
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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE

(continued)
First things first: Packaging in context

Servo motors come equipped with a batteryless absolute position encoder as standard, making it possible to configure
absolute position systems without the use of batteries or any other options. Image: Mitsubishi Electric

Though the accuracy and repeatability requirements of
packaging equipment can be more modest than those for
medical or semiconductor manufacture, the need for throughput
is unrivalled — with many machines processing thousands of
items per minute. Accompanying this need for high output is a
need for reliability and consistency. That’s true whether discrete
product pieces are of some consistent mass or (in the case of
filling and packing) variable.
In many cases, next-generation machines capable of assembling
retail-ready displays must also incorporate sensors and
networking fast enough to log dozens of mixed stock keeping
units (SKU product codes) per minute.
Packaging engineers are facing increased pressure to address
the environmental issues caused by traditional containers.
Image: Tanteckken

Consider the retail-ready packaging that some machines

assemble — the product-packed pallets increasingly common
in club stores such as Costco and BJs. The machines that put
these shelf-ready displays together rely heavily on servo-driven
stations and robotic arms that usually interface a conveyor. In a
typical setup, the conveyor takes product to a station that orients
individual units for grouping; then the modules travel on the
conveyor to subsequent stations that group packs into patterns
that let retailers use larger cartons for shipping, stacking, and
displaying items once they’re in stores. Setup of such machines
is almost always through HMIs.

Automation in packaging has reduced labor costs

and boosted efficiency for large makers of consumer
goods. Now, smaller operations up and down the
supply chain have also found ways to leverage
automation’s benefits.

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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE
(continued)
First things first: Packaging in context
Servo amplifiers detect signs of machine failure and mechanical
component deterioration by monitoring the operation status using
Mitsubishi Electric’s Maisart® AI technology. Image: Mitsubishi Electric
For example, a maker of pita bread and sandwiches might
employ servodriven cartoning machines to boost productivity
and flexibility. For this application, vertical cartoner
arrangements can assemble cartons having different item counts.
For large retailers and club stores, this might involve four, six, 12,
and 14-count cartons … necessitating a machine design that lets
operators (via a touchscreen HMI) make speedy changeovers to
different carton sizes — typically a dozen or more times a week.
With modern drives and controls, such changeovers can take as
little as 10 to 15 minutes.
In many cases, even the OEMs who build such cartoner
packaging machines benefit from the automation and reduced
mechanical part counts of servodrive-based equipment.
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CONSIDERING THE CONVEYORS OF
PACKAGING APPLICATIONS
Just about any product made of metal, food, cosmetics,
medical supplies, plastics, or boxes moves on a conveyor during
manufacture. No wonder that conveyors come in all shapes and
sizes — from belt widths of less than 2 in. (for moving extremely
small parts) to several feet wide for transferring bulk substances.
Conveyors are classified by both their conveyance media and
application: Some conveyors serve to transport bulk or discrete
product in a steady stream with little interaction with transported
goods along the way. These are ruggedized units optimized for high
throughput. Slightly more demanding conveyor installations shuttle
product between locations or machines. Still more demanding
are conveyors to move materials into or out of machines or
stations. These actually require positioning capabilities to ensure
proper handling of product. The most demanding conveyors run
workpieces and other goods through assembly or other workstations
and machinery without break. Many such conveyors for this
demanding task employ custom workpiece pucks to steady product
while machines perform work on the items.
Conveyors for moving arrays of discrete product — applications
associated with motion control — take various forms. Some employ
thin flat belt made of engineered fabric with nylon, PVC, styrene-
butadiene synthetic rubber (SBR), or other durable synthetic materials.
Specially shaped motor-driven pulleys engage (with tension-
maintained friction) the conveyor belt and make it (and any
product riding on it) advance. Benefits of this design include
simplicity and cost-effectiveness; thinness of conveyance
The Syntegon IDH pick-and-place system uses linear
motors instead of delta robots for gentle and flexible
handling of cookies and crackers. Image: Syntegon
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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE
(continued)
First things first: Packaging in context
medium for easier transfers off and onto the conveyor-belt ends
even for very small objects; the ability to withstand a wide range
of temperatures; and customizable surfaces — for easy release of
baked confections, for example.
In other instances, conveyors consist of a series of both
unpowered and powered cylindrical rollers. These roller-based
conveyors work best for transporting flat-bottomed objects such
as carboard boxes or molded part pucks.
Simple conveyors with only unpowered rollers work as manual
conveyors (to let personnel push items along the low-friction
conveying surface) or gravity conveyors which incorporate
downward slopes — often as diverting-conveyor offramps to
feed items to their final workplace or collection destinations.
Here a competitive conveyor option is the ball-table conveyor
— studded with freewheeling spherical rollers to let conveyed
product freely glide along. The motorized rollers on roller-based
conveyors can either couple to a gearmotor on the conveyor
flank or directly integrate motors called drum motors inside their
cylindrical bodies — in turn usually made of steel or (if intended
for washdown settings) stainless steel.
Conveyors to position items with moderate accuracy (say, for
simple spacing of boxes) might employ only motorized rollers. In
contrast, systems or sections of conveyor with laxer requirements
(or relying on peripheral systems for final positioning functions)
might gang a few unpowered rollers to each powered roller
via cords or bands made of round polyurethane belt. These
bands loop around and nestle into grooves on the powered and
unpowered roller ends; tension keeps the round bands firmly set
in their grooves and facilitates the transmission of power from
motorized roller to ganged passive rollers.
SMART TRANSPORT AND PLANAR MOTOR
SYSTEMS FOR PACKAGING
Linear-motor conveyors, also called smart transport systems by
those who aim to differentiate the offering, are costly but enable
very sophisticated applications. Some modular linear-transport
systems can trim machine footprints by half when used to
replace indexing and conveying equipment.
The movers on some such systems can travel independently of
one another or in groups along a number of customizable rail
systems. High dynamics and precision help the system excel
in gapping and diverting applications — and a new hygienic
version is aimed at pharmaceutical, biotech, packaging, and
food and beverage environments.
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Modular linear transport systems are not designed to replace
other conveying systems. However, traceability with the system
can reduce the scans required for each piece through an
operation. Because movers are mapped as individual servo
axes, controls never lose track of items being transported. Such
traceability in traditional architectures can require innumerable
scanners ... so the component and labor reductions of intelligent
transport systems are worthwhile in some cases.
Other options for conveyance of specialty goods are two-axis air-
bearing stages and planar motors. Air-bearing stages suspend
the carried load on a cushion of air and for motion rely on
linear motors— often with an ironless forcer design for smooth
actuation. Driving is typically centered near the center of mass
to maximize the straightness and minimize the angular errors of
each motion. In contrast, planar motors use the electromagnetic
behavior of its motors for both the movement and suspension
of loads … which is why they’re occasionally called magnetic
levitation or maglev stages. Some such systems levitate the
magnetic movers with six degrees of motion up to 5 mm above
planar motor tiles.
Shown here are linear and pneumatic motion elements in a machine
that produces cardboard cartoning.
FLEXIBLE PACKAGING EVOLUTION
Future packaging machines will also be judged by how well they
integrate into so-called connected industry concepts. Here, the
idea is to let design engineers build machines and networks to
connect operational technology or OT — the drive, control, and
even process and manufacturing components and software that
they integrate everyday — with those of information technology
or IT … here, the managerial, sales, ERP, supply-chain, and
inventory tools of an organization.
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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE

(continued)
First things first: Packaging in context
Several motion-component suppliers have over the last 15
years purchased or developed software to let packaging-plant
management and ERP-level data dictate what happens on factory
floors. Others have established partnerships with Cisco and similar
companies to offer these functions to OEMs and end users. Much
of the integration here uses Ethernet to connect to IT data for
IT/OT convergence — relevant to many industries but particularly
beneficial to packaging for the regulation of output to better meet
demand … as well as product safety through tracking.
onsite along with post-industrial recyclables from captive
manufacturing processes can serve as an alternative. These
are less expensive, less contaminated, and take less energy
(for transport, cleaning, sorting, and reforming) than virgin
materials and other alternatives to transform into new
packaging. Captured ocean-bound plastics and salvaged
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as well as high-density
polyethylene (HDPE) are other valuable sources for packaging
that is made by blow and injection molding.

Formats for individual products— stand-up pouches, child-resistant

(CR) packaging, anti-bacterial wraps, multi-function container iQ Monozukuri Packaging is a complete and powerful engineering
tool to help packaging OEMs and end users shorten development
lids, and custom-sized cartons — also continue to proliferate. In
time of new machines. It includes function blocks for various cam
fact, market reports from the Flexible Packaging Association, a profiles, rotary cutter, and long dwell application sample programs
trade association for converters of flexible packaging and industry as well as sample GOT screens. Image: Mitsubishi Electric
suppliers, global use of specialty packaging has grown unabated
over the last decade and now exceeds $30 billion. That’s thanks to
better automation as well as advances in materials and processes.
For example, some OEMs that build form-fill-seal machines for
pouch products are switching from heat sealing to ultrasonic
sealing, as the latter is more forgiving and efficient. Ultrasonic
welding also improves beverage packaging. One technique
from Germany-based Xolution (not to be confused with OXO)
ultrasonically welds polypropylene lids to aluminum cans for a
portable mug design that otherwise lets beverage companies can
drinks by traditional means.

SUSTAINABILITY — A GROWING
CONCERN AND NEED
A majority of U.S. consumers cite sustainability as a selling point
for packaged goods. Packaging engineers have in fact begun to
apply bioplastics as well as compostable, biodegradable, and
other plant-based materials such as polylactic acid (PLA) films,
hemp, recycled wood products, and even cotton in their designs.
But a truly sustainable packaging industry must someday address
plastic waste (in part with effective recycling accountability) and
minimize the carbon emissions associated with its activities. Few
municipalities in the U.S. have functioning recycling programs,
and plastic waste in natural settings continues to proliferate.

Challenges include the need to differentiate consumer products

while ensuring cartoning and wrapping ruggedness that’s
sufficient to withstand transport and handling … in addition to
automating the application of sustainable packaging that isn’t
necessarily designed with high throughput prioritized.
So-called cradle-to-cradle (in contrast with cradle-to-grave)
packaging supply chains rely on completely reusable or
biodegradable materials. Where post-consumer recyclables
are inadequate to close the loop, scrap generated
EM-A and MM-GKR series motors are
capable of high accuracy speed and position
control, even with load changes, without an
encoder due to the newly developed sensorless vector
control technology in the FR-E800 series VFD. Considerable
energy savings are possible when motors are upgraded to
“Ultra-Premium Efficiency” and paired with the FR-E800 series
variable frequency drives. Image: Mitsubishi Electric

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CARTON MAKING AND
PACKING OPERATIONS
In contrast with off-the-shelf pneumatic or electric finger grippers, custom automated end-of-arm tooling can optimize carton making
and packing functions. Image: Sorapol Ujjin
C
arton making and case packing are key operations
in packaging facilities. Both rely on extremely
fast motion systems with dozens of mechanically
and programmatically linked axes for sufficient
throughput to satisfy the demands of a global
market. Case packing in particular is a common bottleneck.
Typically, cartoners are installed at the ends of production
lines, and then complementary pack stations fill the completed
cardboard boxes with packaged consumer products. The
speediest facilities can erect, orient, transport, fill, tape, and
label several hundred cartons per minute.
The conveyors involved in these functions are often quite
customized — essentially built from scratch as engineering
“white-sheet” designs. Here, both pneumatic and servomotor-
based systems are common. However, carton packing involving
wrapped food products increasingly employ motors fitted
with rotary-to-linear mechanical drives (screws) of one type or
another. That’s in part because motors wear far less quickly than
pneumatics and (perhaps surprisingly) even these cartoning
stations can require washdown.
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Major manufacturers of facial tissues, napkins, paper towels,
and toilet paper typically carton these products in lanes — with
a given case packer station preceded by a lane changer to
service one lane at a time. Depending on the tissue product at
hand, the lane-change actuators in these stations might need to
make strokes to a few feet long. Servomotors paired with linear
mechanical drives are increasingly common here.
Consider the specific function of flap kickers — the automated
fingers that fold a carton’s endflaps open at precisely the correct
time to allow other automated systems to load product into the
carton sans issue. Here, the servomotor designs just mentioned
along with linear guides, carefully selected brake and clutch
components, and motion programming (derived from modeling
and simulation) yield a sufficiently fast design that also maximizes
efficiency. Flap-kicker speeds depend on the size of the carton
(and flaps) currently being erected, so arriving at the proper
servomotor sizes for this application is relatively straightforward.
However, case packing is decidedly more complex, as an
increasing number of operations require the handling of mixed
SKUs in a given batch.
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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE
(continued)
Carton making and packing operations
AUTOMATING CASE PACKING IN THE FIELD
In contrast with tough grains, field crops, and row crops that
can withstand tumbling and dumping into industrial-sized bulk
containers without bruising or other damage, horticultural crops
(including fruits and vegetables) require more delicate handling.
Recent innovations in automated machine design have made this
possible. Such automation is particularly justified for horticultural
foods that fetch high prices. No wonder that automated planting,
weeding, and harvesting have become increasingly common …
along with automated farm packing tasks.
Today, the majority of horticultural farm packing operations are
still done manually, with many handoffs of a given piece of fruit or
vegetable along its journey from field to grocer. However, motion
systems based on six-axis robot and cartesian linear-actuator
arrangements (especially with rack-and-pinion, belt, linear motor,
and screw driven actuation) are seeing increased adoption. These
leverage sensing arrays and crop-specific grippers to separate
nested boxes; collect fruit and vegetable items; place them in
cartons and trays; and stack the containers for transport.
Carton-packing stations should
employ motion elements capable of
quick yet controlled action.
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Quintessential packing operations also benefit. Where these
robots and cartesian arrangements tend industry-standardized
tray formers, they supply corrugated cardboard from a pallet
stack — moving from dock to machine at several meters per
second in some cases. The cartesian variations often assume
gantry-type morphologies for space savings, minimized
maintenance, and long travel lengths (to many dozens of feet)
of multiple carriages. Automated tray-former tending also
serves to reduce incidences of back sprain in plant personnel,
as cardboard can be surprisingly heavy. Sensing arrays and
functional safety capabilities detect when personnel are present,
and motion should cease; that’s essential to protect works from
harm and to allow manual overrides … as when unusual or low-
quantity units need processing by the tray former.
Articulated six-axis robots handle large payloads and (with
automatic program and gripper swaps) execute a variety of
functions, though can be costly and (if not traveling a seventh-
axis track) limited in physical reach. They can also require
specialty programming and a lot of plant floorspace to allow for
sufficient safety fencing.
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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE

(continued)
Carton making and packing operations

LINEAR MOTION IN CASE FORMING

AND PACKING
In contrast with small cartesian systems used in pick-
and-place packing operations (covered elsewhere
in this Design Guide) cartesian systems for the raw
material-handling tasks of packaging must be capable
of relatively long strokes to many dozens of feet in
some cases. In some cases, integrated servomotors
with onboard drives mounted on the cartesian
assembly allow for flexible distributed control that
outperforms traditional architectures commanded
by controllers in a central cabinet. For all but the
most complex packing operations, such distributed
architectures is sufficient … even if there are multiple
carriages on a given axis.
This cartesian arrangement uses multiple axes to create boxes out of cardboard.

The FR-E800 built-in PLC enables easy “point-to-point” position control without encoders or other
hardware, and the built-in multi-protocol enables easy switching between communication networks.
Achieve predictive and preventative maintenance with internal AI technology for intelligent drive
monitoring and diagnostics. Image: Mitsubishi Electric

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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE

(continued)
Carton making and packing operations

Linear actuation is heavily used for material-handling tasks in packaging applications. Image: Baloncici

120,000 cans per hour. The system is basically a repackaging

APPLICATION EXAMPLE FOR PACKAGING
VARIETY PACKS
A packaging trend that originated in the U.S. is now spreading
to a growing number of other countries — the consumer-
pleasing variety or rainbow pack. Such packs contain several
different flavors of a given product line … though due to the
increased complexity, are normally used for costlier beverages
such as premium beers, energy drinks, and hard seltzers. But for
beverage producers, variety packs can introduce customers to
several product variants at a go.
Systems abound for producing packs like these … though many
still rely on manual tasks, so are operated by consignment
companies, and can only handle low quantities.
KHS Group, a global manufacturer of filling and packaging
systems for the beverage and liquid food industries, now offers
an automated line configuration that enables the production of
variety packs in the high-capacity ranges — processing up to
line which separates containers that have already been
placed on trays and pallets on the actual production line and
recombines them to form mixed packs.
To this end, beverage cans are fed by type to the repackaging
line from the warehouse on pallets and trays. Two robots first
depalletize the different product types while pushers separate
the trays into individual rows. Two vacuum unpackers then lift
the cans off the tray and place them in separate positions on the
conveyor belt. From here the cans travel in single adjacent lanes
to the packaging machine, with a different flavor in each line.
In the machine the containers are then grouped into packs of
four, six, eight, 12, 18, or 24 or other mixed packs and packaged
in closed boxes. Smaller FullyEnclosed packs are returned to
the trays previously emptied. These have run through the line
parallel to the cans and can therefore be reused. With larger
packs, additional packaging for transport is not needed as these
are stable enough to be palletized as they are and are conveyed
straight to the palletizer.

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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE

(continued)
Carton making and packing operations

Depending on the configuration of the

repackaging line, different mixes of two, three,
four or six flavors are possible. The system
uses KHS Innopack PPZs — proven in the
returnables industry and now updated for this
new application.

Three logical arguments speak for the offline

system that is independent of the production
setup. Firstly, a much higher level of investment
would be needed to have the respective
product types run from four different fillers
directly to a FullyEnclosed packer. Secondly,
the fillers would all have to run at the same
speed and with the same efficiency and
stability. Thirdly, the containers could be placed
loose on the pallet to allow elimination of the
unpacker. But here, an additional palletizer for
loose containers would have to be installed on
the existing line. The remaining beverage cans
wouldn’t be saleable without further processing
if a disruption caused a surplus of one product
type or another to be produced.

The new KHS design can be combined with

any existing line — most of which are already
equipped with a tray packer.

KHS has also devised line configurations for

the medium and high-capacity ranges. For
example, in the variant for up to 36,000 cans
per hour, a robot performs depalletizes the
products and unpacks the containers from
the trays. This makes the line footprint more
compact and lowers upfront cost.

ADDITIONAL READING
What is a motor control center (MCC)?

Sensors aid packaging machine flexibility

Linear motion systems for packaging designs

Brushed motors for industrial applications

Repackaging products into variety packs is most common for canned beverages.
That’s why the new KHS repacker has been designed so that cans can be placed
loose on trays. (Sources: KHS Group and Jan Schwerdtfeger)

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Filling in
packaging
operations
P
ower-transmission and motion-control components
abound in packing-industry liquid and gel-filling
machines. In fact, the motion systems built of such
components serve to control, orient, organize and
otherwise guide containers; shuttle them through
filling carousels or linear stations; synchronize them with fill-
head arrays that dispense the liquid product; and transport
them onward to capping, sealing, and labeling cells. One of
the primary tasks of such systems is to coordinate the motion
of said containers with the filling rate so that each unit receives
a precisely controlled volume of product — typically to within
a half percent or better of the target volume. Complicating

Shown here is an array of stainless-steel nozzles for high-throughput Bottle filling applications in the food and beverage industry are as
bottle filling. Image: Surasak Petchang varied as the substances involved. Shown here is an olive-oil filling
operation in Spain.

matters is how such filling often occurs as the containers a whiz

through or around each station on the line at exceptionally high
speeds; how many operations require changeovers to serve
the product of different end products; and how sauce, soup,
jelly, and beverage liquid viscosities especially can vary with the
conditions of the machine and factory environment.

Where fillers handle different beverages, isolation of the fluid

from the system pumps and network (save for the filling head)
maximizes cleanability and prevents cross contamination.
Enclosed linear systems as well as motor and gearing elements
having stainless-steel housings and food-grade lubricant further
protect against contamination.

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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE

(continued)
Filling in packaging operations

Electric-motor-based systems abound in can and bottle-filling applications.

THE SPECIAL CASE OF FORM-FILL-SEAL (FFS)
MACHINES
So far, we’ve considered the filling of bottles, cans, and pouches
(or tubes) with liquid. But what of powders, granule products, and
even discrete products such as cookies that are flowed into their
respective packaging types? Here, vertical and horizonal form-
fill-seal or FFS machines such as four-side sealers, edge sealers
and sachet makers, pillow-pack makers, and flow wrappers are
commonly put to use. These packing machines feature a spool
(web) of unwelded wrapping material that flows through a circuit to
be partially sealed, merge with discretely dispensed product being
packaged, and then sealed.
Bulk goods packed by FFS machines include grains and rice, nuts,
animal feed and pet foods, tobacco, powdered chemicals, flours
and sugars, snack mixes, crafting glitter and confetti, and shipping
materials. Discrete goods packed by FFS machines include
electronics, toys, stationery, small medical devices, candies and
cookies, teabags, and loose pills and capsules. Advanced motion
controllers, programming, and HMIs let operators process a variety
of items on a given line; predefined recipes speed changeovers.
Though beyond the scope of this Design Guide, it’s worth noting
that some FFS machines take the form of blow-fill-seal machines to
package liquids in bottles and vials much like the FFS packaging of
dry goods and products just described.

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 PICK-AND-PLACE
FUNCTIONS IN
PACKAGING
OPERATIONS

Pick-and-place operations are core to automated packaging of delicate foodstuffs. Image: Dashark

P
ick and place in the context of machines for packing
typically involves the handling of discrete products
(from the size of a cookie to the size of a sports-
drink skid) by fixed cartesian arrangements, delta
robots, or SCARA robotic arms. In fact, pick-and-
place operations are excellent candidates for automation,
as the work (if done manually) tends to be quite dull and
monotonous and therefore prone to error.

Consider box loaders — those machine designs that stack

filled, wrapped, and in many cases cartoned goods into
larger cases to transport. The motion workcell orients and
queues each unit on the infeed conveyor, and then a pick-
and-place machine flanking this conveyor (and outfitted
with machine vision) loads the units into boxes. Once
filled, the box travels on an outfeed conveyor to make way
for the next empty case — and ride onward to taping and
Food-industry pick-and-place image: John6863373
labeling stations.

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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE
(continued)
Pick-and-place functions in packaging operations

Now consider a four-axis (X-Y-Z and base rotation) pick-and-place

motion system for loading pallets for shipping. Here, linear systems that
are preassembled by the motion-component supplier are increasingly
common, as these can be furnished preprogrammed as well. Though
linear axes based on ballscrews (flanked by linear guides) driven by
a gearhead-fitted servomotor are most common, linear-motor-based
solutions are employed on particularly demanding or challenging axes
Servomotors with low inertia support the quick accelerations needed by
Linear systems can
pick-and-place operations.
actuate pick-and-
place stations.
Rotary direct-drive servomotors increasingly drive rotary axes at the
base and end effort of the system. Such motors help pick-and-place
operations achieve the exceptionally high precision and speed required
by high-throughput workcells — especially those associated with the
processing of foods and other consumer goods.

The MR-J4-TM multi-network Servo Drive combines

the industry-leading performance of the MR-J4 family
of servos with common industrial Ethernet protocols
including EtherNet/IP™, EtherCAT®, and PROFINET®.
Image: Mitsubishi Electric

Mitsubishi Electric’s
Kinematic Library allows
for easy implementation
of 2 Degree of Freedom
Parallel Link arms
in a Compact PLC.
We’ve made it easy to
implement this pick &
place mechanism into
your packaging machine.
Image: Mitsubishi Electric

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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE
(continued)
Pick-and-place functions in packaging operations

MR-J5 servos support Ethernet-based CC-Link IE TSN, featuring high-

PICK-PLACE SOFTWARE CONSIDERATIONS speed, large-capacity communication (1 Gbps), communication cycle of
≥ 31.25 μs, and speed frequency response of 3.5 kHz, enabling advanced
High-speed networking (increasingly Ethernet-based) can further motion control. Image: Mitsubishi Electric
boost machine speeds as well as simplify motor drive and controls
configuration upon startup. Smooth motions (with accelerations
and decelerations free of impulse and jerk) can keep delicate or
liquid-based end product intact (and firmly grasped) during lifting,
lowering, and traversing — and also helps machines and support
assemblies minimize mechanical wear to achieve their expected life.
Here again, optimized multi-axis motion profiles are key to achieving
these smooth and efficient trajectories.

Perhaps no other industry has more preprogrammed software

modules than packaging … and options abound from motion
suppliers that sell of offer as a value-add an array of pick-and-place
modules adhering to both proprietary and industry-conforming
standards (such as Packaging Machine Language or PackML) as
well as templates. Segmented programming roughly associated
with separate machine sections as well as HMI accessibility render
routines and tags easy to understand and reuse.

MR-J5 EtherCAT-compatible amplifiers support Fail Safe over EtherCAT (FSoE) for increased safety,
performance, and reliability. Image: Mitsubishi Electric

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LABEL PRINTING AND SCANNING
IN PACKAGING OPERATIONS
Automated labeling machine image: Baloncici

Beverage label-maker image: Manuel Ribeiro

O
ne of the most common forms of labeling in Sizing motion components for this application often requires
the packaging industry involves affixing self- separate consideration of the label-web feed axle (axis), take-up
adhesive branding and designation stickers to web-tensioning reel, and spent web backing axle (axis). The
discrete end units off a spool off said stickers. forces and speeds as well as the continually changing spool
Though the applications for food and beverage geometries and inertias are primary considerations.
products are most visible, this type of labeling is used in the
pharmaceutical, petrochemical, electronics, and home
goods industries as well.

In this spool-based automated labeling operation, discrete

products ride on a conveyor into a separating station
that evenly spaces them out. Then the products travel
onward to the label-station proper. Here, a three wheels
work in conjunction to intermittently drag the unwound
and peeled back portion of the label spool across product
surface … sometimes processing 100 feet per minute
or mote of labels. A belt stops and starts the web to
synchronize the labeling-wheel stroke with that of the
conveyor upon which the discrete products are riding.
Either closed or open-loop control of the label-wheel axle
position maintains proper web tension. To ensure straight
and centered placement, a machine-vision camera or other
sensor reads a mark on each sticker to inform the controls
of any slight drive-wheel adjustments required during
deceleration and final application.
Labelers include several
coordinated motion axes.

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STRETCH WRAPPING
IN PACKAGING OPERATIONS
Shown here is a shrink-wrapping station for the packing of beverage bottles. Image: Dedmityay
S
tretch wrapping is essential to bundling a wide array
of goods into transportable and salable units. Such
packing also serves to protect the discrete items in the
pack … and simplify distribution. Where consumers
will see the shrink wrapping, it must be especially
attractive and rugged. In fact, stretch wrapping (thanks to its
effectiveness and relative simplicity) has over the last 10 years
become the leading choice for unitized goods distribution.
Of course, some production warehouses employ partially
automated approaches. Here, workers affix film to bundle
being wrapped and then reach or walk around said bundle
multiple times with a wrap bar. Elsewhere, a bundle might be
manually placed onto a rotating turntable so that an machine
executes the rest of the wrapping process. In contrast, fully
automated stretch-wrap operations employ conveyors to load
and unload bundles into and out of turntable stations that
apply, wrap, and cut film off a web at exceptionally high rates.
Rotary and linear motion designs (including three-axis gantry
systems) complement the core conveyor and machine-vision
systems that enable this application.
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ELIMINATING DISTORTION AND CREASING IN
SHRINK FILM
One leading brand among carbonated natural spring waters is
Badoit, a bottler from Saint-Galmier in the Département de la
Loire, southwest of Lyon in France. Quality packaging is key to
the brand’s reputation. The mineral water plant has therefore
opted for bottles with a long, elegant neck — a unique feature
on the French market.
The unusual bottle shape is key to brand recognition, but a
challenge for the shrink packers used by the water bottler. In the
past, multipacks often had creases in the film, and the print was
distorted … or the packs weren’t stable enough to withstand
the logistics. Plus outmoded packaging machines were no
longer considered efficient or fast enough. So Badoit’s parent
company Danone Waters launched a competition between its
individual brands and production plants to develop a packaging
machine capable of improved shrink film processing. Here, it
was especially important that the lettering and brand logo on
the packs was neither distorted nor creased.
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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE

(continued)
Stretch wrapping in packaging operations

Vegetable flow-wrapping operations must maintain high throughput.

Several months of subsequent improvements — including a way

to more accurately distribute the hot air supply on both lanes of
the shrink station — yielded a machine capable of outputting
crease-free packaging. (A specially designed central-tunnel
nozzle featuring perforated nozzle plates also helps create
crease-free packs.) The KHS Kisters shrink packer can now
process films of a much lower thickness. The machine also uses
an optimum width of film per pack thanks to film web control.

Badoit and its operators benefit from fully automatic film web
control that’s easy to handle and ensures consistently high
packaging quality. This new feature trimmed material waste
even while allowing the wrapping of 37,000 bottles into packs
of six on two lanes at the existing line speed.
Shrink-wrap machine image courtesy KHS
The S-Carriage InstaThread Pre-stretch Film Carriage from Orion Packaging
Systems can help packaging facilities save up to 15% on film per load — a
Following promising tests, KHS was ultimately awarded the substantial savings to help offset the rising cost of film seen over the past
contract for the project. Under the supervision of Christian year. At the heart of the carriage design are two pre-stretched rollers. Film
travels in an S pattern around the rollers, providing over 180° of film contact
Schilling, head of the shrink tunnel development group at
to reduce slippage and neckdown. The result is a consistent pre-stretch of
KHS, the machine and systems manufacturer put together an 260% at different tensions and 1 in. less neckdown.
experienced team of design engineering experts.

The expert team’s first task was to develop new components for
Badoit’s packaging machines. The packaging specialists in Kleve
subjected all system parts to thorough testing. After several
optimization loops the improved components were integrated
into the latest generation of the KHS shrink packer. Then the
KHS team replaced an old KHS Kisters shrink packer from 1986
with the new packaging machine. Finally, engineers focused on
optimizing the system and its processes during production.

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 PET bottle
manufacturing
F
or all their environmental drawbacks,
plastic bottles do in fact make modern
life easier — and are among the plastic
packaging items with the highest rates
recycling. Most of these bottles are
made of the thermoplastic known as
polyethylene terephthalate or PET because the
material is strong, impermeable, light, attractive,
and recyclable. After polymerization processing
with techniques to minimize diethylene glycol,
the goal during the molding process is to use
techniques minimizing residual acetaldehyde.
Heated PET is loaded on a parison tube mold and
then cut to length. The parison warms and enters
a bottle-shaped mold. Then a mandrel enters the
parison to blow pressurized air and stretch the PET
to the shape of the mold’s geometry. Molecular
polarization, cooling, and finished bottle ejection
follow.

Motion components abound in automated

PET-bottle manufacturing systems. In some cases,
multiple synchronized carriages execute PET-
material place functions while a rodless electric
actuator executes the insertion and removal strokes
of the molding task itself.

In fact, highly controllable rodless actuators

based on electric-motor operation have come to
replace hydraulic cylinders in many PET-bottle
manufacturing machines, as rodless actuators can
offer faster, simpler, and more efficient operation
with less risk of contamination.

LIGHTWEIGHTING BOTTLE PACKAGING

Because the global supply chains for recycled food-
grade materials is incomplete, some packagers have
strived to lightweight their bottles. This reduces the
amount of plastic rereleased into the environment and
Motion components are key to PET-bottle molding operations.
reduces transportation costs. Image: Africa Rising Agency

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 MACHINE DESIGNS FOR PACKAGING I MOTION DESIGN GUIDE

(continued)
PET bottle manufacturing

Images: Phuchit

Elsewhere, PET packaging has come to replace other package

types. Some employs ThermaSet PET in place of glass; bottle
lightweighting with thin-wall variations as well as texturization ADDITIONAL READING
and vertical banding; hybrid construction with polyolefins; and Recipes in the context of HMIs
handless designs. All of these options present unique challenges
for the automated machinery that produces them. What is a direct drive in the context of motion applications?

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