Among the participants in a packaging machinery automation roundtable discussion that takes place tomorrow at The Automation Conference is Tom Doney, Nestle Engineering and leader of the OMAC Packaging Workgroup’s PackAdvantage committee. I had a chance to chat with him last week about PackML and here are some of the ideas he shared. Nestle Engineering and leader of the OMAC Packaging Workgroup’s PackAdvantage committee. I had a chance to chat with him last week about PackML and here are some of the ideas he shared.
• What all CPG companies would like to get a better handle on is this: Once a new packaging line is up and going, how is it actually doing? If it is not doing so great, then why? What are we going to do to fix it? Then once we think we’ve fixed it, is that fix sustainable?
• What’s too often missing in packaging operations today is some form of automated reporting system. Too much reporting is done with a clipboard. We write down that over this shift we had x number of stoppages and y number of downtimes. After doing that for each unit of operation, we begin to get a picture of what’s going on. What’s needed is some kind of reporting structure or communication structure in the packaging machinery that can report on its status. That way we can automate this stuff and in fact have it display somewhere to help us track just how the line is doing. And if it’s not performing up to expectation, that communication structure I mentioned earlier should have enough granularity to let you dig down and see which machine is the one causing the big problems. With that information we should be able to come up with a fix. PackML is an enabler for some of these things, and it could go a long way toward making our fixes sustainable.
