Bag/pouch fill/seal (pre-made bags)

OMAC group tackles packaging motion standards

OMAC (Open Modular Architecture Controls) Motion for Packaging Working Group hammers out a specific mission and four key areas to simplify motion controls for packaging machinery. Areas include: defining business benefits of open controls; standardize on programming languages; standardize on network protocols; foster education in motion control technologies in tech schools and colleges.

February 29, 2000

Controls & Machine Components: Page 316

Controls & Machine Components

Relocations, expansions

Mitsubishi Polyester Film (Greer, SC) will increase its capacity by more than 20ꯠ tons at the Greer facility by 2003.—Pester USA (Allendale, NJ) has doubled the size of its facility and staff by relocating to 7 Pearl Ct., Allendale, NJ 07401; phone: 201/327-7009, fax: 201/327-7824.—Spear Inc.

February 29, 2000

Conveying & accumulation

Controls push speed limit

U.S. Sugar fills two 5-lb bags/sec with better than ±0.1% accuracy thanks to a state-of-the-art sugar-filling line powered by the latest in servo drive, PLC and networking technology.

February 29, 2000

Controls & Machine Components

Networks on the rise, packagers say

Nearly half of survey respondents have few or no networked packaging lines. Yet more than half anticipate specifying them in the next two years, say packagers in an exclusive PW survey.

February 29, 2000

Controls & Machine Components

Packaging controls standards group formed

The movement toward standardizing motion controls for packaging machinery took a small but critical step forward in early February. An official working group for standardizing on motion controls in packaging machinery was created at the recent Open Modular Architecture Controls (OMAC) end user meeting held in Orlando, FL.

February 29, 2000

Controls & Machine Components

PCs offer strengths in other areas

The following letter was received in response to a two-part series by David Newcorn, Special Projects Editor, on PC vs PLC controls, published in September and December 1999 (see packworld.com/go/pcctrl).

February 29, 2000

Controls & Machine Components

Controls sites offer education

Controls suppliers are valuable resources that can benefit packaging professionals who want to learn more about controls.

February 29, 2000

Coding, Printing & Labeling

PDC International Corp.: Shrink labeler for irregular-shaped products

Recommended for labeling irregular or awkwardly shaped products such as tape rolls, the PDC R-300 shrink labeler from PDC (South Norwalk, CT) applies sleeves at speeds to 350 pieces/min.

February 29, 2000

Controls & Machine Components

Formost Fuji Corporation: Patty bagger

The frozen meat patty bagger from Formost (Woodinville, WA) packs up to 55 bags/min of frozen, 5”-dia hamburger-type patties. The machine accommodates patties that are stacked in a roll like pennies, or flat patties.

February 29, 2000

Filling/capping, dry

All-Fill Inc: Auger filler

The servo-driven B-400SV auger filler from All-Fill (Exton, PA) fills powder, granular and liquid products in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and chemical industries.

February 29, 2000

Cartoning

Schneider Electric ELAU Packaging Solutions: PC-based controller

Suitable for use in form/fill/seal, flow wrapping, cartoning, labeling and blister forming machinery, the PacDrive™ PC-based controller/servo drive system from Elau (Chicago, IL) is a fully digital system that replaces mechanical main shafts.

February 29, 2000

Feeding/inserting/unscrambling

Partition former/inserter

The YH1900 partition inserter from R.A. Pearson (Spokane, WA) laminates corner posts, then forms and folds H-style partitions (as shown with product) from flat blanks before placing them into RSC or HSC cases or display trays.

February 29, 2000

Controls & Machine Components

Automation Intelligence: Automation Intelligence: Motion control software

AML®, said to be the first software-only motion controller, is now available for any PC running Windows NT containing a Sanyo Denki SMS-PCI interface card.

February 29, 2000