High Speed Packaging/Conveying
IPACT designed, implemented, and installed the complete Level 1 control system and HMI for a high speed packaging/conveying line in a snack food manufacturers’ plant. The line originated at a empty carton erector which provided up to 100 empty cartons per minute. These were conveyed to robotic carton filler. Filled cartons were then conveyed to a carton sealer, and then to a case packer, and then to a shipping area. The conveyors were divided up into sections, each of which had lifting rails to lift cartons off of the conveyor when there was no upstream demand (due to a jam or machine that was down). Operators could take over any device (conveyor section, machine permissive, rail lifting solenoid, etc.) manually from the HMI without interrupting other automatic operations on the line.Subsequent to the installation of the above conveying line, IPACT was chosen by the same manufacturer to provide the Level 1 automation for a new type of high speed packaging line (in a different plant). This system controlled the collection, indexing, and conveying of product, as well as the erecting, filling, and gluing of cartons and separation of rejects. The process was extremely high speed, and challenged the capabilities even of modern Level 1 PLCs, but the automation system engineered by IPACT successfully negotiated these challenges and is now running several of these packaging lines successfully at speeds higher than the original target.
Integrated Process Automation & Control Technologies