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The integration of the automatic packaging system: how to harness the power of data

Packaging Systems | Andrea Ruggiero, 13 April 2021

The automation of the packaging line is the ideal solution for companies that need to optimize their production processes, reduce costs and obtain at the same time a final result in line with the needs and expectations of customers. This is all the more true if it is possible to integrate data from the upstream production process and other systems.

In this way the automatic packaging systems allow companies to become more and more performing: in addition to greater speed and precision of operations, it will be possible to collect and manage numerous data and information useful for both ongoing production (and future ones) and for the final customer.

Data, in fact, are among the strategic assets of our era and, if managed so as to exploit their full potential, they help guide business decisions and strategies. It is therefore essential to implement solutions that allow you to manage this precious information asset.

Data integration in reel packaging: advantages and solutions

In relation to the requests of your customers and the level of automation of your company, you must carefully choose solutions that are able to integrate with other systems and that allow you to track and store data relating to the processed reels.

In general, we have said that in order for data to be truly useful to the company, it must be collected, transmitted, processed and managed correctly and reliably. The integration of this data can be carried out at different levels of the production cycle, generating numerous advantages.

Process integration

The integration of data between the production line, the company ERP and the packaging system allows you to manage all activities relating to the final part of the process in a fully automatic manner.

For example, it will be possible to integrate the end of line with the packaging system so that the latter automatically receives information regarding the production and geometric data of the reels.In addition, thanks to data integration and a label control system, it will be possible to quickly monitor the correctness of the packaging recipe.

The integration of data during the entire production process also allows you to collect all the information relating to the process and proceed with their digital archiving, allowing the end customer to know the complete history of the reel.

Better quality control and defect traceability

By integrating the packaging line with the data collected by the product inspection system located in the upstream line, it will be possible to track and segregate any defective reels.

It will also be possible, in the phase immediately preceding packaging and shipping, to carry out verifications of the quality of the reels produced to identify and correct any errors or discrepancies.

The possibilities of digital integration of the A.Celli R-WAY® automatic packaging system

The A.Celli R-WAY® automatic packaging system is a modular solution for the management and packaging of reels, adaptable to any layout and any production line. From the point of view of data integration, the solution we offer has numerous possibilities.

Thanks, for example, to our A.Celli Defect Management System (DMS) it will be possible to detect and segregate the defective reels before leaving the packaging line, thus avoiding reel packaging operations that do not comply with the customer's needs.

The A.Celli R-WAY® automatic packaging system can also be integrated with various ERPs with which it will interface thanks to specially structured access tables in which production orders and the details of the individual reels and packs processed will be stored.

The data sent to the packaging system will be used to uniquely identify the material to be processed and the required packaging configuration. It will also be possible to customize the labels and satisfy any further packaging needs of a specific customer or product. All this will lead to obtaining a finished product packaged fully compliant with the customer's requests.

To verify the consistency between the processes carried out by the packaging line and the actual final result of the process in terms of package composition, A.Celli also offers its Label Verification System. Our solution consists of a system of cameras, installed along the packaging line, capable of scanning the labels applied on the cores, on the external surface of the reels and on the bundles obtained at the end of the process. The information contained in the labels will be read and compared with the information entered in the ERP in order to verify the actual coincidence.

Another opportunity offered by the integration is our A.Celli iReel solution: a system for tracking and archiving data and reel characteristics on special electronic labels using RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology. By applying these labels on the cores it will be possible to provide each roll with an identification code capable of certifying the quality of both the final product and the individual phases of the value creation process.

Our solution therefore allows us to overcome the limitations of current data tracking systems based mainly on the use of optical barcode readers that involve direct visual contact: a constraint that conditions the efficiency, reliability and speed of the automatic packaging. Then, by combining optical tracking with RFID, interesting system developments open up throughout the entire distribution chain, up to the sale of the finished product.

So, to summarize, A.Celli offers the following solutions for data integration with the R-WAY® automatic packaging system:

  • DMS (Defect Management System)
  • Integration with corporate ERPs
  • Label Verification System
  • iREEL

Conclusions

The digital integration of data and their structured and efficient management will increasingly contribute to achieving high levels of efficiency and reliability of production processes, consolidating the competitive advantage of companies that will be able to exploit the enormous potential of these precious assets.

If you want more information on the advantages of an automatic packaging system, download our free eBook “The ultimate guide to Automatic Reel Packaging”.

CTA - ENG-Packaging-ebook-The complete guide to Automatic Reel Packaging