Food and Beverage Packaging March 2012 : Page 18

PMMI Corner FIVE PACKAGING MACHINERY TRENDS TO WATCH FOR IN 2012 The top trends that every packaging professional needs to know. here have been signiﬁ cant developments in packaging technology over the last several years. As the wheel of innovation continues to turn, brand owners are discover-ing the new technologies and using them to enhance efﬁ ciency, food safety and ease of use in packaging and processing equipment. Fol-lowing are some of the trends every packaging professional should stay on top of: T tween machines/operators occurs via smart phones, iPads and even Skype. TREND 4: More Emphasis on Hygienic Design, Cleanability, Allergen Control TREND 1: Machines Your Grandmother Could Operate BY BEN MIYARES The more advanced they get, the easier packaging machines are to use. For example: • Greater use of dashboards and other graphics on operator interfaces; • Touchscreen-operated systems; • The growing adoption of “open,” non-proprietary controls for robotics; • Smart cameras that use onboard light-ing and image processing to facilitate root cause analysis and troubleshooting functionality. TREND 2: No Machine is an Island To prove processing and packaging equipment is clean and safe for producing food products, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is mandating easy washdown of equipment and laboratory tests and manufacturing proce-dures as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). In addition, it’s likely that the role of packaging operators will expand to include cleaning and maintenance, making it important that machine adjustments be tool-less. TREND 5: Smaller Runs, Nimbler Changeovers PMMI organizes the PACK EXPO trade shows: PACK EXPO International, PACK EXPO Las Vegas and EXPO PACK México, connecting participants in the packaging and processing supply chain with their customers around the world. Coming Up: EXPO PACK México, June 26–29 in Mexico City, Mexico; PACK EXPO International at McCormick Place in Chicago, Oct. 28–31, 2012. Learn more about PMMI and the PACK EXPO trade shows at PMMI.org and Packexpo.com. The days of having machinery operate in isolation are numbered. Equipment is becom-ing more integrated than ever before. This trend is supported by: • Greater machine-to-machine communi-cation on the packaging line, between the packaging line and the plant, and between the plant and higher level man-ufacturing execution and enterprise re-source planning systems; and • Lighter, smaller, faster working machines and robots. TREND 3: Fewer House Calls Equipment suppliers, particularly in the phar-maceutical industry, are displaying a strong will-ingness to provide customized solutions. Watch for a variety of blister-packaging machines engi-neered for short runs and quick changeover. Re-duced cost tooling and small footprints are ex-panding options for new and existing products Brand owners can expect to see these trends and more at PACK EXPO International 2012, being held October 28-31, at Chicago’s Mc-Cormick Place. To register, visit www.packex-po.com or contact PMMI’s Show Department at 703-243-8555 or expo@pmmi.org. F&BP Ben Miyares, President, The Packaging Man-agement Institute, Inc., is the former vice president of industry relations, PMMI and now lends his knowledge as a consultant on packaging trends to the organization. About PMMI PMMI is a trade association of about 600 mem-ber companies that manufacture packaging, pro-cessing and related converting machinery in the United States or Canada; machinery components and packaging containers and materials. PMMI's vision is to be the leading global resource for the packaging and processing supply chain, and its mission is to improve and promote members' abilities to meet the needs of their customers. There’s an undeniable trend toward reduc-ing in-person service calls. Instead, “machine doctors” check on their patients using remote operations, diagnostics and service channels to send and receive data, pictures and instruc-tions for ﬁ xes. By making diagnoses and adjustments in real time, over secure digital lines, brand owners can reduce downtime and lost pro-ductivity. In some cases, communication be-MARCH 18 FOOD & BEVERA GE P A CKA GING 2012 WWW . FOOD ANDBEVERA GEP A CKA GING . COM

PMMI Corner

Ben Miyares

FIVE PACKAGING MACHINERY TRENDS TO WATCH FOR IN 2012 The top trends that every packaging professional needs to know. There have been significant developments in packaging technology over the last several years. As the wheel of innovation continues to turn, brand owners are discovering the new technologies and using them to enhance efficiency, food safety and ease of use in packaging and processing equipment. Following are some of the trends every packaging professional should stay on top of: TREND 1: Machines Your Grandmother Could Operate The more advanced they get, the easier packaging machines are to use. For example: • Greater use of dashboards and other graphics on operator interfaces; • Touchscreen-operated systems; • The growing adoption of “open,” nonproprietary controls for robotics; • Smart cameras that use onboard lighting and image processing to facilitate root cause analysis and troubleshooting functionality. TREND 2: No Machine is an Island The days of having machinery operate in isolation are numbered. Equipment is becoming more integrated than ever before. This trend is supported by: • Greater machine-to-machine communication on the packaging line, between the packaging line and the plant, and between the plant and higher level manufacturing execution and enterprise resource planning systems; and • Lighter, smaller, faster working machines and robots. TREND 3: Fewer House Calls There’s an undeniable trend toward reducing in-person service calls. Instead, “machine doctors” check on their patients using remote operations, diagnostics and service channels to send and receive data, pictures and instructions for fixes. By making diagnoses and adjustments in real time, over secure digital lines, brand owners can reduce downtime and lost productivity. In some cases, communication be tween machines/operators occurs via smart phones, iPads and even Skype. TREND 4: More Emphasis on Hygienic Design, Cleanability, Allergen Control To prove processing and packaging equipment is clean and safe for producing food products, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is mandating easy washdown of equipment and laboratory tests and manufacturing procedures as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). In addition, it’s likely that the role of packaging operators will expand to include cleaning and maintenance, making it important that machine adjustments be tool-less. TREND 5: Smaller Runs, Nimbler Changeovers Equipment suppliers, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, are displaying a strong willingness to provide customized solutions. Watch for a variety of blister-packaging machines engineered for short runs and quick changeover. Reduced cost tooling and small footprints are expanding options for new and existing products. Brand owners can expect to see these trends and more at PACK EXPO International 2012, being held October 28-31, at Chicago’s Mc- Cormick Place. To register, visit www.packexpo. com or contact PMMI’s Show Department at 703-243-8555 or expo@pmmi.org. Ben Miyares, President, The Packaging Management Institute, Inc., is the former vice president of industry relations, PMMI and now lends his knowledge as a consultant on packaging trends to the organization. About PMMI PMMI is a trade association of about 600 member companies that manufacture packaging, processing and related converting machinery in the United States or Canada; machinery components and packaging containers and materials. PMMI's vision is to be the leading global resource for the packaging and processing supply chain, and its mission is to improve and promote members' abilities to meet the needs of their customers.

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