06 Aug Incorporation of an online motif control system in flexo converting machinery
Packaging
Riudellots de la Selva
100+ employees
Problem
In flexographic converting machines used to longitudinally cut the material and wind it, winding errors can appear in the final product as a result of the joining of different jobs during the changeover process. To start a new job, the end of the previous material is used to attach the new one, in order to line up the machine. This material is wound during the change process, generating spools with a wrong interior that must be discarded. A human error can consider these coils valid, which once at the customer’s home can lead to justified complaints, the rejection of the entire order, and even the loss of confidence.
Solution
Based on the description of the problem by the customers who use the machine (flexographic producers), and working together with Enprom, Opsis has designed a vision system to inspect all the time the motif that is being wound. In this way, the system stops the machine and informs the operator when it detects that the pattern of the material changes. The alarm can only be cleared when the operator swaps the machine turret, forcing to discard the job that was wound.
The system integrated in the machine has its own user interface where the inspection it performs is displayed. The characteristics of the work are recorded and its control is carried out. It also has a configuration panel and a machine activity log.
Results
This vision system has made possible to provide a conversion machine with a control element against human operating errors, making it more reliable.
Producers of flexographic material are increasingly looking for guarantees of the quality of the product they manufacture in the machinery they use. Reliability above any other feature. The elimination of defective products from the production chain so that they do not reach the final delivery means avoiding heavy penalties, returns, and even the loss of the customer.
Apart from these direct benefits, the new system allows productive improvements. Producers can make a more exhaustive monitoring of the product manufactured by each of the machines and the operation that is done. In this way, they can improve efficiency and detect gaps in staff training.