A well packaged partnership
Packaging materials handling machine builder, Asmech Systems
attributes much of its success to a special working relationship with its
pneumatic automation partner, an alliance that has evolved from simple
component supply to turnkey support services
Nottinghamshire based Asmech Systems builds automated packaging materials
handling machines and is currently focusing its attention on the rapidly
growing bottling sector - especially plastic bottles and cartons. A core
product is its automatic tray packer, which accommodates most PET or HDPE
bottles at speeds up to 4,000 units per hour. Hitherto, the design of
these machines was led by the availability of automation components and
controls. Where possible, the company used off-the-shelf subsystems to
integrate into its equipment. Festo standard valve components were
originally specified, then Asmech decided to source the entire control
panel, comprising valve terminals and air preparation facilities, from
the pneumatics company. Following a design enhancement to include an
electronics control panel with an advanced operator interface, Asmech
once more turned to Festo, whose IPC (Industrial PC) controller fit the
bill.
The design of our tray packer is successful, mature and stable which
allows us to deliver consistent and reliable packing performance to our
customers, though enhancements are always being considered, says
technical manager, Mark Henshaw. We ended up working with Festo on the
whole automation package which gave us access to applications resources,
budget and time-scale planning, plus support commitments. And when we
required a rapid response and fast product turnaround, our supplier
delivered. Asmech now specifies the operator panel for various
applications and Festo builds them, a formula that is working well for
the machine builder's latest project, the Series 2000 semi-automatic
palletiser. Here again, Asmech partnered with Festo for its automation
needs and actuation strategy.
The Series 2000 eliminates the manual task of removing bottle trays. The
machines collate empty blown bottles and create a palletised stack of
fully loaded trays on layer pads. On the twin feed version, bottles are
fed from both sides to double throughput, offering speeds in excess of
10,000 units per hour and fast product changeover. With the number of
I/Os on this machine exceeding 100 (approximately 130 signals at the
processor interface), Festo advised on the adoption of fieldbus. Mr
Henshaw admits that at the time, he was unsure about fieldbus, but a day
spent at his supplier's technical centre in Northampton demonstrated the
advantages and allayed his fears. Profibus DP reduces the wiring and
simplifies the system to save time and cost during build, installation
and commissioning.