Page 53 - Packaging News Magazine May-June 2019

MACHINERY MATTERS
“If you don’t have that expertise, you can look to bring it in, or you can seek out other experts in the area,” he said.
Parrington agreed, saying seeking external help is one way Pact has tried to overcome the skills gap. “We try to understand what we don’t know, and where we’re not skilled we bring people in,” he said.
Lastly, Barber said integration of data and systems is vital to the success of a cloud-based Industry 4.0 project.
“Already there’s silos of data in every manufacturing company. Just pushing them into the cloud and creating more silos in a different place doesn’t solve the problem,” he said.
ON THE FLOOR
In the main hall, a number of companies were showing off their IIoT-integrated technologies, including Contract Packaging Systems with the Siat ProWrap wrapper, NORD Drivesystems and its Nordac Link drive solution, and Linco’s Espera Nova weigh price labellers.
The Open IIoT group, a consortium comprising NORD Drivesystems for drives; Beckhoff for PLCs; SMC for pneumatics; Balluff for sensors; and ZI-Argus for software, had a stand on the floor devoted to explaining how Industry 4.0 could benefit manufacturers, including a live demo system integrating a variety of systems into a combined solution.
According to Jason Bouyer, managing director of Balluff, the consortium exists to help show business owners the benefits of IIoT solutions.
“The longer you kick the can down the road, the bigger the gap becomes.”
– John Broadbent
“We’re here to assist companies in the education process for Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things. It’s about four companies coming together at a supplier and componentry level, and using ZI-Argus as a software platform to deliver meaningful information about what’s possible with the products.
“We have a multitude of different products from different suppliers in this demo system, but the key is what you can extract out of these products in your journey towards smarter manufacturing or IIoT. What it does from there is translate onto the ZI-Argus software platform, which helps diagnostics deliver meaningful data and information,” he said.
One Industry 4.0 system on display was the Siat ProWrap, distributed in Australia by Contract
Packaging Systems, which is connected to the cloud to enable monitoring of machine data.
Carol Pignatelli, global product manager for
Siat, said solutions like the ProWrap can help packagers save time and money in their operations.
“It’s quite new in the packaging industry, and can help the customer to optimise their business,” she said. “The benefits of Industry 4.0 enabled equipment such as the ProWrap include service and monitoring, measurement, benchmarking, and optimisation of output.”
Whether you were seated in the conference
or wandering the exhibition floor, the impact of Industry 4.0 could be felt everywhere at AUSPACK – and was impossible to ignore.
MAIN: Industry 4.0 experts: (L-R) Paul Barber of Lighthouse Systems, Pact Group's Michael Parrington, Richard Roberts of Open IIoT, Alan Spreckley of ABB, and John Broadbent.
ABOVE: (L-R) Carol Pignatelli, Siat; Wayne Robinson, associate editor PKN; and Rosa Stroszynski, CPS.
TOP: Educating packagers: Jason Bouyer, Balluff.
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