By Stephanie Neil When designing packaging machinery for adaptability, it’s important to understand how the controls and components impact the way the machine moves, and even more critical to ensure those movements — and the machine itself — are safe. The obvious safety mechanisms include adding emergency stop (e-stop) buttons that will shut down equipment…
Tech Toolbox: Machine design for food automation
Motion system designs run millions of automated food-manufacturing designs worldwide — including those in employed in grain milling, pasta making, and baking; fish and poultry processing; beer, wine, and spirit production; slaughtering and meatpacking; fruit, vegetable, and baby-food packaging, canning, jarring, and freezing; candy making; dairy and cheese making; and oils and fat extraction and…
Stainless steel: The gold standard for equipment cleanliness
The value of safety — both for protecting people from physical harm as well as end users and OEM machine builders from lawsuits — has spurred increased adoption of integrated safety into slicing, baking, and bottling machines especially. Of course, economic pressures must be weighed against sophisticated safety fixtures. Save for a temporary rollback of…
Pneumatics in food manufacture
Pneumatic actuation is ubiquitous in food and beverage-processing equipment because it outperforms electric automation for many tasks. Pneumatics have a lower upfront cost and higher resistance to harsh cleaning — both dry and wet. With minimal electrical or electronic subcomponents at pneumatic axes’ end effectors and points of application interactions, these delicate elements aren’t potential…
Considering enclosures to satisfy food-safety regulations
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) imposes world-class regulations using hazard analysis and third-party certifications to ensure food safety. What’s more, a CDC, FDA, and USDA Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration is currently underway to more precisely pinpoint foodborne-illness origins (including those involving automated machinery) using modern approaches. Expansion of the FDA could boost the…
Where machine design intersects with FSMA rules
Remember that while U.S. food-regulatory agencies don’t directly regulate food equipment, they regulate its use to require cleanliness. As part of FSMA, the Preventive Controls for Human Foods Rule demands that all plants registered with the FDA prepare and implement written food-safety plans — or FSPs for short. These FSPs must identify and outline solutions…
Sanitation and safety for food and beverage equipment
Food and beverage equipment must be safe and sanitary. In fact, food safety in particular is a key factor that will drive ROI for food and beverage manufacturers in coming years. Consider some specific examples: End users of grain milling, pasta making, and baking equipment have increasingly prioritized equipment that is quieter than past iterations…
Improving ISR missions with Change-Bitrate-on-the-Fly technology
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions are rarely executed in controlled laboratory environments — quite the opposite. The platforms — from airborne drones to terrestrial and underwater remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) — that carry ISR payloads are often deployed in the harshest conditions and connected to users and operators over wildly inconsistent communication networks. The…
Cutting-edge manufacturing enables production of diverse vane sizes
Vesconite Bearings recently produced both the smallest and largest vanes in its history. This achievement underscores Vesconite Bearings’ commitment to engineering vanes in air motors, vacuum pumps and concrete vibrators to maximize efficiency, reliability and performance. In June, Vesconite Bearings successfully crafted the tiniest vanes to date, measuring a mere 1.3 mm in thickness, 6.3…
Spacecraft manufacturers use the force
Contributed by Keith Skidmore, Director of Custom Solutions, Sales, Interface When aerospace companies invest billions of dollars to build a spacecraft, they need assurance that their investments are protected. One of the key ways to do this is by force measurement, which provides test and real-time data on the feasibility and safety of lifting major…
Get ready to innovate at Advantech’s World Partner Conference
Advantech is hosting the 2023 Industrial-IoT World Partner Conference, Oct. 26–28 in Taipei, Taiwan. The IoT technology company hosts numerous partner events so that experts from around the globe can congregate, explore the latest tech, and discuss the future. Design World is attending the upcoming Industrial-IoT conference to gain insights on trends and innovations for…
The future of aerospace manufacturing rides on an AGV
Automated Precision Inc. (API) is proud to announce a transformative approach to aerospace manufacturing inspections with its Dynamic 9D LADAR mounted on an autonomous guided vehicle (AGV). The aerospace sector, known for its rigorous quality standards and precision manufacturing requirements, has long sought ways to automate its processes for faster, more accurate data collection. API’s…
Automating labeling, scanning, and PET bottle-making functions
One of the most common forms of labeling in the packaging industry involves affixing self-adhesive branding and designation stickers to discrete end units off a spool off said stickers. Though the applications for food and beverage products are most visible, this type of labeling is used in the pharmaceutical, petrochemical, electronics, and home goods industries…
Pick-and-place functions in packaging operations
Pick and place in the context of machines for packing typically involves the handling of discrete products (from the size of a cookie to the size of a sports-drink skid) by fixed cartesian arrangements, delta robots, or SCARA robotic arms. In fact, pick-and-place operations are excellent candidates for automation, as the work (if done manually)…
Simplifying complex packaging processes with modular automation platforms
By Arne Valentin, Technology Manager – Machine Automation, SEW-EURODRIVE Exploring the ways automation platforms — available with modular, preselected sets — promote throughput and efficiency in the packaging industry. Packaging operations are anything but simple. Every day, millions of food items, commodities, and other products must be packaged, sealed, transported, unloaded, mixed, stored,…
Digital field of vision solutions for mobile machines
Tailor-made solutions for field of vision enhancement are an important component of modern machines. Strict standards apply to the robustness and image quality as well as integration and handling. In light of this, HYDAC is expanding its existing product portfolio to include digital Ethernet cameras from the HVT 1000 product range for the off-highway market. Due to the way that they are structured, vehicles and mobile…
Advantages of high-performance rotary seals for industrial electric motors
By Darren Conway, Global Product Line Director, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Many industrial sectors, including aerospace, semiconductor, automotive, and biopharmaceutical, require rotary seals as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) switch from hydraulic to electric motor systems for greener solutions and improved product performance. Globally, the industrial sector is responsible for 33% of greenhouse gas emissions, and in the…
Emerson’s Floor to Cloud packaging solutions at PACK EXPO 2023
Emerson will exhibit its Floor to Cloud packaging solutions at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, September 11-13, 2023. As the future of automation, Floor to Cloud solutions empower smarter packaging lines and more efficient processes that make it possible for manufacturers to continuously improve plant productivity, sustainability, and safety. Visitors to South Lower Hall, Booth 6107,…
Discover NORD’s innovative and reliable packaging solutions at PACK EXPO 2023
PACK EXPO is one of the most extensive packaging and processing shows in North America with over 44,000 attendees and 2,200 exhibitors. NORD DRIVESYSTEMS, a worldwide solution provider, is one of the exhibitors at this year’s convention taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada September 11-13, 2023. NORD’s drive solutions focus on reliability, flexibility, and high…
Simplifying complex packaging processes with modular automation platforms
By Arne Valentin, Technology Manager – Machine Automation, SEW-EURODRIVE Exploring the ways automation platforms — available with modular, preselected sets — promote throughput and efficiency in the packaging industry. Packaging operations are anything but simple. Every day, millions of food items, commodities, and other products must be packaged, sealed, transported, unloaded, mixed, stored, recycled, and…
The smart future of agriculture
How can the earth feed nine or ten billion people? “Smart farming” is an important part of the answer to this existential question: Extremely high efficiency in food production through the targeted use of the latest technology, computer-supported and — where possible — fully automatic. Seeds are individually and precisely placed; fruits carefully picked by…
Molex secures large-scale series production from BMW Group for next-gen EV class
Molex, a connectivity and electronics solutions provider, announces that luxury automaker, BMW Group, has selected its Volfinity Cell Contacting System (CCS) for its next-generation electric vehicles (EV) class. In development since 2018, Volfinity delivers a reliable and easy-to-implement interface solution that connects cells to the control board in an electric vehicle battery module, eliminating the…
Selecting high-voltage DC relays for off-highway EV applications
By Geoff Schwartz | Business Development Manager • Littelfuse Success in the global electric vehicle market depends on speed to market. However, it is also essential to prioritize quality and functionality, which enable a high-performance design that wins customer satisfaction. Understanding how to choose high-voltage DC relays can help keep off-highway vehicle designs safe and…
S.S. White Technologies to provide flexible rotary shafts for aircraft’s cargo door actuation system
S.S. White Technologies, a provider of flexible rotary shafts for the aerospace industry, has been selected by Heroux-Devtek Spain as the supplier of rotary flexible shafts and 90° gearboxes to provide a manual drive for the E-Jet Freighter E195F/E190F- aircraft main deck cargo door. Employing two S. S. White flexible rotary shafts and 90° gearboxes,…
Boeing signs exclusive distribution agreement with Ontic
Boeing announced a distributor agreement with Ontic to support the Staverton product line. The agreement identifies Boeing Distribution (formerly Aviall) as the exclusive distributor of approximately 600 actuation and control products on a range of civil and military aircraft platforms. “We are excited to reach an agreement with Ontic to once again offer these products…