Packaging automation
From the film to the pack on the pallet: electrical schematics, control panels and programs that hold tension, register and sealing temperature even when the roll or the format changes.
On the plant floor
Thickness, print repeat, slip: film changes from one roll to the next, and it stretches with tension and with heat. That’s why a packaging line isn’t set once and for all: it measures. Tension with dancers and load cells, print position with the eye mark, temperature with a sensor on every sealing bar.
We do this work all along the packaging chain: where the material is made (film, labels, sleeves), on the packaging machines, on inspection and reject, at the end of line. We draw the schematic, build the panel, write the program and start the machine up with real film.
The machines
Film · Blown film extrusion
The gravimetric feeder gives kilograms per hour, the haul-off meters per minute: the resulting weight per meter corrects the screw speed. The automatic air ring corrects the profile; the IBC holds the bubble width. At the far end, the winder changes rolls with the line running.
Printing · Flexo and gravure
With no mechanical line shaft, every cylinder has its own motor: the sensors read the register marks and the control corrects the phase. Tension is controlled with dancers or load cells, unit by unit. On the edge, the press prints the eye mark the packaging machine will read.
Slit rolls · Slitter
At the unwind, the dancer holds tension and the web guide follows the edge. At the rewind, tension tapers with diameter and the lay-on roll controls the nip load: no telescoping. On sleeves, what counts is the seam of the tube; on labels, die-cutting in register.
Bag · Bagging machine
The photocell reads the eye mark and corrects the length pulled by the belts: the cut always falls at the same spot on the print. Film pull and jaws run on an electronic cam; sealing temperature and time are in the recipe. The weigher discharges when the machine calls for it.
Inspection · Weight and metal
Checkweigher, metal detector, camera: each has its own distance from the rejector. The PLC tracks the pack with the conveyor encoder and rejects the right one even while the speed changes. Reject not confirmed or bin full: the line stops, with the reason on the HMI.
End of line · Palletizer
Case packer, palletizer, stretch wrapper: the accumulation conveyors buy time to change a pallet or a film roll without stopping what’s upstream. Pallet pattern and number of wraps change with the format, from the HMI. At the exit opening, light curtains with muting; on the pallet, the logistics label.
Thermoformer, cartoner, labeler, shrink bundler: if your machine isn’t here, write and tell us how it’s built.
From material to pack: they chose us
Where you start
Starting from a blank sheet
A bagging machine with its weigher, a slitter, a palletizing cell. We start from what it has to do: formats, rate, what happens at every changeover. Then come the schematic, the panel built in our workshop, the software and start-up at your plant. If the mechanics are missing, we coordinate them.
Starting from what’s there
A bagging machine that still seals well but has discontinued controls, a slitter with drives you can’t find anymore. Mechanics, motors and field cables stay; the PLC, the HMI and the drives with no spares are replaced. The panel is tested first in Mesero, with its software: at the plant, all that’s left is to reconnect and restart.
You already have the rest
You have an engineering department, or a supplier for the rest, and you’re missing one part: the schematic for a filler, the panel for a shrink tunnel, the program that reads the eye mark. We do that part, to your design. Before we start, we put in writing where our work ends and yours begins.
Questions
Seven questions from the plant floor. The answers are the ones we’d give in person.
Yes. The photocell reads the eye mark within a window and the program corrects the pull length on every bag. If the mark is missing for several bags in a row, the machine stops and says so on the HMI. Reading window and bag length are in the format recipe.
Partly, yes. More bags per minute means less time with the jaws closed: if time and temperature don’t follow the speed, the seal opens. In the program, sealing time is tied to the rate and every bar has its own temperature control. You can’t go past the limit of the film, though.
Yes. Between one machine and the next, a few signals are enough (ready, running, accumulation full, stop): we bring them to a line control panel, or onto the network where the machines allow it, with the speeds in cascade. The HMI shows which machine stopped the others; the builders’ programs aren’t touched.
It depends on the mechanics. If jaws, film pull and frame are sound, the controller, the HMI and the drives are replaced and the machine restarts with its own recipes. If the mechanics are at the end of their life, we tell you before the quote. When a revamp is worth it
Yes. The PLC counts good packs and rejects and logs every stop with its cause: out of film, jam, waiting on downstream, alarm. The HMI shows the data by shift and by lot. That way you can see whether the line loses more time to long stops or to the many stops that last a few seconds.
We design and build it to UL 508A and CSA, ready to be certified. Certification is issued by the local certifying body, in the country where the panel is installed. For Europe, every panel ships with its CEI EN 61439 declaration of conformity.
Not always: usually a new format is added as a recipe, from the HMI. If the program needs work, we connect from Mesero, when the machine can be reached remotely. The first year of support is included, and the person who answers is the one who wrote the program.
Writing to us
The product: film, label, bag or pallet, with sizes and formats.
The rate: meters or pieces per minute, what you run today and what you need.
The machine, if there already is one: make, year and a photo of the panel with its doors open.
Film data sheet, photos, drawings: the form has room for attachments. An engineer replies within 1–2 business days.
