COPING WITH SMART PACKAGING
HOW MUCH A SWITCH TO "SMART" PACKAGING WILL AFFECT THE PACKAGING LINE DEPENDS ON BOTH FORESIGHT AND LUCK.
By Hallie Forcinio
Whether the “intelligence” is added at the converting or the packaging stage, adoption of smart packaging inevitably has an impact on the packaging line. If the equipment is new, it’s simply a matter of tweaking machine adjustments. In other cases, equipment must be modified or upgraded. The most extreme situations will necessitate the replacement or addition of one or more machines or even the deployment of an entirely new line.
Since replacing machines or building new lines is likely the most expensive option, packagers with foresight look for inherently flexible machines so new package functionality can be accommodated via relatively simple adjustments or upgrades.
As a result, machinery builders are designing machines that transition easily between standard packages and smart packages equipped with features like valves or vents, modified atmosphere, desiccants or scavengers, radio frequency identification (RFID) or time/temperature monitors. This should become even easier as more machine functions become software driven.
INTEGRATING VALVES OR VENTS
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TEN POINT CHECKLIST FOR ADOPTING SMART PACKAGING 1. If possible, push the addition of the smart packaging feature back to the packaging supplier. 2. Carefully match the smart packaging functionality to the application. When packaging fresh produce, for example, an OTR suitable for one type of vegetable may not work with another vegetable. 3. When adding a smart feature on the packaging line, determine whether it can be done via simple adjustments, retrofit of an optional module or installation of new equipment. 4. If new equipment is needed, floor space, line integration and infrastructure issues come into play. 5. Consider the impact of smart packaging on cycle time and throughput. 6. Be aware of how long it takes and what tooling is involved to change between smart packaging and standard packaging if both styles will be run on the same line to avoid excessive downtime and/or tooling costs. 7. Does the solution need to be scalable and repeatable across many lines and/or many facilities? If so, can it be standardized? 8. Weigh the advantages of centralized versus distributed control. 9. Be alert for quality problems that could be introduced by the smart packaging feature such as seal integrity issues. 10. Balance long-term labor requirements versus the capital investment required to move to the next level of automation. Josh Drake |
The transition to a valved package can be quite simple. PPi Technologies Inc. of Sarasota, Fla., for example, supplies preformed pouches or pre-cut lidstock with SmartDevice valves in place. For lidstock, machines designed by PPi take rollstock, punch a hole, insert the valve and heat or ultrasonically seal it in place and then cut the lidstock to fit the specified tray. The lidstock is compatible with virtually any fill/seal machine including models in the PSG Sung line offered by PPi. However some modification will be needed if the machine is set up to run lidding in rollstock form.
It should be noted that vented packages require special attention to lidstock and recipe selection. “There’s actually a lot of science involved,” says Rudi Kleer, new products manager at PPi. Careful recipe development is essential because special attention must be paid to characteristics like piece sizes and sugar content. In products with high sugar content, the sugar tends to caramelize and may burn through the tray during microwave heating.
Packaging with SmartDevice lidstock has been adopted by The Plitt Co. of Chicago, Ill., for retail seafood products. Leavins Seafood of Apalachicola, Fla., is also testing the concept for a Microwave Steamers line, representing its first foray into the retail marketplace.
“We’ve looked into [online] automation,” says Kleer. Although theoretically possible, inserting valves automatically on a fill/seal or form/fill/seal (F/F/S) line poses quality control issues due to the chance of a stray valve falling into a package.
For fresh vegetables, the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of the film is critical. Potatoes, for example have a low OTR requirement while corn on the cob and broccoli need a high rate. Gas flushing with carbon dioxide, nitrogen or a blend of gases to create a modified atmosphere package (MAP) also might be necessary to protect shelf life. Vacuum and gas flushing are commonly offered either as a standard feature or an option on fill/seal and F/F/S machines. If optional, it may be an easy, relatively low-cost retrofit if the equipment design is modular.
A new option for MAP has been developed by Ilapak, Inc. of Newtown, Pa., for prepared foods like tortillas and higher end frozen pizzas. Billed as a lower cost, faster flexible packaging alternative to fill/seal or thermoform/fill/seal MAP trays, the 60 per minute Delta VacMap™ flow wrapper operates as what Ilapak refers to as a “three-in-one” machine: horizontal F/F/S, vacuum and/or gas flushing. The vacuum and gas flush capability allows end-users to easily switch between products packaged under ambient conditions to products requiring special requirements for greater shelf life. The in-line vacuum system even extracts the oxygen trapped inside the product itself, effectively doubling pizza shelf life to 24 days and tortilla shelf life to six months while cutting labor and material costs.
INTEGRATING DESICCANTS/SCAVENGERS
Depending on the format used, the addition of desiccants or gas scavengers will require insertion equipment or a pressure-sensitive labeling head. A number of suppliers such as Multisorb Technologies’ Active-Pak Automation of Orchard Park, N.Y., Palace Packaging Machines Inc. of Downingtown, Pa. and ABOX Automation Corp. of Wharton, N.J., offer standard equipment. Others like Jushay, Inc. of Orchard Park, N.Y., build custom desiccant or oxygen absorber dispensers for use on bottling lines, continuous motion flow wrappers, vertical F/F/S machinery, horizontal F/F/S machinery, pouch thermoformers and other types of packaging equipment.
Machines typically mount over the conveyor or may be portable like the new PD-2 Pouch Dispenser from ABOX Automation. Designed for inserting pouches of desiccant, silica gel and oxygen absorbers into any size pharmaceutical bottles or various food products, the unit can be coupled with a mobile stand so it can be moved from line to line, maximizing integration ease. The dual-servo motor-equipped dispenser simplifies operation with a handheld touch screen remote controller with a Spanish and English directory, shortens downtime with an Auto-Feed function that enables a new roll of material to automatically hone itself to the knife’s edge, and maximizes accuracy with a registration sensor that finds and cuts at the sealed area of a pouch to avoid miss-cuts.
INTEGRATING RFID
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At DFA’s plant in Plymouth, Wis., cases receive human-readable and bar code information on the long side, pass through a case turner and proceed past a second inkjet that duplicates the message on the short side. When triggered by a photo switch, the Printronix SLPA 7204 encodes and prints the smart label. As cases pass a bistatic antenna on the Symbol XR400, it reads the inlay and sends the tag ID and timestamp data to the OAT server in Springfield. The case then trips a photosensor connected to a programmable logic controller. If valid, the OAT server tells the PLC to activate the green light on a stack light. |
Integrating RFID tagging on the packaging line gains even more importance in light of the fact that source tagging at the case level is not yet available although Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. of Chicago, Ill., and others are working on it.
A pioneer in packaging line integration of RFID, Dairy Farmers of America, Inc. (DFA), a cooperative based in Kansas City, Mo., shows what’s involved in transitions to smart packaging in general and RFID tagging in particular. The largest dairy cooperative in the United States, DFA is owned by approximately 20,000 farmer-members. The result of a merger of four regional co-ops in 1998, DFA’s mission is to serve as a milk marketer and service provider for dairy farmers, and a market developer for milk and dairy-based products to generate income for farm families.
The co-op operates 24 plants in 49 states and employs a workforce of 4,000. It processes 57.9 billion pounds of milk per year, roughly one-third of the fresh milk produced in the United States. Other products include shelf-stable dairy beverages, cheese, butter and ingredients like dry milk powder.
In addition to packaging its own American Dairy Brands – Borden® and Cache Valley® cheese; Keller’s® Plugra®, Hotel Bar® and Mid-America Farms® butter; and Sport Shake MAX® milk beverages—DFA contract manufactures products such as Frappuccino for Starbucks Coffee Co. of Seattle, Wash., milkshakes for Ben & Jerry’s Homemade of South Burlington, Vt., and salsa and cheese dips for Frito-Lay of Plano, Texas.
DFA began exploring RFID in 2004 in response to the RFID tagging initiative issued by Wal-Mart Stores of Bentonville, Ark. “Our initial goal was to comply with Wal-Mart, but our longer term goal was to generate information and provide tracking capability for product going through our supply chain,” says Bob Tiede, DFA’s IS director, who is based at the company’s Information Systems Center in Springfield, Mo., where the company also operates a Technical Center for research and development as well as a manufacturing plant.
The company realized early on it didn’t want to slap and ship because it would have required hiring at least three people per line. They also knew they wanted to centralize the tagging effort at its Information Systems Center in Springfield. “We are one of the very few companies with a centralized tagging solution. We have software in Springfield. There’s hardware in the production plants, but no server or software load in those facilities,” explains Tiede. “This allows us to leverage our technical expertise in Springfield rather than distribute it to each manufacturing plant.” Doing most of the configuration in Springfield also expedites implementation once the first installation was completed.
Working with systems integrator Rush Tracking Systems of Lenexa, Kan., and software provider OATSystems, Inc. of Waltham, Mass., DFA studied equipment and tags from various vendors. “We actually sent cases of product to Rush’s lab to test with tags,” recalls Josh Drake, RFID analyst at DFA.
The so-called “squiggle” ultra high frequency Electronic Product Code (EPC) tag from Alien Technology Corp. of Morgan Hill, Calif., proved to work best with the sliced and shredded cheese products Wal-Mart wanted DFA to tag. DFA also standardized on Printronix 7000 Series Smart Label Printer/Applicators from Rush, a reseller for Printronix, Inc. of Irvine, Calif., and XR400 readers from Symbol Technologies of Holtsville, N.Y.
The first RFID-enabled packaging line went live in December 2005 at the DFA plant in Plymouth, Wis. just prior to Wal-Mart’s deadline for its second 200 group of suppliers. “We started out with Gen 1, but converted to Gen 2 in June 2006,” reports Drake. The transition went smoothly but did point up a problem with one applicator. “However, Printronix replaced the reader, and we were back up and running in fairly short order,” he adds.
DFA also quickly discovered it needed to limit reader power. “The Symbol XR400 can use up to a full watt to activate tags and hear responses,” says Drake. “We found that we needed to set that down to 1/16th watt so we didn’t flood the facility with RF. Otherwise readers would cross read zones and capture stray reads.”
Another concern was the volume of data RFID tag writing and reading would generate and its impact on the network. So, readers have an autonomous mode that smoothes the data locally, limiting it to capturing case, product, location and time information only when a case enters or exits the field. This reduces the traffic that goes back and forth between the production facility and the data center on the company’s wide area network. Additional traffic flow management also is provided by batching the EPC data sent to the production facilities from Springfield.
The encoder/printer/applicator for case tagging is mounted between the case sealer and palletizer. It automatically detects any nonfunctional tag and leaves it on the liner. As an added safety net, a Symbol XR400 reader is positioned downstream to verify each tag can be read. Although the reject functionality is not yet active, the system is designed so any cases with non-readable tags are diverted and sent back through the labeling process.
Currently DFA is only tagging cases destined for Wal-Mart. “To start a tagging job, the operator accesses the OAT system from his personal computer using a web interface, enters the product number and production order number and clicks Start,” says Drake. If the product requires an RFID tag, the OAT tag@source software delivers EPC and tagging information to the Printronix unit.
The OAT tag@source software also queries the XR400 readers and retrieves read data, which is currently being stored in OATxpress, a software platform for edge data management. “At this point, we’re not doing a lot with it, but as we implement OATaxiom [analytics software], we hope to use the information to identify inefficiencies in the supply chain,” reports Drake.
Since the initial setup, system uptime and reliability has been good. “We have been surprised at how few trouble calls we’ve had,” remarks Tiede.
With three RFID-enabled lines up and running, two in Plymouth and one at its plant in Zumbrota, Minn., DFA plans to concentrate on implementing OATaxiom during 2007 to gain capabilities related to data analysis, promotion traceability and product tracking through the distribution centers. Future plans call for equipping additional lines in Plymouth and expanding the RFID tagging system to DFA’s copackers. Eventually, the co-op also may begin tagging other products like butter. “However, no time frame has been set,” says Drake.
Hallie Forcinio has been covering trends in the packaging industry for more than 20 years.
