Consumables

Networked solutions in quality assurance

Monday 20. April 2020 - In quality assurance in web processing industries, BST eltromat is a leading driver of the topic Industry 4.0. Core topics are value chain-spanning networking of quality assurance, integration with systems of industrial partners, use of real-time data for process optimization, resource-saving production and continuously optimized operability.

In the age of Industry 4.0, quality assurance in web processing industries offers a wide range of possibilities for further optimizing production processes. Packaging manufacturers in particular have additional options at their disposal to produce the quality that branded goods manufacturers and consumers expect in a more efficient, reliable and resource-saving manner. From the point of view of BST eltromat, the term Industry 4.0 primarily stands for an evolution. The fact that industrial companies strive for permanent technical innovation is a matter of course in our time. What the Industry 4.0 discussion has brought about, however, is the remarkable intensity with which practically the entire mechanical and plant engineering industry is now working on integrating its systems across companies and value-added chains. For BST eltromat, integration is not a new topic. Rather, the networking of quality assurance systems has long been one of the core tasks that the company solves for customers.
Integration concepts which have been practicable for years
To enable its customers to easily integrate their quality assurance systems across processes, BST eltromat has developed various cross-linking solutions. With them, customers of the company can flexibly map their individual processes. BST eltromat can already look back on a longer history and has been thinking beyond the individual process steps for years in order to show its customers optimisation potentials along the entire value-added chain. At LABELEXPO EUROPE 2019, for example, the company demonstrated the benefits of combining the QLink workflow for the 100% inspection systems of the TubeScan family with HYBRID software in label production and narrow web packaging printing.
The results so far of the cooperation with HYBRID Software, a worldwide leading provider of innovative solutions for PDF-based prepress workflows and MIS (Management Information Systems) connections, enable significantly simplified and shortened set-up processes – including quality assurance. One example is the new option of PDF comparison of print jobs directly in presses. Gone are the days when press operators had to scan proofs and then compare them with the specifications from prepress. This is possible by using PACKZ from HYBRID software to create PDF files for the print jobs, which contain all relevant parameters including the inspection requirements of the jobs to be printed. One highlight: All objects can be dynamic, i.e. variable data such as, among other things, different barcodes or alphanumeric – even randomized – numerical sequences. Label manufacturers are printing faster than ever and at the same time reduce their waste.
Likewise, years ago the company, in cooperation with ColorWare, manufacturer of the MeasureColor color management software, networked the iPQ spectral module of its iPQ Center with the prepress solution of this industry partner. The iPQ Center from BST eltromat comprises four seamlessly integrated high-end modules for quality control and monitoring – 100% inspection, web monitoring, color measurement and workflow – in web printing, whose functionality covers practically all market requirements.
Within the scope of the cooperation with ColorWare, the possibility was created to prepare all necessary data for inline spectral color measurement with iPQ-Spectral from BST eltromat in the prepress department. The job data is recorded once in the pre-press stage. They are then available throughout the entire production process. The data flows automatically into the quality assurance systems either in the form of XML or JDF files, so that they can be set up without further operator intervention. By entering all relevant job data already in prepress and making it available later throughout the entire production process, makeready times can be significantly reduced. In addition, sources of error are reduced that occur when the same data is entered several times at different stages in the value-adding chains.
Converting 4.0 picks up speed
Since 2017, the keyword Converting 4.0 has been steadily gaining in importance. At that time BST eltromat was involved in the foundation of the Converting 4.0 network initiated by Kampf Schneid- und Wickeltechnik. In the meantime, the cross-company cooperation in this network is bearing concrete fruits. At the K 2019 plastics trade fair in Düsseldorf, for example, a simulation of the interaction of a CLS PRO 600 digital line and contrast sensor from BST eltromat with a ConSlitter winder and the integrated platform the@vanced from Kampf Schneid- und Wickeltechnik was shown. The integration allows the automatic setup of the sensor system and the motorized knife axis of the winder. In doing so, not the knives are aligned with the sensor, but the motifs on the material webs are aligned with the knife axis. The sensor automatically moves to the specified lines and then provides information that can be used to optimize the slitting process.
In mid November 2019, BST eltromat participated in the fourth meeting of the Converting 4.0 network at Windmöller & Hölscher in Lengerich with more than 100 visitors. Under the headline “Efficiency increase across value chains”, the topic was data communication beyond process limits. Here, too, BST eltromat presented solutions and ideas around the integration of quality assurance with upstream and downstream production processes. The company showed how the merging of quality data results in higher efficiency and safety as well as more comfort and sustainability, provided that the information is available in a synchronized form.
Inspection and Artificial Intelligence
The analysis methods presented met with great interest among the network members, for example in the use of artificial intelligence in error classification. Scenarios are currently being developed within the Converting 4.0 network on how the consideration of further process and material data can bring additional added value.
Within the scope of its cooperation with SeeOne Vision Technology, manufacturer of surface inspection systems based in Florence, Italy, BST eltromat links, for example, information from film extrusion with quality data from the printing process. The SeeOne systems detect surface defects in various materials such as films, metallized films, paper or cardboard and classify them with the help of artificial intelligence, for example as holes or inclusions, insects or dirt. The findings from surface inspection can be used for optimization in production processes in various ways.
For example, the quality logs flow into the iPQ workflow of BST eltromat, which enables error interpretations beyond process limits. Among other things, the causes of undesired effects in the printing process can be identified, even if abnormalities are documented in the quality protocols of the film extrusion in the same linear metre range.
Networking and resource-saving production go hand in hand
The packaging industry is under enormous pressure to improve the ecological balance sheets of its products and production and to produce more sustainably. This is especially true for manufacturers of flexible packaging. Cross-process networking of quality assurance and its integration with other systems can make an important contribution to resource-saving production. By increasing both efficiency and process reliability in packaging production, it helps packaging manufacturers to avoid or at least significantly reduce waste. Beyond the ecological advantages, there are of course also economic reasons for minimizing waste as far as possible.
In addition, the manufacturers of flexible packaging materials are working under high pressure on novel, 100% recyclable substrates made of monopolymer materials that will replace the multipolymer composites commonly used up to now. The new packaging materials must not only offer the same performance and optical quality as the previous substrates, but also enable the same efficiency in the flexible packaging manufacturing process.
Cornerstones for the right assistance
Ease of use is one of the most important criteria that determine the industry 4.0 suitability of production systems. With important innovations over the past decades, BST eltromat has repeatedly set standards in quality assurance in terms of ease of use. One example is the intuitive touch operation of the control units of its web guiding systems. Today, it is considered the benchmark for comfort and safety in machine operation. But there are always new possibilities to further simplify the work of the machine operators. Sometimes this is achieved with comparatively simple ideas that are intelligently implemented.
For example, BST eltromat equips the user interface of its new products with two-dimensional QR codes that machine operators can scan with their smartphones and thus have direct access to the digital operating manuals of the systems and setup videos. This information is available on the company’s website. Depending on the point in the menu navigation at which the machine operators scan the codes, the corresponding pages of the digital operating manuals open immediately. The intelligent application automatically recognizes which language version to open based on the system settings of the mobile devices. To be able to call up this quick and uncomplicated help in case of questions, the machine operators do not need a special app or software. Instead, it works with any mobile device with a QR code scanner. Here, BST eltromat uses standard technology to make its quality assurance systems even easier for customers to operate. This is another example of how the company considers the entire process and makes full use of the technical possibilities available today for the benefit of its customers.

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