The Internet boom of the 1990s and the subsequent bust in the early days of the 21st Century had an undeniable effect on the way we conduct business today that can be both a blessing and a curse. Digital edition of supplement and research study are available.

On one hand, the rapid proliferation of Internet-related technologies helped to “open up” the plant floor and made Ethernet and other forms of machine-to-machine communication possible. On the other hand, the 24/7 nature of the Web and the ability to research products and prices from suppliers around the globe has reset the consumer's definition of what a shopping experience should be.

Today’s consumers differ greatly from those of just a decade ago. They demand the exact product they want, when they want it, and at the right price. If a retailer – online or otherwise – can’t fulfill their needs, someone else will. Furthermore, consumer tastes tend to change more rapidly, so manufacturers must be able to respond by accelerating time-to-market for new products, as well as to accommodate shifts in product mix and quantity as dictated by the so-called “big box” retailers. Consequently, flexibility is rapidly emerging as the key to long-term success.

This shift is supported by study data. When asked if packaging machine flexibility provides a key competitive advantage, an overwhelming 94% signaled the affirmative, with 51% stating they “completely agree.” Similar evidence can be found elsewhere in the study. For example, when considering the purchase of new machinery, only 29% said they were more likely to buy a single-purpose machine.

Automation has been ongoing in the industry for some time. However, many packagers say they are saddled with old equipment or machines that were purchased separately and just can’t talk to each other. One respondent complained about non-standard integration of multiple OEM components and workstations. “Trying to make each component or workstation communicate with the others has to be done in a unique way every time,” he said. Another claims that lack of standardization and backwards compatibility makes it difficult to upgrade and/or integrate older process controllers and field devices with the new human-machine interface (HMI) software and hardware, allowing only marginal or incremental improvements of existing systems

Despite these problems, packagers in the survey repeatedly related successes they have experienced by utilizing automation. “We have evolved our automation over the past 15 years with good results,” said one. “We planned and followed the plan, using living documents while adjusting to real needs.”

Eighty-one percent of study respondents said their companies are investing in automated packaging machines primarily to control labor costs. As one packager said, “We developed a machine that helped reduce the workforce from 16 persons to four. The overall cost of these machines (research and development, plus purchase price) was lower than the monthly cost of the workforce replaced.“

Packagers also expect that automating their processes will help them gain new efficiencies and make them more competitive. Other reasons cited include great speed to market, greater flexibility in changing size and type of product, better use of supply chain capacity, improved accuracy, and better safety.

Not surprisingly, 88% of survey respondents recognized the growing importance of sustainability in packaging, agreeing that within the next five years, it will become a major driver for automation of packaging lines. In fact, 33% of respondents list sustainability as one of the main reasons they are considering automation.

It’s easy to see the complexity of these operations, and why packagers are turning to specially-designed, yet highly flexible machines that perform such tasks as filling, forming, sealing, labeling, marking and coding, cartoning, conveying, palletizing, and wrapping.

As needs continue to evolve and market pressures become increasingly complex, packaging professionals will come to rely on automation-solution providers to an even greater degree. And they expect to use more of them in the future as well. Forty-two percent stated that the number of automation suppliers they’ll use will increase during the next five years, indicating that there is strong growth ahead for machine builders, component suppliers, and automation-solution providers.

“We see the packaging automation technology marketplace as one of strong growth and great potential,” says ARC’s Resnick. “There is a much greater degree of technological sophistication and advanced capabilities in today’s packaging equipment, and we expect that trend to accelerate moving forward.”