For an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) operating in Australia, our relatively isolated market can present challenges – but the OEMs we spoke to are upbeat.
Manufacturers in growth sectors are turning to them for technology and service support, and they're finding export opportunities in New Zealand, SE Asia, Africa, Europe, and the US.
The OEMs PKN spoke to identified five key industry trends influencing how their company approaches machinery manufacturing. Below is a brief taste of a full length feature article that will be published in the Nov-Dec print issue of PKN.
1. Pack size
In line with the global health and wellness trend, consumers are opting for products that offer portion control and on-the-go snacking convenience, so brand owners are seeking to deliver smaller pack size options, while retailers expect appropriate shelf ready packaging solutions.
Recent industry examples of reduced portion sizes include Coke's new PET mini-bottle, and Bounce's miniatures range, which is shelf-ready and handy for consumers on the go.
Fibre King's MD James Windsor (pictured below) said the continuing consumer demand for smaller packaging formats is influencing what manufacturers require from their packaging machinery, and in turn how equipment is designed for flexibility and fast format changeover.
Tna's MD Michael Green has seen the trend gather speed also.
“The trend towards smaller portions and single-serve bag sizes continues to dominate the market,” he said.
“As an equipment manufacturer, it’s important that we deliver high-speed packaging systems that will help food manufacturers package the same amount of product in more bags to retain similar levels of production volumes.
“But we also need to ensure our equipment delivers the highest level of overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
“A low reject rate, high level of flexibility, ease of maintenance, operation and integration, and a low environmental footprint are all part of this.”
2. Flexible machines
“With real-time consumer market information available through social media, packaging formats can change very quickly,” James Windsor said.
“Our customers are looking for machines that can handle the changing formats".
Foodmach's Sales & Export Director Peter Marks puts demand for machine flexibility on top of the trend list, linked also with increased automation and control (see point 4 below), and ease of integration and operation.
Along with demand for smaller pack sizes, Michael Green observed, consumers are demanding a much wider range of products and greater product diversity.
“By adapting the packaging design and look of their product, manufacturers can easily update their portfolio to ensure they maintain visibility and relevance in the marketplace without having to reformulate the actual product itself,” he said.
“For us as an OEM, this means all our equipment needs to be designed to support these requirements for flexibility.
“This includes no mechanical adjustments when changing product or film, quick former changes, and a wide variety of jaw size configuration that enables full flexibility of bag size and format, film type, and application on a single packaging system."
Bill Dopper of Recopack agrees with the growing demand for flexible and bespoke solutions, particularly in shelf ready packing. Recopack has recently developed a combination Basket Packer and neck through Wrap Packer with hot melt glue base that was custom built and is unique to this market (pictured below).
3. Safety
Fibre King's James Windsor has seen a renewed focus by manufacturers seeking to ensure existing machines are brought up to current safety standards.
Peter Marks says the requirement for automation that delivers increased safety is driving growth for Foodmach in the dairy and beverage sector.
"Safety is a growing area of focus for most large Australian food and beverage manufacturers, as they keep up with the standards set in the resources sector," he said.
Heat and Control's Business Manager - Packaging, Robert Marguccio (pictured below) notes that consumers and supermarkets are the main drivers of food safety demand. This has seen a big uptake of inline machine vision/ X-ray inspection equipment to ensure quality, integrity and reduce risk of contaminants.
4. Automation and data collection
Marguccio also points to the trend among food and beverage manufacturers to increase automation levels and machine intergration to remain competitive.
“Data collection in areas such as production helps them make informed decisions using quality information,” he said.
Tna's Michael Green is also seeing rising levels of automation and intelligent integration.
“Nowadays, new products are being developed, manufactured and introduced to the retail market much faster than ever before,” Green said.
“As an equipment manufacturer that provides solutions from processing all the way through to packaging – or from the potato to the bag of chips – we make sure all our products can be integrated as easily as possible – both in terms of hardware and software integration.
“Whether it’s a conveyor, packaging system, scale or metal detector, each component needs to be able to communicate with the other to ensure the entire production line operates at maximum efficiency.”
Bill Dopper says for Recopack continued investment in advanced automation technology is an integral expectation of the business, and will remain a focus to meet customer's requirements.
For automation specialist Foodmach, integrated packaging production lines are the way forward. Peter Marks says the company implements OMAC PackML automation technology, which allows for rapid machine automation intergration, performance diagnosis and improved OEE.
HMPS MD Mark Emmett said it's not just large companies looking to automate, there's an appetite for it in smaller companies too, especially in operations involving repetitive tasks where he said collabortaive robots will play a bigger role in the future.
5. Customisation
Mark Emmett (pictured below) said customers are increasingly looking for customisation options.
“Machines need to have longevity to cope with changing consumer demands, so we spend more time with the customer working out the various scenarios and possible configurations, and designing to accommodate these,” he said.
“Today, a customer is packing a certain size can and eight per carton, but tomorrow they might want to pack a smaller can and more units per carton.
"The changeover needs to be seamless."
“Consumers are driving manufacturing decisions and trends," he continued.
“In turn, manufacturers are responding to consumer demands at a more rapid pace, and machines need to keep up with these changes.
“For us as machine builders, we're always mindful of bringing the balance between productivity and flexibility.”
Each of the OEMs mentioned above will be exhibiting at AUSPACK 2017 from 7-10 March. Look out for our extended Q&A with Foodmach, Fibre King, Heat and Control, HMPS, tna and Recopack in the Nov-Dec print issue of PKN.
