When you think about it, the FMCG packaging line is a bit like a car. 

It's a collection of parts from different OEM manufacturers that have been integrated to (hopefully) work together in perfect synchronicity.

However, when you buy a car from a dealer, you don't receive individual parts delivered to your door that you try to put together yourself.

You're not responsible for

• getting it on the road,
• making sure it performs well, and
• servicing it.

And yet, this is what happens every day on the food and beverage manufacturer's factory floor in Australia.

Project managers are under immense pressure to specify, acquire and have these parts installed to perform like a performance vehicle. 

It works, mostly, but as packaging line integrators, we see the flaws: The tiny or not-so-tiny inefficiencies throughout the system that add up to significant losses over days, weeks and years, the issues when introducing new products and packaging formats, the lost opportunities to use data to guide decision-making (Industry 4.0).

We think there's a better way.

Line as a Machine

Our solution is to take a holistic view of the entire line and treat it as a single, complete system with complete interoperability.

This doesn’t mean installing a few sensors and layering an IoT protocol over the top.

Doing it that way presents critical security risks, lost line optimisation and management opportunities because of incomplete or missing data and will end up costing more in the long run. As well, it's nothing like the high-performance vehicle that it could be with the right approach.

Our approach is to:

1. Take a holistic view of your current and future needs, challenges, space, budget and timelines.
2. Help you with a factory layout optimised for speed and function.
3. Work together to specify and select the right equipment and technology.
4. Be responsible for the design and manufacture and/or purchasing and if necessary, importing of the parts.
5. Program/reprogram each piece to provide standardised data using standardised controls that report to a centralised line management execution system (LMES).
6. Install, integrate, commission and deliver a high-performing packaging line.
7. Take responsibility for its ongoing performance and servicing.

That way, you, as the customer and your operators can enjoy ‘driving’ a fast production line with a dashboard full of controls, accurate and seamless information and very high reliability, only having to deal with a single supplier for everything from start to finish.

We, as the line integrator, take complete responsibility for the delivery and continuing function of an optimised line.

We believe that the future of FMCG manufacturing is this system-based approach to the factory floor, with the entire production line treated as a single production cell.

Line as a Machine (LaaM) is a completely new concept for Industry 4.0 packaging lines in Australia.

Using this more sophisticated approach provides the following benefits:

• An effective LMES will poll each machine on the line multiple times per second, collect the standardised data and present it in a visually intuitive way on a single interface to both operators and managers.
• Large amounts of data are turned into useful information to guide decision-making and predictive maintenance. OEE, benchmarks, trends and forecasts are available at a click.
• The information is secured using high-performance authentication, encryption and access rights management technologies.
• Useful data is delivered to the cloud for further analysis by enterprise resource management systems.
• In effect, all the advantages of Industry 4.0 connectivity can be realised in a way that is secure and scalable.

We think Line as a Machine is perhaps the only approach that will capture the full benefits of Industry 4.0.

Why can we offer LaaM?

Foodmach is both a manufacturer and supplier of best-in-breed packaging machinery, from depalletising, conveying, fillers and inspection to pasteurising, labelling, case packing, traceability, palletising, stretch wrapping and AGVs/AMRs (and everything in between).

We have expertise in specifying, supplying, installing, seamlessly integrating and maintaining all of them.

And we have the size, scale and full breadth of services required, in-house.

However, it's our line control and Industry 4.0 integration skills that truly set us apart and give us the technical expertise to offer Line as a Machine.

For us, it's not too much of a risk to guarantee line performance. 

Our vision is to put production managers in the driver's seat of an optimised line with full control over every aspect of its functioning.

Line as a Machine brings that vision to life.

Interested in finding out more about LaaM and how it can help you enjoy all the benefits of Industry 4.0?

Call 1800 FOODMACH (1800 366 362), email sales@foodmach.com.au or send us a message below.

Read more:

• Reimagining the FMCG packaging line
• LaaM: The future of FMCG packaging
• Packaging line whisperers
• How AVL used Industry 4.0 to accelerate production