Next-Generation Packaging Machine
Challenges
The client, a major manufacturer of packaging machines, sought to make significant upgrades to one of its machines. The machine was already well established in the food industry and provided reasonable performance, but the client was aware that it presented significant opportunities for improvement, particularly in terms of its wiring and manufacturing costs.
With limited in-house development capacity, the company turned to Cysca to partner on this development project. Among other things, it wanted the more objective perspective of outside engineers when it came to the machine. Along with the design, the company tasked Cysca with the needs analysis to guide the design work.
Solutions
To get the clearest picture possible about the current machine, its use, and actual needs, members of the Cysca team analyzed every aspect of the machine and met with people who interacted with it, from the production employees who built the machine to end users, along with the company’s engineers, managers, and service technicians. They then set goals for the next-generation machine, its design, performance, and maintainability, as well as cost reduction targets.
Every electronic module in the machine was reviewed and redesigned in order to reach or exceed set targets. Among the solutions they put forth, using high-speed multi-party serial buses essentially resolved the excessive wiring issue, facilitating both the manufacturing and maintenance of the machine. The design also strongly focused on modularity, multiplying opportunities to reuse modules across the manufacturer’s range of machines.
Results
The design of the next-generation machine was a success for the manufacturer, who saw a solution to every issue it had raised and wider possibilities for the future.
Substantial cost reductions were achieved, in part due to the simpler wiring and the use of a distributed control approach. The machine also operated at significantly improved speeds and precision levels. This greater processing capacity to levels unheard of for this machine even enabled the company to break into new industries, including the medical field, which requires precision levels a level of magnitude greater than what the previous machine could provide. As a result, the company carved itself a new niche and secured an enviable market share.
Project Services and Industries
Electronic Design
Automation and Control
Packaging