Automation Paves the Way for More Sustainable Packaging Machines

For many years, mechanical engineers have known SEW-Eurodrive primarily for their motors and gearboxes. However, the company has also positioned itself as a solution provider to support its customers in achieving their automation goals – whether it be through controls, software or drives. In doing so, SEW-Eurodrive pursues the goal of providing complete solution packages for the specific requirements of machines. The topic of sustainability is also increasingly coming into focus here.

Sustainability and decarbonisation are not only key topics for packaging materials, but also in the development and optimisation of packaging machines. These are becoming increasingly energy and resource efficient, driven by political initiatives such as the European Green Deal, which calls for a 55% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2030. “In the future, we will see increasingly stringent guidelines,” explains Jonas Schmitt, Solution Architect Machine Automation at SEW-Eurodrive. “More and more machine builders are approaching us, and the market also shows that the trend is clearly moving towards sustainability,” emphasises Schmitt during a presentation in the FACHPACK TV studio. Intelligent automation solutions are a key technology here – they can be used to significantly reduce the carbon footprint in mechanical engineering.

An outstanding example of sustainable machine automation is the collaboration with packaging machine manufacturer Hugo Beck on the development of a horizontal form, fill and seal machine. Sustainability was the focus of this project, in particular the elimination of compressed air played a crucial role. “We removed all pneumatics from the machine and implemented it without compressed air,” explains Schmitt. Instead, the pneumatics were replaced by electromechanical drive technology. The StarterSET 616 and its control and drive components, as well as comprehensive extensions, made it possible to reduce the packaging machine's total energy requirement drastically. In addition, early failure detection and intelligent energy management were integrated to make the packaging machine usable as a compressed air-free, modular and hybrid flowpack solution for both paper-based and film packaging. The intelligent energy management also allows the machines to be stopped in a controlled manner in the event of a power failure and saves energy by reducing the size of the supply lines. Movements such as cutting and clamping, which were previously performed in the packaging machine using compressed air, are now performed by stepper motors. These electric actuators replace the pneumatics, which reduces both maintenance and energy costs. Thanks to the adapted StarterSET, the development and commissioning time of the machine was reduced by two months. Overall, CO₂ emissions can be reduced by 79% – the equivalent of 6.71 tonnes of CO₂.