Articles and News

IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show 2014 was the fourth largest IMTS in history and the largest six-day show ever with registration of 114,147 representing 112 countries.

PMMI now owns Packaging World, Automation World, Healthcare Packaging and Contract Packaging magazines.

July U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $354.63 million, down 11.5% from June and down 1.4% when compared with the total of $359.70 million reported for July 2013.

The beverage packaging industry in North America is expected to reach $26.3 billion in 2015, with plastic bottles leading the way in popularity, according to PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies.

By Greg Hood, Rockwell Automation In end-user facilities that heavily rely on legacy equipment, the right line-integration system can provide real-time insights to prevent and diagnose production issues.

By Bill Lydon, Editor Fluke recently introduced Fluke Connect, a system which allows maintenance technicians to wirelessly transmit measurement data from their test tools to their smart phones. There is a lot of hype about the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing. To date, from what I have seen on the market, Fluke Connect is the most useful, productivity-increasing industry solution based on these technologies.

Kollmorgen supplied a motion control automation solution to IMA PG for their PG Express blister packaging machine.

Although it was a more costly option initially, the automated barrier door was clearly the best choice for protecting employees, minimizing downtime and keeping long-term maintenance costs low.

By Keith Schmitz, Rytec High Performance Doors At MINOR’S food processing plant in Cleveland a forklift picks up a bin of their product and carries it into the next room. Unlike most facilities the forklifts here never take a break because there is no one sitting in the driver’s seat.

Multivac packaging machines work in multi-shift operation up to seven days a week. Diagnostic data requested via remote service provides insight into the machine status at all times. An mGuard security appliance protects the VPN.

The demand for machines in sectors such as agriculture, packaging, materials handling and machine tools will push revenues to $1.6 trillion this year, up from $1.5 trillion in 2013.

Symach Palletizers, based in Terneuzen, The Netherlands, supplies end-of-line palletizing and load-securing technology.

Mexican manufacturers are the second-largest importers of U.S. packaging and processing machinery, because companies like Nestlé and PepsiCo are expanding manufacturing operations there.

Established in 1994, AP Dataweigh is an American manufacturer of in-motion checkweigher machinery.

By Bill Lydon, Editor With this acquisition, Schneider Electric significantly enhanced its position to serve the process industries and now has a complete portfolio of products to serve the entire industrial and process automation industry. This article highlights a few key aspects of the integration of the two companies.

Kugler-Womako in Germany is using TR750 rotary indexing tables in its EcoBinder paper-based binding system.

Metronix's smart drive has allowed Pfankuch to increase the speed of its friction feeder by 50% while also doubling the positioning accuracy.

November U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $437.79 million, up 0.6% from October and up 20.7% when compared with the total of $362.63 million reported for November 2012.

Economic analyst for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA) says the U.S. appears to be headed down an economic path similar to that of 2013. Oh, Lordy.