SICK insight: Mr Weyer, could you briefly describe the interesting history of your company.

Klaus Weyer: With over 26 years’ experience in automation technology, ELAU AG is one the pioneers in the sector. The generalist became a specialist in 1994, when we started concentrating exclusively on machine automation in the consumer goods industry. We focused on, and continue to specialise in, packaging machines in particular, in addition to production machines and robots. By concentrating on just one particular sector we have not only become the technological leader in packaging automation – with 275 employees and sales of EUR 50 m. we are also the most rapidly growing automation experts in this area.

SICK insight: Six months after Interpack in Düsseldorf, what does the market look like now and which technological trends can be recognised?

Klaus Weyer: There is a relatively small number of packaging machine producers, and each company has its specific strengths. Apart from Japan, the suppliers (and I estimate that there are about 3,000 companies worldwide) mainly come from the USA, Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Switzerland. They reflect the central demands on the part of the market. While the topics of machine flexibility, economic efficiency and production quality are of importance for users, the machine constructors are also interested in the production and guarantee costs of their machines as well as the topic of time-to-market. This results in certain technological trends, e.g. compact machine dimensions, central control solutions, and the simple integration of logic and motion control.

SICK insight: Given this background, what approach do you take with your PacDrive automation system?

Klaus Weyer: With the introduction of the PacDrive™ motion/logic control system in 1998, ELAU set a worldwide standard upon which all automation systems for consumer goods machines are oriented, and against which they must measured. It consists of a scalable assortment of controls, a consistent range of human-machine interfaces (HMIs), dynamic servo-drives, and powerful software tools. In the meantime, PacDrive™ controls more than 25,000 of the best machines worldwide – and this number is increasing by several thousand each year.

SICK insight: Servo-drive technology is thus an important component of PacDrive. What functions and benefits do the SKS36 motor feedback systems used in your drives offer you?

Klaus Weyer: Compact machine dimensions and central user- and maintenance-friendly control concepts are among the most important demands of machine producers and users. With the SKS36 we thus use an optical encoder whose considerably smaller housing, compared to its predecessors, permits innovative drive solutions. Our new SH-055 compact drive – the smallest of the series – could only be realised with this motor feedback system. Moreover, the SKS36, like all relevant components in the entire system, is equipped with an E²PROM as an electronic type label. This is advantageous in two ways: for one, all the type labels (e.g. those of up to 99 servo axles) are read out at each machine start and the particular components identified. In addition, the electronic type label together with the parameter and real-time process data channel of the HIPERFACE® parameter interface, allows a “remote view” of the machine at any time right the way down to the motor shaft. This can considerably simplify the maintenance and diagnosis of machines in use all over the world and prevent costs through potentially unnecessary local service support. As the encoder fulfils all these requirements, so important for us and our customers, it is now consistently used in all PacDrive drives.

SICK insight: To what extent will central machine controllers and servo-drive technology remain key technologies in packaging systems in future?

Klaus Weyer: In today’s packaging industry – because of the increasing variety of packagings and the trend towards target-group-specific products produced in smaller batch sizes – the flexibility of a machine is now just as important as its speed. Rigid machine concepts are a thing of the past, as an ever-increasing number of functions that used to be achieved using mechanical components have now been taken over by electronics and software. Therefore central control concepts with decentralised servo-drive technology will be one of the future key technologies in the packaging industry. Today’s controllers are now powerful enough to centrally administrate the parameters of the different sub-systems, and to identify them during a machine start on the basis of their particular electronic type labels. With the SKS36, a motor feedback system is now available for servo-drives that is a leading light in terms of its housing and performance capability. All in all, we are thus ideally equipped to meet current and future requirements.

SICK insight: Thank you very much for this conversation.