In the debugging workshop of the ply-pack factory, three orange robotic arms are holding PET bottles of different specifications for heat shrink packaging. As the film flows and shapes like liquid in the 160¡æ hot air channel, the reporter noticed a detail: the same production line is processing six types of bottles from 200ml travel size to 5L family size. "This is the 'fire eyes' we installed on the heat shrink packaging machine." The debugging engineer Xiao Chen wiped his sweat and pointed to the visual recognition module on the top of the equipment.
It is known in the industry that heat shrink packaging machines are most afraid of film change and type change. Last year, a certain nut brand frequently changed its packaging specifications, causing the production line to stop working for two hours every day to debug the equipment. Now this new model in the workshop is breaking this curse with action. The reporter saw at the scene that when the operator loaded a roll of shrink film of a new material into the equipment, the temperature control system automatically adjusted the hot air temperature from 155¡æ to 162¡æ. "Just like adjusting the iron temperature for different fabrics, our intelligent packaging equipment can now automatically identify more than 30 common film parameters." Technical Director Yang Gong said while calling up the film database on the touch screen. Behind the breakthrough in the adaptability of packaging consumables is the hard support of energy-saving transformation of the production line. On the energy consumption display panel, the real-time power value of the equipment is nearly 15% lower than that of traditional models. "The secret lies in the hot air circulation system." Engineer Yang took the reporter to the back of the equipment and showed the honeycomb return air structure: "The hot air of traditional equipment is one-way injection, we changed it to a turbocharged circulation, and the thermal efficiency is improved, which naturally saves electricity."
For heat shrink packaging machines, zero-fault operation was once the most luxurious expectation of customers. The reporter saw in the factory's cloud platform monitoring center that the equipment of a drinking water company in Shanxi has been running for 137 consecutive days without repair. "The key lies in the innovation of the transmission system." After-sales supervisor Lao Zhou took out the maintenance comparison chart on his mobile phone: "We changed the vulnerable gear transmission to magnetic levitation transmission, and the return rate was directly cut in half last year. Now when customers buy equipment, we dare to sign a three-year maintenance-free agreement."
In the sample display area of the packaging workshop, the reporter met Manager Lin, a Guangdong customer who was inspecting the goods. His daily chemical factory had just introduced this set of heat shrink packaging machines, and he was most satisfied with its ability to handle special-shaped bottles. "Look at this gourd-shaped shower gel bottle. It used to be covered with film manually, but now the equipment can automatically identify the concave parts and adjust the hot air intensity." Manager Lin used the flashlight on his mobile phone to shine on the bottle: "Look at the fit of the shrink film. Even the anti-slip pattern on the bottom of the bottle has no bubbles."
Industry observers pointed out that the intelligent iteration of heat shrink packaging machines is changing the rules of the game. Traditional equipment is considered to meet the standard if it processes 2,000 pieces per hour, but the reporter found that when the new model processes irregular gift box packaging, the speed is 10% faster than the standard product. "The intelligent algorithm will predict the movement trajectory of the package and calculate the hot air coverage angle in advance." Xiao Tang, the head of the R&D team, revealed that this technology was inspired by the high-speed rail's automatic driving system.
Before leaving, the factory manager revealed that he was developing more disruptive technology: "The next generation of heat shrink packaging will be equipped with a self-healing temperature control system, just like installing an 'immune system' on the equipment. When encountering voltage fluctuations or sudden changes in ambient temperature and humidity, it can automatically maintain the best working state." Through the bright glass windows of the workshop, the reporter seemed to see another solid footprint of China's smart manufacturing in the field of packaging machinery.
