Thinking about automating your packaging line in 2024?

Let’s face it, it has been a challenging year for the food and drink industry and most manufacturers will be on a mission to avoid the mistakes of the past. Having completed your HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and risk assessments, you will no doubt have a better understanding of your area of focus. If 2024 is the year you start to automate your packaging lines, you’ll need to know what to look for when procuring and implementing new technology. If mitigating the risk of packaging, labelling and coding errors is high on your agenda, there are five key areas to consider when speaking to specialists in the field.

1. Be clear about what you want the system to do

Write out a user requirement specification (URS) to ensure you focus on what your business needs. This will save time and help you compare quotes for similar systems. If you are not sure what you need the system to do, but you have the basics of what you need, talk to a potential supplier and ask what features are in place to support interoperability and the broader digital transformation journey, and where they have done this before.

2. Involve production line personnel in the purchasing process

At the end of the day, the system must work on the factory floor. It's a good idea to continually seek the views of your production line personnel and to test what you're thinking with them. Involve different members of the manufacturing team, especially those who will be using the system, during the procurement process. Take note of what they tell you is happening on the factory floor. In the long term, this will help with system buy-in and avoid 'I told you there was a problem with XYZ' statements.

3. Explore scenarios through demonstrations

If you’ve recently experienced a packaging error or product recall, it will help you to understand how events would play out differently under different scenarios. Ask your potential suppliers to take you on a theoretical journey down the packaging line with scenarios where the supplier's system has been hypothetically installed. Ask ‘what if’, ‘what then’, ‘what happens next’, ‘what is documented’, ‘what is transferrable’, etc., questions. This will help you understand the differences in the system especially when combined with visual media such as a demonstration.

Sometimes it is better to understand just how the system works by looking at the user interface and understanding the system features. You will undoubtedly know if the system is right for you based on other systems that have worked in your factory environment, or simply by talking to production line personnel during the procurement process and understanding their behaviour.

4. Seek advice from those in the industry

If you are still not sure how the software system functions differently, ask for recommendations and advice from an auditor in your industry. They will have looked at several systems to understand what helps mitigate risk and which systems can provide value-added insights that can also help drive continuous improvement. If you have a sister company, or can talk to other manufacturing sites, always obtain their views and recommendations on who to talk to. Ask them what they should look out for based on their knowledge and experience, and what areas they should consider in the long term.

5. Understand the set-up requirements and long-term costs

When manufacturers realise that they need to install a system to deal with a problem, they tend to focus on the up-front costs and how quickly the system can be put in place. Of course, you don't want the problem to recur in the near future, but like buying a car, you don't want to make the wrong investment. It may look good, it may perform well, and it may do the job of getting you from A to B, but what about road tax, service costs and the cost of replacing parts?

Software systems that automate packaging lines and integrate with packaging line devices may not be subject to a tax regime, but there are differences in service charge packages in terms of price and support features. There are also differences in the costs of spare parts included in the maintenance of the system and potential hidden costs of providing an add-on feature or upgrade, that you might naturally assume is included in the package.

You may also need to consider whether you want to go down the route of buying the same brand of equipment, or whether you prefer to combine different product features from different brands to create a solution. All of these factors need to be considered before choosing what may initially appear to be the cheapest or most convenient option. It will be much harder to change once a system is installed. The key is to do your research and see what grants or tax breaks are available at the time!

If all this has given you some food for thought, and you want to understand ways to help you through the buying process, download our AutoCoding System Buyers’ Guide. Alternatively, if you would like to start discussions with a supplier with eighteen years’ experience in the industry, please contact us and request a demonstration.

Let’s make it smarter.

AutoCoding Systems Limited

Visit: www.autocodingsystems.com

Email: acs.info@jbtc.com

Software solutions for smart packaging lines.