MAJOR FIELDS OF ACTION AT INTERPACK Libby Munford caught up with Christian Traumann, group president, MULTIVAC ahead of interpack to hear the perspective of a leading provider of packaging solutions on the main trends it expects to explore on the show floor across the food, life science and healthcare sectors.
Christian Traumann
LM: Multivac has spotlighted sustainability, digitalization, and automation
Automation: An ever increasing number of fresh and processed food
as the main focuses for its stand at interpack. Can you talk me through each trend – what are the main challenges and demands from your customers in each category, and how are you innovating to meet these?
products have to be manufactured and packed. But it has become more difficult to find suitable or qualified staff. At the same time, hygiene and quality requirements are increasing. Automation solutions can provide one way out of the dilemma. However, compared to other sectors, the food industry overall still has a relatively low degree of automation. The main cause of the very subdued rise in the degree of automation in the food sector lies with the products that are processed: here it is a case of natural and often delicate products, which can spoil very easily. The packaging procedure in all its different parts has to be tailored individually to the product, its shape and its specific characteristics. It is therefore very difficult, or in many cases barely possible, to standardize the procedure. The possible areas of use for automation solutions within the packaging procedure extend from product infeed and loading right up to pack inspection and secondary packaging or palletizing at the end of the line. Automation is however only sensible if the degree of automation is tailored to the needs of the company, and is economically viable. Last but not least, we also see an enormous potential for automation solutions in the life science and healthcare industry. The ever-increasing complexity of medical devices requires a correspondingly increasing degree of automation of both production and packaging processes. For us, this results in the task to develop and offer complete solutions that can map the increasingly complex tasks with the highest degree of process reliability.
CT: Sustainability: The EU’s Plastics Strategy, as well as national legislation deduced from it, are driving developments in the market, through which fully functioning recycling loops are to be implemented, and also alternative materials are developed, which can better meet the requirements of a closedloop system. By using different material and packaging concepts, manufacturers can make an important contribution to meeting the current market demands with regard to the implementation of a circular economy. In order to implement sustainable packaging concepts in the food industry, it is essential to view the entire added value chain holistically, from the manufacturing stage through the logistics chain and right up to use by the consumer. In addition to the introduction of closed recycling loops and the reuse of plastic packs, it is also productive to look at concepts for reducing the consumption of plastics in the production of packs, as well as the options for using alternative packaging materials. Digitalization: Digitalization is an important key to mastering the increasing demands on packing in regard to cost efficiency and sustainability. Today MULTIVAC is already offering companies groundbreaking solutions with a wide range of tools for increasing machine availability and efficiency, and these can be implemented as required on a step-by-step basis. Viewed over the long term, digitalization offers companies great potential, insofar as packaging machines and even complete production lines can be continually optimized through a self-learning process.
LM: interpack is held every three years and the topic of sustainability has exponentially snowballed since the previous event. How far do you think the packaging industry has come, and how can it work together Packaging Europe | 27 |
