DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: CREATING A SECURE, EFFICIENT AND SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN How will increasing levels of automation and digitalization shape the future of the packaging landscape? Victoria Hattersley spoke to David Swedes, Vice-President Engineering & Manufacturing at Valco Melton, about the transformative effect automation is having on vital processes in the production chain such as dispensing, inspection and monitoring.
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he terms ‘digital transformation’ and ‘Industry 4.0’ are ones we are all now very familiar with, but they can mean different things to different people depending on where they are in the value chain. Increased automation is one obvious factor, of course, but they also encompass tracking along the supply chain from producer to consumer, AI, vision inspection and much, much more. All of this is with the aim of creating a more secure, efficient and sustainable production infrastructure for the future. “Transforming an entire supply chain can include everything from full plant automation and control to inventory tracking with barcodes/RFID to integrated transportation and distribution solutions that allow tracking of products from | 28 | Packaging Europe
vendors through to end-users,” says David Swedes of Valco Melton – one of the world’s leaders in adhesive dispensing machinery, vision inspection and electronic monitoring systems. “For Valco Melton, that transformation includes remote monitoring of packaging adhesive application systems, supervisory PLC control of previously machine-level systems, quality monitoring of packaging lines and packaging manufacturing machinery.” The packaging industry has been somewhat lagging behind other sectors when it comes to digital adoption and while there have been many advancements in robotics, smart packaging, AI and so on it’s still very much in the early stages. However, according to a recent survey by McKinsey it will be a clear
