Packaging Machine Wrapper Modernization

Wrapping machines a vendor said to replace.

A food manufacturer was operating approximately four to five existing wrapping machines used in its burrito production operation.

The manufacturer had contacted the equipment vendor about the aging machines and was advised to purchase new wrapping equipment. Before replacing them, the manufacturer engaged Meray to determine whether modernization was practical.

Can we modernize the automation and keep the useful machine?

The wrapping equipment represented existing production assets with mechanical systems the customer's team already understood. The controls and automation, however, required significant modernization.

Replacing the entire machine would also mean discarding mechanical equipment and machine knowledge that potentially still had useful life. So the project became a clear question: can we modernize the automation while retaining the useful mechanical machine?

A modernization worth validating before committing the fleet.

Rather than immediately modernizing the entire group of machines, the decision was made to modernize one machine first and use it to validate the approach before proceeding with the remaining equipment.

Meray did not ask the customer to commit up front to modernizing every machine. The first machine served as a practical modernization pilot.

The mechanical machine and the plant team's knowledge of it.

Meray worked with the customer's mechanical team to separate the mechanical scope from the automation modernization scope. The customer's mechanical personnel already understood the mechanical operation of the wrapper, so that expertise stayed where it belonged.

• ·The existing mechanical wrapping machine
• ·The customer's mechanical operating knowledge
• ·Existing production experience

A rebuilt automation layer: PLC, HMI, VFDs and servo.

Meray concentrated on rebuilding and integrating the automation layer of the wrapper.

• ·New PLC / control panel
• ·New HMI
• ·New VFDs
• ·New servo drives and servo components
• ·Controls programming

New automation, coordinated with the customer's mechanical team.

The new automation components were integrated with the existing mechanical machine in coordination with the customer's mechanical personnel — combining what the plant team knew with the controls engineering Meray brought.

• ·Integration with the existing mechanical machine
• ·Coordination with the customer's mechanical team

Tested, started up, and commissioned on the pilot machine.

Meray tested the modernized wrapper, brought it through startup, and commissioned the new automation on the initial machine.

• ·Testing
• ·Startup
• ·Commissioning

One machine modernized — and a basis for deciding on the rest.

Meray completed the controls modernization on the initial wrapper and integrated the new automation components with the existing mechanical equipment.

The modernization approach could then be evaluated as the basis for decisions about the customer's remaining wrapping machines — a practical demonstration of “before you replace it, let Meray evaluate it.”