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Test and Measurement Automation

Bubble Wrap Material
Bubble Wrap Material

Automated Packing Material Dispensing

Summary

DMC wrote PLC control software for a high volume production machine that automatically indexes, cuts, and dispenses bubble wrap material for the packaging industry.

Customer Benefits

  • Allowed customer to focus on hardware development while DMC managed software development
  • Helped meet time constraints to get machine into mass production
  • Implemented State Machine architecture that kept the program easy to read, modify, and debug
  • Helped establish a set of company-wide software standards for this manufacturer
  • DMC helped provide user manuals and technical manuals
  • DMC provided additional updates to convert the machine interface for CE compliance

Technologies

  • Panasonic FP-x PLC
  • Panasonic GT01 HMI
  • IMS Stepper Motors

Solution

 In order to get this machine into production more quickly, DMC was asked to help convert a Beta software version into a production worthy program.  This required updating both the FP-x PLC and the GT01 HMI as well as developing the proper operational flow for how the machine should run.

This specific system was responsible for indexing packaging material to set sheet lengths, cutting the material, and dispensing it on demand for placement directly into boxes.

In order to establish an ongoing standard for this manufacturer's software, DMC created set memory and program layouts and provided a "Standards" document.  This helped immensely in creating uniformity among different product lines and in facilitating technical support and updates of machines in the field later in products' lifecycles.

DMC used this standard to develop a State Machine based architecture which allowed clear, repeatable operation.  This provided straight forward output control and error checking for indexing the material, cutting specific sheet lengths, and dispensing it in the appropriate manner.  DMC also worked to tune and optimize the system's components in order to maximize speed and throughput.

Finally, DMC helped the development process by providing versions of user and technical manuals.  DMC also was involved when the machine reached CE Compliance testing by helping to develop universal HMI screens and documents.

Thus, DMC helped the customer ramp their machine from development into mass production more quickly while also also improving internal processes and planning for future support.