Gebo Cermex diagnostic audits for shocks and pressure on packaging lines

Gebo Cermex has developed two diagnostics of risk situations on packaging lines: ‘shocks’ audits to measure the shocks and the impacts on the packaging line and ‘pressure’ audits to detect the abnormal pressure zones and the line regulation problems.

The audits are suitable for glass and PET bottles, cans, glass jars and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

The audits will measure the shocks and/or pressures to which the containers are subjected, quantify the consequences of the damage, compare the results with reference values; locate the causes; establish diagnostics of the solutions; and propose a corrective action plan.

Recommendations for correction might include adjusting the control system for regulating the line, improving the automated control or the mechanics of the interface and transfer zones, adjusting or changing the machine infeeds or re-engineering a portion of the line.

The audits study all of the conveying and accumulation phases and also what occurs inside the items of equipment, such as fillers, cappers, case packers, bundlers, wrappers or palletisers/depalletisers.

The process uses sensors combined with a software program to record the data gathered. The shock sensor comprises accelerometers to calculate deceleration on three axes, which are inserted in a hard plastic (acetal) container of the same shape as the packaging handled by the line. The pressure sensor is a cylinder incorporating 500 pressure measurement points distributed over the outside of the container.