Packaging Machinery Trends of the Future – As Told by One Who Looks at the Market, not a Technical Genius!

When asked to write about the future trends within the packaging machinery industry I began to think about the idea people, particularly those not from a technical background, must have of us machinery engineers – working away in our factories until we come up with the a genius invention which will set the industry alight! That is not to say that some of the most brilliant engineering concepts have not come from a moment of pure genius however this is very rare and manufacturing history tells us that many failed projects were developed without due care of what is now screamingly obvious – market research!  

Realistically we have to go through the torturous process of analysing the key market drivers augmented by extensive customer consultation and understand, even predict the trends in our industry.  

So what are the primary drivers in the Packaging machinery market?  I could go and ramble on over this topic but - to keep within the boundaries of this article – I will focus on five key areas; the often unstable economic climate, the regulatory and political environment, the availability of suitably skilled staff, globalisation invoking international competition and the relentless growth of the environmental lobby and associated issues relating to waste, CO2 emissions and energy consumption. I wouldn’t be unreasonable in saying that each of these drivers are linked. The pressure, for example, to increase efficiency and reduce waste has led to a renaissance in Lean Engineering^* techniques whilst shortages of skilled staff have been addressed in part through the adoption of robotics.  Automation and robotics have, in turn, also reduced waste and the arguments for going to automated systems are identical to those supporting the principles of lean engineering!  These cyclic arguments have led to a number of somewhat predictable trends in machinery design.    

There aren’t many companies, my own included, who didn’t feel the effects of the recession.  The companies who weathered the economic storm the best however either had an innovative product to sell or began rubbing shoulders with companies on international shores - namely the so-called, BRIC nations China, India, Russia and Brazil – economies with low overheads. When the West was suffering with GDP figures as bad as minus 4%, China was still enjoying growth of over plus 6%.  It was not enough, however, to simply sell the basic machinery products in these regions.  Domestically produced goods in China are now more than 'fit-for-purpose' at the bottom end of the market and the Asian market is now seeking high-end technologically advanced products. Despite the availability of relatively low cost labour, even the Asian economies are actually adopting automation and robotic technology faster than the UK.  They recognise that our use of this technology effectively nullifies their competitive advantage by removing the 'human touch’ – ensuring a trend towards high end, automated products designed to compete with or even meet the needs of overseas markets.

The food market emerged relatively unscathed - there is a very clear trend towards machinery that is designed to meet both the stringent 'Cleaning in Place' (CIP) requirements of this industry and the sometimes less rational consumer-driven demands placed upon the cosmetics of the final product. Here again we are seeing a rise in demand for automation and robotics from China – where the food industry is worth over half a billion dollars a year. Consumers are also demanding products in more environmentally friendly packaging made from biodegradable materials whilst the growth in single consumers has increased the demand for re-closable containers.  All of these factors are placing demands upon machinery designers. 

Switching to automation as an argument for environmental savings is also strong. Consistent product quality leads to less waste with almost zero QA rejection whilst twenty four hour 'lights-out' operation at lower temperatures, impossible working conditions for human operators, and massively increased throughput leads to significant energy savings.  Additionally, the reduced product handling has almost removed the introduction of pathogens onto organic materials and has significantly increased product shelf-life.  Reflected within machinery designs is also the need to meet regulatory standards - with a significant emphasis upon Health and Safety and the need for appropriate accreditation to international machinery production standards. 

So to sum up the emphasis needs to be on highly differentiated, technologically advanced machines able to compete effectively in a global market.  Automation and Robotics addresses the primary market drivers on a number of levels including quality, consistency, throughput, environmental issues, labour relations, productivity and regulatory compliance.  There is greater use of Servo systems and re-usable components whilst the almost obsessive pre-occupation with Health & Safety has driven us to produce machines offering almost zero risk to operators.