03 Out of the traditional thinking of industrial hardware

In order to increase flexibility and repeatability, many advanced control solutions are used in the MM machine production line. Engineers and operators interact with the MM machine through a built-in widescreen panel that externally provides multi-touch display hardware with IP65 protection. The single-cable design integrates power, USB 3.0 signals and DVI signals and can be used for transmission from the PC-based machine controller to the control panel up to 100m.

DIN rail mounted embedded PC is the main machine controller for advanced MM production lines. This PC-based controller features a dual-core processor that automatically produces samples through universal automation software.

These industrial grade PCS control all automation equipment, including servo drives, sensors and more on the MM production line. In the MM9 series, for example, the small embedded controller had to provide the processing power needed to drive a complex machine with seven axes of motion and a 5-axis and 2 3-axis Delta robots, with CPU computing power that could be used for quality monitoring and potentially self-healing software.

Embedded PCS also provide installation and processing capabilities for third-party software running in Microsoft’s Windows environment. This includes custom Laplas AI applications for quality control.

04 Deploy AI tools

“We are deploying AI tools on the sampling bag line primarily to automatically detect and process product defects and predict quality through device condition monitoring data from motors, sensors and cameras, which would not be possible without powerful computing power.” “Brouillette said.

EtherCAT provides real-time networking and I/O solutions for MM machine production lines, further enhancing the openness of the system. Fontaine explained that DIN rail mounted I/O terminals are connected to embedded PCS and to sensors, valves, terminal clips, solid-state relays (SSRS) and other devices on MM machines.

With a single Ethernet cable, the EtherCAT protocol enables users to transfer information between components faster than controller cycles, including information needed for security functions.

05 Unlocking future productivity and flexibility

By implementing PC-based open solutions, each product line realized a return on investment in less than a year after the upgrade. They also increase the flexibility of MM machines, are able to produce more specifications with less conversion work, and are able to take full advantage of AI and robotics to complete processes quickly with the highest quality.

“By applying AI directly to the machine for quality control, operators can focus on the supply and packaging of the product rather than quality control.” This also allows us to implement predictive maintenance to address any equipment and process issues before they cause production to stop.” “Brouillette said.

In addition to improved warranty levels, Labplas has increased the production of sampling bags of all sizes, increasing the productivity of the redesigned MM machines by an average of 25 percent. As the bag size gets wider, the efficiency gains decrease slightly. For example, productivity increases averaged 15 percent for bags larger than 10 inches and 35 percent for smaller bags. In addition, with the addition of robots and other upgrades, the speed of inserting sampling kits on MM8 machines has been increased by 6 times.