Mechatronics combines many product types and engineering disciplines to create a complete solution. It focuses on integrating these areas to improve the functionality and efficiency of manufacturing processes that are essential in meeting rapidly changing demands on machine builders.

Mechatronics solutions are flexible and intelligent, capable of manufacturing different product types.

In his presentation, Jason explores the global mega-trends that are driving rapid and unpredictably changing manufacturing and consumer demands. He explains how machine builders must deliver machine and lines to meet these demands to compete in their own market space. He also looks at the importance of IT/OT and cyber-security in realising a digitally connected machine.

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Spanning process control, adaptive manufacturing and digital optimisation, ABB and B&R solutions can be combined into a single, interoperable platform to support safer operations, improve quality control and reduce resource utilisation. This approach increases flexibility and accelerates innovation across beverage and brewing operations while demonstrating how integrated automation solutions can help industry producers become leaner and cleaner to outperform and outrun.

Visitors to Booth 472/480, located in Hall C5, will experience how ABB and B&R enable breweries and beverage producers to optimise operations, from converting raw material to final product and to filling and packaging lines, inclusive of utilities, using one smart automation ecosystem. Highlights will include the ABB Ability BeerMaker, built on the ABB Ability System 800xA distributed control system (DCS), and B&R’s adaptive automation for packaging and line flexibility.

BeerMaker is a modular solution specifically designed to optimise the brewing process. It helps brewers to safely produce the best beer and scale production, all while reducing energy and water usage, boosting reliability and streamlining configuration. The solution’s unveiling at the event coincides with the technology’s deployment and the expansion of a current System 800xA installation in an existing brewery in South America belonging to one of the leading global breweries. The project will be executed by a specialized system integrator with decades of experience in the brewing industry.

“We’re showing how ABB and B&R together can cover the full spectrum of brewery automation,” said Marcello Gulinelli, Global Head of Food and Beverage at ABB’s Process Industries division. “We are united and committed in helping food and beverage producers outrun – leaner and cleaner. For the first time at drinktec, end users, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators in the beverage industry will see how our interoperable systems support the entire value chain, from brewing to bottling, under one automation and digital umbrella.”

Live demonstrations such as the ABB Technology Experience: Mechanical Engineering and Industry (ATEMI) exhibit will showcase interoperability in action. ATEMI brings together drive, control, safety and vision technologies in a compact setup with an interactive display comprised of an electrification cell and circuit breakers, drives, visualisation and grippers. Visitors will be able to operate this via joystick, seeing first-hand how various ABB components connect to work together seamlessly.

Alongside ABB, B&R will showcase how OEMs can design highly competitive machines, achieving exceptional productivity and precision with the B&R scalable automation solution. Its adaptive portfolio includes ACOPOStrak and ACOPOS 6D, the flexible track system and magnetically levitating shuttles transforming adaptive manufacturing, as well as robotics. These future-proof solutions built on interoperability, digitalisation, IIoT and smart service allow producers to master personalisation and stock keeping unit (SKU) proliferation through rapid changeovers and a reduced machine footprint.

“The beverage market has never been more dynamic,” said Wlady Martino, B&R Global Industry Segment Manager for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG). “Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our ABB colleagues, together, we provide the definitive answer to today’s challenges. We are shaping the future by focusing on what matters most to producers: agile automation for rapid changeovers and SKU variety, productive systems that maximise throughput and efficiency, and intelligent solutions that turn data into a real competitive advantage.”

The exhibition between ABB and B&R on these integrated solutions will also introduce Modular Type Package (MTP) concepts to the brewing industry, improving engineering efficiency and integration speed. Additional digital enablers on display will include Energy Management Systems (EMS), Advanced Process Control (APC), Knowledge Manager and Connected Workforce. These have endless potential to support a more responsive, sustainable and data-driven beverage production model, one that focuses on safety, quality and sustainability without losing control of productivity, reliability and flexibility.

Stand A01 will include a demonstration featuring ABB’s GoFa collaborative robot and B&R’s ACOPOS 6D handling system. Offering a 5kg payload and a class-leading 950 mm reach, GoFa is designed as a collaborative partner for a wide range of applications. With a top speed of 2.2 m/s, GoFa is faster than other cobots in its class, while also offering easy programming and a high degree of built-in safety.

The demonstration will show GoFa working in collaboration with B&R’s ACOPOS 6D system, which uses magnetically levitating shuttles to carry products and materials to processing stations, eliminating mechanical wear, and speeding up transit times. ACOPOS 6D uses a variety of magnetic shuttles to carry payloads of 0.6 to 14 kilograms, reaching speeds of up to 2 m/s. They can move freely in two-dimensional space, rotate and tilt along three axes and offer precise control over the height of levitation.

Offering six degrees of motion control freedom, the shuttles can be precisely positioned to within ±5 µm, making ACOPOS 6D perfectly suited for applications with strict positioning requirements.

The demonstration will also show how ABB’s range of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) can be applied to offer new possibilities for transforming productivity by reducing the time and resources needed to convey units between storage and production or distribution stations.

The stand will also offer the opportunity to find out more about the latest products and solutions available, with videos featuring news and applications featuring ABB and B&R technologies.

“Robotic automation offers real, proven possibilities that can enable companies, from manufacturing and distribution to healthcare, to grow their potential by transforming their flexibility and maximising their productivity and competitiveness,” said Nigel Platt, UK and Ireland general manager for robotics at ABB.

“The solutions on display on our stand are part of a wider portfolio of products and systems that demonstrate our ability to help companies to take advantage of the real growth opportunities presented by automation.”

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To succeed in a world of mass customisation, e-commerce and direct-to-consumer delivery, you need machinery that’s built to adapt. Today’s consumers expect to get the products they want, when they want them – personalised to their individual tastes and preferences.

To meet this challenge, forward thinking machine builders are delivering machinery that adapts to the products being made and packaged, rather than forcing products to conform to a rigidly sequential process. Machinery designs that also have a fast time-to-commissioning, reduced development risk and minimised prototype cost.

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A featured solution on the stand includes the ABB FlexPicker IRB360, demonstrating its fast picking capabilities in a compact footprint. Featuring easy to rinse-off surfaces and joints and designed for picking and packing applications with high payloads up to 8kg, the FlexPicker has established a reputation for fast, flexible, and accurate performance in a wide range of food and beverage and pharmaceuticals applications.

With space at a premium in many factories, solutions that can offer high performance in the smallest possible footprint are ideal. ABB’s fastest and most compact robot yet, the IRB1100, provides 35 percent increased productivity with up to 10 percent space savings, and consistently outperforms other robots in its class in terms of payload and repeatability, even when working in confined locations.

Also on the stand are examples of ABB’s single and dual-arm YuMi seven-axis robots. Incorporating extensive safety features including padded arms and collision detection that automatically stops the robot if it detects the presence of a human worker. Both robots provide the flexibility needed to meet the production requirements of small and medium enterprises, with the ability to handle a range of precise and repetitive tasks involving components up to 0.5kg. The YuMi robots are part of a suite of exciting collaborative automation solutions that help people and robots work more safely and closer together than ever before.

Interactive exhibits

Visitors to the virtual stand will also find a range of other interactive exhibits including display boards covering videos on elements such as the new RobotStudio AR viewer, downloadable information including ebooks and white papers and 360 degree rotating models of each robot for full view so you don’t miss out on a thing.

There’s also a chance to visit a dedicated stand showing B&R Automation’s groundbreaking Adaptive Machine. As the machine automation specialists within the ABB Robotics and Discrete Automation Business, B&R Automation’s solutions allow OEM and special purpose machine builders to speed time to market, minimize development risk and reduce costs. Using the virtual stand, visitors can find out more about the Adaptive Machine concept and explore B&R’s ACOPOSTrack, which has been designed to deliver decisive technological advantages for adaptive, connected manufacturing by transporting parts and products quickly and flexibly.

“Our interactive exhibition stands provide an ideal way for visitors to find out more about our latest robots and how they can help to deliver value in industrial applications” says Julian Ware, Sales Manager for ABB Robotics in the UK and Ireland. “While there is obviously no substitute for personal contact, features like the inclusion of online enquiry mechanisms included on the stand provide the next best thing, enabling people to easily get in contact with us to find out more about how we can help them make a switch to robotic automation.”

To learn more about ABB robotic solutions and the difference it could make to your processing and packaging application, visit the virtual PPMA stand today

Consumer behaviour is changing at an ever-increasing pace and in unpredictable ways as people actively seek value, uniqueness or instant gratification. For End-User product manufacturers in volume industries such as food and beverage, consumer packed goods or medical devices this presents many challenges that affect how they operate their businesses to remain competitive and profitable.

This pressure is now pushing back through the supply chain and impacting serial and special purpose machine builders, where machine design is constantly evolving to satisfy End-User demands where time to market, flexibility, cost reduction and environmental sustainability are key drivers.

B&R Industrial Automation is focused on this sector of the automation industry and count many global leaders in machine building as its customers. This provides the company a unique position to offer not only class-leading products, but also the understanding and competences to provide application consultative sales and engineering services that allow them to design, build and deliver machines that deliver the productivity, availability and quality demanded.

B&R calls this Enabling the Adaptive Machine. Extending this theme to realise Smart Factories, B&R will also be presenting its factory automation software suite APROL that connects machine and line data into the plant and enterprise layers. With demonstrations from its Qualified Partner network around data acquisition, energy and condition monitoring, combined with the analysis tools, a clear vision of the complete production process is achieved.

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We aim to educate and entertain through a variety of seminars that are grouped in three core areas: 1) Automation State of the Art, 2) Innovations, 3) Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). By having various speakers from B&R UK & Ireland, B&R Austria, and partner companies, you will be exposed to a range of new ideas to incorporate into your machine or factory. This includes a demonstration of B&R’s Supertrak complete with openROBOTICS using Comau Robots and B&R’s Orange Box.

B&R will install exhibition style demonstration units and product walls to facilitate discussions during the coffee breaks and throughout lunch. We aim to expose the participants to the latest technology developed by our team of innovation experts as well as through sharing through a group of selected customer case studies presented directly by them.

Click here for full details on the day, including information on the seminar programme, and to register for the event.

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Seminar programme:

Pictured right: B&R managing director Hans Wimmer

“Building close relationships with our customers is and remains essential to who we are as a company,” affirms Wimmer on announcing finalisation of the acquisition process. “We will continue to work hand-in-hand with our customers to develop the most innovative solutions, and they will see no changes in their day-to-day points of contact.”

B&R’s primary focus will stay centred on the OEM market, accompanied by expansions to its factory automation portfolio. With B&R building on ABB’s global presence and complementary offerings, customers will see substantial benefits from the merger. B&R will also be intensifying its activities in the Industrial IoT arena and expanding on ABB’s industry-leading portfolio of digital solutions.

“ABB and B&R are united in their innovation and customer focus,” adds Terwiesch. “These will be central factors as we evolve together going forward.” Ensuring its ability to handle the steadily increasing demand for B&R’s advanced solutions, ABB is investing in a new R&D centre at B&R headquarters in Eggelsberg as well as expanded production capacity a few kilometres away in Gilgenberg. Additionally, the technical office in Salzburg is being expanded to make room for 50 new developers in the areas of control, motion control and Industrial IoT communication.

“We will be investing heavily in expanding our R&D infrastructure and adding production capacity,” says B&R managing director Hans Wimmer.

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B&R says mapp RoboX can be used to control any kinematic system with up to 15 axes. Using mapp RoboX, developers enjoy complete design freedom while still benefiting from all the conveniences of mapp technology. The robot is simple to parameterise with mapp RoboX, with visualisation and diagnostics already on board. This saves valuable time, both in development and during operation.

For the next step there is mapp Teach. B&R says mapp Teach provides intuitive teach-in functionality to define and manage the robot’s movement sequences and get it up and running in no time.

Enabling fast development, mapp technology consists of individually encapsulated blocks that streamline development of new applications. The mapp components provide basic functionality that can be configured graphically – cutting development times by an average of 67%. All mapp components are connected via mapp links. Each mapp component retrieves the data it needs from other components using a client-server model.

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Pictured: Walter Burgstaller (Sales Director – Europe at B&R, left) and Tobias Daniel (Head of Sales & Marketing at COMAU Robotics) presented openROBOTICS for the first time at SPS IPC Drives 2015.

“With completely uniform programming for every component in the line – including the robotics – our customers around the world gain the full benefit of holistic approaches to operation, diagnostics and maintenance,” says Tobias Daniel, head of sales and marketing at COMAU Robotics. “You won’t find another solution like this on the market.” Traditionally, robotics and machinery have always relied on separate controllers or gateways.

COMAU robots all over the world can now be completely and seamlessly integrated into machines and production lines equipped with B&R automation components. “The customer simply selects the desired COMAU robot in the Automation Studio engineering environment,” explains Walter Burgstaller, B&R’s European sales director. “With mapp technology, the robot can then be effortlessly incorporated in – and perfectly synchronised with – the machine’s automation software. Conventional solutions with cumbersome interfaces will never achieve this kind of usability and performance.”

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