September 2021

38 n FOOD AND BEVERAGE September 2021 www.drivesncontrols.com Take a butchers at the future of meat-packing T he German machine- builder Komet specialises in vacuum packaging machinery for meat, sausages and other perishable goods. The family- owned business makes machines that remove oxygen from packaging with the option of introducing gas to protect the food. Komet has found a niche supplying manual/semi- industrial machines to mid-sized butchers, restaurateurs and caterers. The machines need to be almost failure-free, and easy to operate and to adapt to new products. The machines cater to the changing nature of the butcher’s trade, especially in Germany where the number of butchers has been falling as smaller businesses close or are bought by chains. Of the 12,360 butchers in Germany in 2017, 25.7% were branches of chains. “With our compact, fast and flexibly cycling automatic thermoforming machines, we have made a name for ourselves in the meat processing and gastronomy industry,”boasts manager, Harald Janke.“Our Sprinter model, for example, is designed for butcher’s shops with up to five branches that regularly have to reliably package large quantities of fresh goods. These operations are not satisfied with a conventional vacuum device.” The Sprinter machine has been part of Komet’s range since 2007 and has been adapted to satisfy new requirements and standards over the years. The 2.80m-long machine offers a high cycle output, precision and intuitive operation. It can package fresh goods quickly and safely in up to 14 steps on up to five parallel tracks. At the heart of the machine is an insertion area where the products are fed in, either manually or automatically. A chain drive pulls a fixed bottom film. A special thermoforming procedure, combined with an assembled tray tool, creates the mould to be filled. The operator inserts the sausage or meat products and a chain drive transports the filled trays into a sealing chamber. There, a thinner top film is fed in and a vacuum pump extracts the air. If necessary, gas can be introduced. The bottom and top films are then heat-sealed. Under protective Plexiglas hoods, longitudinal and cross-cutting knives separate the individual packages, which are deposited in transport cases via a discharge conveyor or by hand. The cycle speed can be adapted to the operator’s working speed. To eliminate crushing hazards when inserting products, Komet uses magnetic safety switches to monitor the opening of the hoods. When this happens, the slitting and cross- cutting knives come to a safe emergency stop. Reliability and precision are critical.“The butcher must be able to rely on the precision of the plant control, even when using an insertion area with up to 14 steps. Being off by less than 1mm for each step would add up by the end,” Janke explains.“The longitudinal and cross- cutter would then no longer separate individual packages, instead it would cut them open again. An absolute no-go!”. Previously, the Sprinter machines were equipped with Pilz PNOZmulti controllers. But as user demands and complexity have grown, the requirements for control, operability and safety have also increased. The controls now need to handle a wider range of applications, with more drive axes and the flexibility to expand. This required more sophisticated automation and safety. Komet has opted for a single automation system – Pilz’s modular PSS 4000 – which combines control and safety functions. The previous separation of these functions has been lifted, without sacrificing safety. This allows the machine to be smaller – especially its control cabinet. Users can start and stop a machine, change a product or belt, or modify a sequence, at the press of a button. Systemdiagnostics are performed by the automation hardware, and can be used to display parameters such as sealing temperatures or times. Green I/O modules handle non-safety- related functions, while yellow ones handle safety functions. The modular design allows expansions at any time. Visualisation is important factor in Komet’s machines, especially considering who the users will be.“A butcher is neither a programmer nor a technician,”Janke points out.“He wants to be able to intuitively and safely operate the device and be certain that the goods are packaged so that they are preserved.” The company is therefore using Pilz’s PASvisuWeb-based HMI software which gives an overview of all processes at all times, either via an HMI on the machine, or remotely. Butchers of the future, Komet believes, will stand in their shops and track what their production machines are doing on smartphones or tablets. n A German company that builds machines for packaging fresh foods, has adopted a modular automation and visualisation system that combines safety and non-safety control and monitoring functions in one failsafe system. Komet’s manager Harald Janke with the Sprinter thermoforming machine: “a butcher is neither a programmer nor a technician”