Huhtamaki moves with the times and constantly stays up to date with the latest trends. To this end, the packaging manufacturer constantly reviews everything it does, including the manufacturing process for food packaging and system documentation. The former should be more sustainable, the latter transparent, consistent, and digital – in short, organised. With the digital ePocket wiring plan pocket from Rittal, the packaging manufacturer has found a system that brings order to equipment and system documentation.
Overview
- Project
- Huthamaki Foodservice
- Location
- Alf , Germany
- Challenge
Missing, outdated or incomplete equipment and system documentation
- Solution
Introduction and roll-out of the Rittal ePocket wiring plan pocket
Instant access to equipment and system data and documentation by using a smartphone or tablet whilst at the enclosure
Fast change management
Straightforward user rights management
Thanks to ePocket, we always know exactly what’s installed in our enclosures.
Based in Alf (Germany), the Finnish company Huhtamaki manufactures food packaging. Because the production of plastic lids, cups, salad bowls and meal boxes is not sustainable, the company wanted to switch to a different manufacturing process. Although the company still predominantly uses plastic thermoforming to manufacture its food and beverage packaging, the plan is to gradually replace all the old systems with paper processing machines that use the pulp moulding process. Seven of these new machines have already been installed. Benedikt Wahsweiler, who is in charge of automation technology, control programming and system design, and his colleague Oliver Stark, who is Head of Automation, were responsible for ensuring the paper-processing machines were installed and commissioned smoothly.
As part of the reorganisation, the company also wanted to adopt a new approach with regard to equipment and system documentation. The move to paperless documentation arose from Stark and Wahsweiler’s negative experiences with illegible or simply non-existent equipment and system documentation. They had experimented a little in advance with QR codes for documents relating to individual parts in enclosures. However, the big step towards end-to-end digitalisation had to be taken with a professional tool such as ePocket from Rittal.
ePocket, the digital wiring plan pocket from Rittal, is a storage space in the Eplan Cloud. Documents can be stored, edited and managed for every part in the enclosure. Stark and Wahsweiler immediately began reviewing the documents for all machines in Alf and storing them in the cloud – securely protected and clearly organised. In addition to wiring plan, they stored data sheets, certificates, maintenance schedules and even workshop plans in the new circuit diagram pockets. The equipment and system documentation for the new machines was already available in digital form, which made their digitisation project much easier. They developed the documentation for secondary and minor equipment themselves. However, only paper plans existed for older systems, so the pair had no choice but to scan some documents.
But the results are impressive. No more searching through dusty papers, but instead convenient and practical access from the office or on-site, as well as working for everyone involved.
For external service providers, using cloud storage is incredibly easy. A QR code on the inside of the door of the enclosure takes the user to the login page. Registered users log in there and find a clearly organised file structure. Each machine has its own folder system. Everything in the factory is now in its right and proper place, from the new machines to the oldest document.