Perspective: Packaging machinery innovation

With the continuous development of science and technology, the emergence of a variety of food processing products, put forward new requirements for packaging technology and packaging equipment, packaging machinery in the circulation field is playing an increasingly larger role. At present, the competition for packaging machinery is becoming increasingly fierce, and highly automated, intelligent, multi-functional, high-efficiency, and low-consumption packaging equipment are increasingly favored by the industry.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, compared with traditional packaging machinery, new packaging machines have been characterized by simplification, high productivity, better matching and automation. The future packaging machinery will cooperate with the trend of industrial automation and promote the overall level of packaging equipment. For example, high-intelligence digital control systems, encoders and digital control components, and power load control devices have been commonly used in packaging machinery and equipment to make equipment users more independent, flexible, accurate, and high in operation. Efficiency and compatibility.

It is understood that the countries with high levels of foreign packaging and food machinery are mainly the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy and the United Kingdom. Germany's packaging machinery is leading in design, manufacturing and technical performance. In recent years, there has been a new trend in the development of packaging and food machinery equipment in these countries.

Food and beverage industry is a strong economic sector in the world. High investment is one of the biggest buyers of packaging machinery, with a 60% share. The pharmaceutical industry is also less affected by economic fluctuations because people need basic medicine supplies. This industry purchases 20% of all packaging machinery purchases.

Therefore, the trade in the world packaging machinery industry has been increasing for many years, reaching 14.6 billion euros in 2008. The global economic and financial crisis suppressed demand, and exports briefly fell in 2009. However, the industry expects that demand in 2010 will once again rise strongly.

In 2009, the export volume was about 4 billion euros, a quarter lower than the previous year, and Germany’s share of world exports was 34%. From the perspective of the development of the five major packaging machinery exporting countries, these countries accounted for about 73% of exports around the world. In 2009, Germany remains the world market leader. Germany and Italy share the dominant position in export business. Italy’s share of world exports is 27%.

Germany is the main supplier among 15 markets in 20 export markets for packaging machinery. With a share of 51%, Europe is still the main sales region for packaging machinery produced in Germany. Western Europe’s share of exports is 34%, which is the same as in 2009. However, the fall in supply in Russia and Ukraine led to the Asian region achieving a second position in the sales area, with a share of 17.2%, which exceeded 17% in Eastern Europe. From 2005 to 2009, the share of German packaging machinery exports in Asia increased by 22%. The share of German packaging machinery exports in Asia rose from nearly 32% in 2005 to over 34% in 2009. The fourth place in the sales area is North America, which has a share of about 11%. Followed by Africa, it is 8%, Latin America about 6%, Near East and Middle East 5%. The United States and Russia are still the most important national markets for German packaging machinery. In the top ten export markets, China ranks third.

The decline in demand for packaging machinery at the end of 2008/2009 was entirely due to the world economic climate and does not indicate market saturation. In contrast, the demand for packaged foods and beverages continues to thrive. Sales of packaged foods reached 534 billion metric tons in 2009. The market research institution Euromonitor International predicts that the total growth will reach 20% by 2014. In respect of beverages, Eurocore expects the overall growth rate in the next five years will reach 19%.

Nowadays, the automation of the process is getting higher and higher. At present, automation technology has accounted for more than 50% of the packaging production lines. A large number of computer designs and electromechanical integration controls are used to increase productivity, flexibility and flexibility of the equipment, and robots are added to complete complex packaging actions. Each robot is controlled by a separate computer. The camera monitors the packaging action and feeds the information back to the computer to adjust the range of motion to ensure the quality of the package. Soon, packaging machinery will soon innovate in emerging industries.