40 n PACKAGING AND PRINTING January 2026 www.drivesncontrols.com Personalised packaging is driving the trend to unified controls Whether it’s face cream in a Christmas gift pack or a personalised label on a bottle of soft drink, packaging lines must adapt to changing needs. As packaging lines diversify, this is placing immense pressure on production machines. One week, lines are expected to handle large volumes, and the next it may be niche product runs. Changeovers must happen in minutes rather than hours, with multiple products being made on one machine. Meanwhile, operators must select recipes for different formats and variants at the touch of a screen, rather than relying on time-consuming manual adjustments, or complex engineering interventions. When you look at most packaging lines, they are often a patchwork of different control systems. Each machine, whether it’s the filter, capper, labeller or case-packer, comes from a different OEM with its own hardware, software and interfaces. Manufacturers are also increasingly moving away from single automation vendors due to the supply chain risks exposed recently, and the limitation of potential innovations. This means each machine may use a different PLC with its own software platform. For operators, this can be a challenge. Instead of running machines, they spend much of their time navigating multiple interfaces and diagnosing faults that are either mechanical or software-driven. For maintenance teams, this fragmentation can be just as frustrating. When multiple vendor technologies are installed on the same line, they must quickly learn the quirks of each and manage different upgrade cycles to ensure long-term asset support, without any disruptions to production. As for automation engineers, things are no easier. They must understand and support software from multiple automation vendors and OEMs with different software environments and programming styles. It’s a common misconception that the automation platform denotes the The packaging industry is undergoing a transformation. Consumer expectations are shifting from mass-produced uniformity, to personalisation, customisation and premium experiences – forcing suppliers to innovate. Unifying controls is key to achieving this, explains Simon Hall, global market technical sales for food, beverage and CPG at Beckhoff Automation. Coca-Cola’s campaign in which drinks bottles had people’s names printed on the labels, showed the power of packaging when marketed to the individual. Image: Coca-Cola
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