A design approach for the development of flexible production machines: Focus on improving the changeover process of format-flexible packaging machines

The rising demand for individualised products is one of the most important trends in today’s market. This is having a big impact on the manufacturing industry since it means that the flexibility of production machines must be increased. Packaging machines are greatly affected by the rising demand for format-flexibility because of decreasing batch sizes, the high number of format changes and the resulting lack of productivity. In the past, packaging machines as well as other production machines were developed with a focus on large-scale production. Hence, offering format-flexible packaging machines is a new challenge for manufacturers. Improvements in format-flexibility have to take place within the development process of the manufacture of packaging machines. This paper presents an overall concept which integrates four design modules into a generalised development process. These four design modules support developers in creating a solution regarding format flexibility which is, from a technical and economic point of view optimised for the demands of the users of packaging machines. The approach is focused on the special requirements of packaging machines, but it can be adapted for other types of production machines. © 2018, German Academic Society for Production Engineering (WGP).