The trade show interpack 2017 was a tremendous success for Bosch Packaging Technology. On more than 3,500 square meters booth space we presented new developments from our comprehensive portfolio for the food and pharma industries and registered a new record number of international trade visitors and decision-makers.

In addition to presenting individual machines and system solutions, we placed special focus on our new and comprehensive industry 4.0 solutions. We are confident that in the near future our portfolio will always comprise the combination of machines and services plus digitally connected solutions. The huge interest in these new solutions at interpack 2017 has affirmed us in our decision to continue walking on this path.

Food-Highlights

A special highlight for biscuit manufacturers was our new system solution producing single, pile and slug packs on two independently operating lanes. This system ensures a gentle handling and maximum performance with minimal footprint and can reach an output of up to 2400 biscuits per minute.

Furthermore, we introduced new scalable packaging systems for the gentle handling and packaging of delicate products like biscuits in slug and pile packs. A modular design allows for layout flexibility and scalability, enabling manufacturers to expand their production capacity easily or increase the level of automation – from entry level, hand-fed machines, right through to fully automated solutions.

For producers of liquid and pumpable food, we introduced our new, modular system for linear cup filling – from the hygiene level clean-fill up to the highest level aseptic. We developed the new solution to address the key market requirements of dairy producers, such as hygienic operation, from low to high output, compact spaces, and ease of use.

Pharma-Highlights

A highlight making its world debut is the Xelum platform for continuous tablet production. The system continuously manufactures powder while intelligent sensors permanently supervise production conditions. 

Furthermore we also showcased our latest addition to its ALF 5000 series of filling and closing machines. This platform is capable of very high output: up to 600 containers per minute. For especially careful processing, a patent-pending carrying rake transport can be added, which slightly lifts the glass containers to keep them from scraping against the machine guides.

Another eye-catching highlight was the new developed KLV-series for container closure integrity testing for fixed containers. A vacuum process ensures high inspection sensitivity and enables the inspection of up to 600 glass containers per minute using unique group testing. The showcased KLV 1360 completes our existing inspection portfolio for liquid pharmaceuticals.

Active support for the digital transformation

At interpack 2017 we put a special focus on industry 4.0 solutions:

The Maintenance Support System (MSS), for example, has been developed by the Bosch division Assembly Systems and Special Machinery and is already in use in several Bosch own facilities. The MSS is designed for maintenance staff and machine setters and supports all kinds of maintenance and repair tasks, which means that legwork and repair times decrease significantly, and spare parts are not searched for, but rather found.

For improved process quality, the Condition Monitoring platform supplies details about the machine, line, or process status in question. On the basis of predefined tolerance limits – such as for temperature or cycle time – machine operators are automatically notified in the event of a deviation. This ensures process quality and makes it possible to take action early on, before a malfunction occurs.

Augmented Reality solutions provide a glimpse of the near future – they open up completely new service possibilities, such as for machine maintenance or format changes.