Advanced Packaging Automation Through Integrated Architecture

Clearpack implements smart manufacturing solutions to enhance packaging flexibility for global manufacturers.

  www.rockwellautomation.com

Clearpack operates as a leading provider of automated packaging solutions, serving the food and beverage, home and personal care, pharmaceutical, and chemical sectors. Operating across global markets with a team of professionals, the company delivers filling, end-of-line, and complete line engineering solutions, leveraging robotics and digitalization to advance manufacturing capabilities.

Operational Challenges and Objectives
Packaging manufacturers face increasing demands to adapt production lines to frequent changes in stock-keeping units, pack sizes, and container formats without sacrificing throughput or reliability. Clearpack encountered operational obstacles stemming from fragmented automation approaches, where managing separate vendors for control, motion, and safety systems increased engineering costs and deployment timelines. Furthermore, traditional machine-centric designs lacked the unified software architecture required for seamless connectivity across filling, case packing, shrink wrapping, palletizing, and traceability systems.

The primary goals focused on achieving multi-format flexibility, standardizing control systems across multiple geographic regions, simplifying machine commissioning, and enabling effective remote diagnostics to minimize downtime.

Technical Solution and Selection Rationale
To overcome these hurdles, Clearpack collaborated with Rockwell Automation to design next-generation packaging machinery using the Integrated Architecture platform, GuardLink safety technology, and EtherNet/IP connectivity.

The company selected this ecosystem because it combines discrete control, motion, and safety onto a single network infrastructure. The platform enables precise multi-axis coordination for high-speed robotic top-load pick-and-place case packers utilizing SCARA, Delta, and industrial robots. For shrink and secondary packaging, the unified architecture synchronizes operations across PLCs and drives. In liquid filling applications, the technology coordinates dosing with downstream conveying systems to ensure strict batch traceability and consistent product dosing.

Implementation and Deployment Support
The co-innovation initiative combined Clearpack engineering expertise with Rockwell Automation control and visualization technologies. Standardizing on EtherNet/IP connectivity reduced physical machine wiring complexity and streamlined integration across diverse manufacturing sites in India, Southeast Asia, China, the Middle East, and Africa. The deployment process utilized modular software programming to shorten commissioning periods and unify remote troubleshooting protocols.

Operational Benefits and Results
The deployment of integrated control and safety architecture yields substantial operational improvements across customer sites. Unified multi-axis coordination delivers higher throughput and precise filling accuracy, reducing product variation during high-speed production runs. The incorporation of GuardLink technology simplifies safety system diagnostics, directly contributing to increased line uptime and reduced maintenance overhead. Standardized remote troubleshooting capabilities decrease technical intervention times, while modular hardware configuration accelerates future format changeovers.

Our partnership with Rockwell Automation has played a key role in advancing our packaging automation capabilities. By combining Rockwell integrated automation technologies with Clearpack engineering expertise, we are delivering innovative, high-performance packaging solutions that offer greater flexibility, reliability, and serviceability for customers across global markets.

- Piyush Bhandari, Area Sales Head, Clearpack Group

Edited by Sucithra Mani, Induportals editor – adapted by AI.

www.rockwellautomation.com