Smart machines

Secure connectivity

Secure data connection

When it comes to online services in a production environment, data security and data privacy are of paramount importance.

Our services are based on a broad range of security features meeting the highest standards:

• Secure VPN connection
• Certificate based encryption
• Full access control so that the customer can actively enable/disable the remote connection
• Access restricted to authorised personnel and ULMA's technical staff
• Secure server infrastructure hosted by ULMA

Data security is of vital importance, especially with a remote connection, which is why ULMA guarantees this through its own secure communication platform: the RSM (Remote Service Manager), which supports multiple protocols and technologies such as Soft VPN and secure routers.

This means that machines from a variety of generations can be integrated.

Plant integration

Real-time tracking of production progress, monitoring of process incidents and product quality control at the end of the line are essential for efficient production

INTEGRATION WITH MES / ERP / SCADA SYSTEMS

ULMA machines are equipped for seamless integration with plant planning systems. They can connect to MES and ERP systems to share vital information, e.g. for manufacturing
order management, advanced recipe management and the logging of parameters, alarms and equipment efficiency. This allows the whole organisation - from machine operators
to managers and decision-makers - to share transparent and reliable information in real time and in a secure environment..

LINE CONTROL

ULMA machines offer line control functionalities such as line start-up/shutdown and recipe changes. This equipment is configurated for being operated by the line controllers available in production plants.

This allows ULMA machines to receive startup/shutdown, start/stop work order and automatic recipe change commands via the machine panel, from which commands can even be sent to other peripheral devices integrated with the packaging machine, such as: encoders, gas analysers, labelling machines, etc.

Peripheral devices are fully integrated, so you can view the different panels of each peripheral, making it possible to control various devices from a single screen, thus avoiding unnecessary handling and reducing possible mistakes.

OEE monitoring

To fully optimise productivity, it is essential to
have around-the-clock information about your
equipment's efficiency data (OEE)

OEE DATA ENTRY / OEE MONITOR

Our packaging machines include features that optimise the efficiency of production lines: their robustness, reliability, the ease with which they can be changed and adjusted, synchronisation of operations, inclusion of infeed systems with a continuous flow of the products to be packaged, etc.

To fully optimise productivity, it is essential to have around-the-clock information about your equipment's efficiency data (OEE). For this purpose, we have designed a set of software tools on our UPC 4.0 and Rockwell control platform, such as: OEE Data Entry and OEE Monitor.

OEE Data entry is an application that is available on our control panel (HMI) for collecting production information, either manually or automatically, through MES and ERP production
systems.

With OEE Monitor, the data is analysed and the Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) is automatically calculated, displaying a real-time report in numerical and graphical form in a user-friendly environment, enabling the immediate analysis of the data and its evolution. This facilitates downtime troubleshooting and the creation of specific improvement plans.

The OEE information is displayed both on the machine's control panel and in myULMA customer portal. It can be stored on an external device (USB) and can be available on MyULMA for up to 12 months, to allow performance trends in production operations to be compared over time.

Event logging

LOG EVENT RECORDER

Our UPC control machines come with a Log event recorder data acquisition system as standard, which logs any messages and alarms that occur in the machine.

The events from the last 7 days are displayed on the machine's control panel via the Message Center application. This information is also stored in files that can be accessed securely from any device via the file transfer protocol (FTP) by entering a username/password.

LOG EVENT ANALIZER

A detailed analysis of the events that have occurred in the machine is displayed within a section of the myULMA customer portal. All messages and alarms that occur during the selected time interval are displayed graphically and numerically. This makes it possible to identify the main causes of performance deviations in production with the aim of eliminating or reducing inefficiencies.

Smart Backup

Automatic backup of relevant machine data

Thanks to this smart tool, key information about the machine such as configuration data and product data sheets is automatically saved in a secure environment. This provides the means to design your own Disaster Recovery plan.

Custom access to this backup is via the myULMA portal. The backup can be restored at any time. Smart Backup creates a backup by running in the background, without interfering with the machine's operation.

Info Viewers

EASY TO ACCESS

As part of our continuous improvement and with the aim of optimising our customers' processes, ULMA includes a set of intuitive and user-friendly applications as standard in the UPC 4.0 control, to display the information generated for the machine.

This package of tools makes all of the machine's information accessible on the UPC 4.0, to facilitate the day-to-day work of users. This ease of access support machine operators and qualified maintenance staff to ensure the optimal operation of the machine and allow production managers to reduce training times.

KEY INFORMATION AT THE USER'S FINGERTIPS

SOP Viewer is a standard operating procedure (SOP) viewer, containing step-by-step instructions on the operator panel. These instructions describe the procedure to be followed to perform a certain operation or process in a clear and simple way. Additionally, there is a section in the MyULMA customer portal where you can create your own SOPs, which can be displayed on the machine’s control panel.

The Media Player application includes training videos showing standard machine operations such as cleaning processes, format changes and new product adjustments.

Finally, you can also access to a document viewer from the PDF Viewer application, which includes a user manual as well as machine-specific diagrams.

The machine information displayed through the various systems is specific to each model or range of machines and is fully customisable.

Consumption analysis

Consumption measurement and analysis

ULMA has developed a flexible and innovative tool for measuring energy, compressed air, gas and film consumption, among other things. This hardware and software can optionally be included in the configuration of any of our machines. A set of sensors and readers send information to the consumption measurement module, which monitors the data graphically and numerically.

The various pieces of information about the machine's consumption can be displayed and filtered by shifts, by manufacturing orders or even by film types, thus enabling a clear and simple consumption comparison that helps to optimise facilities and equipment control.

Knowledge of the machine's overall consumption data makes it easier for our customers to calculate the cost per pack

Preventive maintenance wizard

Smart maintenance task scheduler

Maintenance tasks specific to each machine model are monitored and controlled from the control panel. This tool keeps a record of the machine's different operating parameters according to predefined criteria, such as operating hours or number of machine cycles and it displays messages and warnings about maintenance tasks accordingly.

This tool allows maintenance staff to plan, control and comprehensively monitor preventive maintenance work on equipment. This reduces downtime for repairs, thus optimising machine availability and therefore machine efficiency, as well as extending the lifetime of the machine. These factors have a clear positive impact on the equipment's TCO (total cost of ownership) assessment.

These automatic maintenance tasks can be edited and customised based on your own criteria.