From Glass International- November 2020.             What would our bottles/jars/vials tell us about the way they are handled on each stage of their lifecycle?  How can we use the ‘bottle experience’ information in optimising handling, increasing filling line efficiencies, monitoring transport, reacting to breakage problems, redesigning or lightweighting our bottles, establishing correct criteria and specifications in agreements between the glass manufacturers and the fillers?

Understanding the properties of glass and the ability to measure strength (impact resistance) is essential to safe handling protocols that promote efficiency, drug container performance and ultimately, lower risk of failure.

As recently as 2014 and 2015, pharmaceutical publications were lamenting the lack of reliable, non-destructive in-line testing methods for Fill and Finish packaging processes relative to glass vials. The advent of in-line testing is changing how pharmaceutical companies can optimize packaging processes and container designs; enabled by an improved understanding of mechanical loads like impact, pressure and vertical force.

According to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration information search, an estimated 20 billion glass vials for injectable drugs are processed annually.

Packaging Engineers have to keep the line running, while also keeping focus on efficiency targets and Continuous Improvement initiatives.

The benefits of PET containers are extensive. Lightweight designs are cost effective to produce, require less energy to transport and are a sustainable choice which satisfies consumer demand. In addition, flexibility in PET container design enables producers to build a distinct brand identity.

Aluminum packaging has a number of positive attributes. One interesting fact is that aluminum containers can be recycled indefinitely.

Soda & water bottling operations can achieve significant cost savings by reducing damaging mechanical forces on the line.

As we've established, the Vidrala Impact Index is an exciting new tool for fillers to rate their line's impact performance. This post shows you how to measure VII using smart in-line sensors.  

In the second post of this VII series, we’ll explore how impact affects glass container strength and the effects of multiple impacts of varying intensity.

VII is set to become an important measurement for glass packaging operations.

A useful measurement tool to rate a line's impact performance, VII is defined as the number of impacts, with the same magnitude of the IPS rating of the bottle, that would produce a similar breakage probability.

BrauBeviale, the European trade fair for the beverage industry is taking place from November 13th through 15th, 2018, in Nuremberg, Germany and the Masitek team will be there!  This year’s theme, “The art of brewing goes digital,” definitely reflects our smart in-line sensor technology and our latest innovation, ScuffQC, which we’re excited to introduce at the show.

Rapidly being adopted across the bottling and packaging industry, smart in-line sensors add valuable data to inform the production process.

Shock Sensors for Shipping in the Packaging Industry: How Shock Loggers, Shock Stickers and Smart In-Line Sensors for Shipping Monitoring Stack Up.

Shock loggers or shipping monitors are used for reducing transport damages to goods, which in our world means a reduction in packaging damage and loss.

Why a Connected Supply Chain is Vital for Logistics and Quality Teams in the Food and Beverage Industry.

If you’ve been following my posts in this IPS series; we’ve already discussed what IPS (Inches Per Second) measurement is and how it relates to the bottling industry.
Basically, IPS is the glass industry’s strength rating of any given bottle.

This post will take a more technical ‘deep-dive’ into other methods of measuring IPS and introduce a more dynamic IPS calculation for fillers and glass manufacturers alike.

In my last post, I explained that the IPS (Inches Per Second) measurement came about as a strength rating for glass producers.

Today, IPS is fast-becoming a vital measurement tool for fillers trying to design and process a lightweight bottle design without reaching a breaking point (literally) where it cannot withstand the impact it receives on a given line.

When I started out in this industry I asked a lot of questions to better understand IPS. As anyone who has ever Googled ‘IPS Glass’ or an equivalent search string can attest, it’s historically been a term used in glass production and isn’t particularly well documented outside of that industry.

So, let’s dig into what an IPS rating of a bottle really means.

In his ‘How to Differentiate Your IoT Product: Provide Insights Not Data’ article in last month’s Tech Product Management, author Daniel Elizalde shared a story that stuck with me and I wanted to share:

There’s an old joke that goes something like this: A shepherd is looking after his herd when suddenly a young man in a sports car stops by. The young man asks the shepherd, “If I can guess how many sheep you have, can I keep one of them?” The shepherd agrees. The young man starts running calculations using the latest and greatest technology. “You have 280 sheep,” he says.

The shepherd sighs and tells the young man, “If I guess what your profession is, can I get my sheep back?” The young man agrees. “You are a consultant,” he says. Surprised, the young man asks, “How did you know!” “Well, you are charging me a steep price, you are telling me something I already know, and obviously you know nothing about my business because you are taking away my dog!”

- Daniel Elizalde

Glass packaging isn’t going anywhere.
If you need proof, look to the statistics:

In my position, I’m fortunate in that I travel to all parts of the world – particularly Europe – quite frequently. So, the fact that in less than two months I am heading back to Germany wouldn’t normally be newsworthy - except that it is.

I open my car door at the flick of a finger, my keys still securely in my purse and as I step inside my seat adjusts to my preference (hubby likes his further back). My phone connects automatically and starts into my latest Spotify list. As the engine warms up I’m warned of low tire pressure – guess I’ll have to check that out later.

The idea of having sensors on a bottling or canning line is brilliant. The fact that a line operator can have dashboards and data streamed to their tablet wirelessly has been “one giant leap” for the industry whether you want to call it Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing or IIoT. In some ways it was like that first step on the moon because it was totally uncharted territory.

In the Cambridge English Dictionary, the word generation is stated as being, “a period of about 25 to 30 years, in which most human babies become adults and have their own children”. Perhaps a generation ago, we most often thought about the word in this context. Today’s definition is technology-centric, “a group of products or machines that are all at the same stage of development.”

Somewhere along the line I heard a wonderful quote that was stated to be an old Chinese expression, “A problem recognized is half solved” but it was Charles Kettering, the famed inventor and former head of research for GM, who is noted as saying, “A problem well-stated is half-solved.”