Avercon customizes sustainable packaging with Siemens' Digital Twin

A customized box for every e-commerce product: the X7 from machine builder Avercon revolutionizes packaging. Siemens technology could not be missing. 

If you are one of the millions of Belgians who occasionally order something online, you have guaranteed to have received a package in a box that is far too big. To avoid the environmental impact of tons of filling material as well as transporting air, Eeklo-based machine builder Avercon created the X7: a revolutionary machine that tailors boxes according to the dimensions of individual products. Digital Twin technology played a crucial role in the construction of the machine.

As a partner of Siemens Avercon has been developing machines for the manufacturing and process industries for many years. At the request of the international packaging company Packsize Avercon's engineers and automation specialists set to work on a new question: can we package the millions of orders at e-commerce players in a more efficient and environmentally friendly way? With the X7, Avercon offers the answer.

Gigantic savings

"Anyone who buys a product on the Internet almost always gets it sent in a box that is too big," says David Provoost, Sales & Marketing Manager at Avercon. "Sometimes there is up to 40% of air or padding inside. The more redundant space in the box, the fewer boxes you can transport, the more delivery trucks have to go on the road. That creates a huge environmental impact, not to mention the environmental damage of all that stuffing material or rising diesel prices." 

"In the traditional industry one makes boxes that fit perfectly around a particular product, such as beverage containers. In the e-commerce the batch size is reduced to one: each product has a different size. In addition, each product must be uniquely labeled because it is shipped to a unique address each time. That fact created a nice challenge." David Provoost, Sales & Marketing Manager Avercon

Digital Twin to the rescue

"We designed an adjustable machine that automatically switches from product A to product B with different sizes," David continued. "So we wanted to simultaneously produce different boxes of different sizes. If you want to simulate that, the digital twin technology is indispensable. We were able to see a complex process and verify that the components we had drawn actually did what they were supposed to do. In a machine like this there are at least 50 servomotors: each movement must be exactly in time for the next. By working with a digital twin, we could easily visualize that whole process." 

How Avercon has been using Digital Twin technology for years in machine building

To build high-performance machines, meanwhile, Siemens' Digital Twin technology is virtually indispensable to Avercon. It allows the machine builder to push the boundaries of what is possible in mechatronics, and to fully test out machines and production lines even before they are built.

With the MCD (Mechatronic Concept Design) tool. from Siemens, CAD drawings are brought to life. Components and assemblies are simulated on the screen. Driven by the same PLC program that controls the actual machine, the simulation immediately shows the capabilities and limitations of all components and how they interact.

3 advantages of digital twin:

1. You know immediately whether a machine or a production line will function as it should. If a change in one component has an effect on other components, it can be seen through the digital twin. For example, increasing speed in the digital environment exposes bottlenecks, which can be solved immediately.
2. You can Develop software while still working on design and mechanics. This makes for faster development.
3. You can have a Fully test machine or production line even before it is built. This shortens the production time of the machine, and ensures that you have the machine can test in conditions that are difficult to recreate in physical reality: with product variations, alternating parameters, components not working, etc.

Want to read more about how Siemens' Digital Twin has become an essential tool at Avercon? Check out the full story here.

An impressive machine 

"The X7 is a punishing machine. We are happy that digital twin played a role in its development," continued Nick Vanden Broecke, Account Manager OEM Solutions & Motion Control at Siemens. "That technology is used to validate mechatronics: you zoom in on the most complex part of the machine, validate the mechanical concept and then you link that to your code and to your PLC."

Curious about how it works? Check out the X7 in action.

"Apart from the sustainability gains in packaging, is also considered the environmental impact when designing the machine", Nick continues. "Because you don't have to physically build everything on the machine you consume less raw materials. The quality of the final product is higher from the beginning, and there is less loss of production to implement the machine at the end customer." 

"In addition, consumption has also been considered: for example, the machine has energy recovery on board, and energy is fed back to the grid. Thus, we extend the sustainability idea throughout the process." Nick Vanden Broecke, Account Manager OEM Solutions & Motion Control at Siemens