Banner Puts the Spotlight on Sensing and Signaling at PACK EXPO

In the fast‑paced world of packaging, speed, precision, safety, and reliability are non‑negotiable. Sensing and signaling devices are among the unsung yet essential technologies that ensure packaging machines can detect every component, trigger the correct actions, and keep both products and operators safe. As PACK EXPO in Las Vegas approaches, Banner Engineering is preparing to showcase a suite of devices designed to solve persistent challenges in the packaging industry—especially around handling difficult targets, extreme environments, and machine safety.

Sensing: The Critical Foundation

Sensors are extremely important, as they provide the first point at which data can enter the system, both for control and for monitoring. Banner displayed a variety of product lines that were designed to tackle these priorities.

One of Banner’s most legendary product lineups is photoelectric sensors, including the rugged Q‑series models such as the Q4X, Q5X, and Q76E. These sensors can detect challenging products, such as transparent or reflective packaging, multicolored items, or components with difficult graphics and textures. A whole catalog of different ranges and sensitivities makes them ideal in packaging lines where accuracy and speed are equal, but often opposing, priorities.

Banner sensor options.

Machine Safety

Another critical demonstration provided a view into machine safety and guarding, a field in which Banner provides safety light curtains and safety switches, among many others.

Light curtains are important in packaging applications to protect operators from hazardous moving parts while still allowing controlled access for maintenance. Banner’s light curtains are built for rugged environments, making alignment, fault detection, and programming/reset functions simpler for engineers. RFID‑based safety switch technology is used to guard gateways and access points, networking an entire cell so that lockout/tagout practices are more seamless and accurate.

Vision and Indication Systems

Another major component of Banner’s display included more visual components, both to bring in data and to display it. A set of vision systems, barcode readers, and LED indication systems all made the final cut for the booth. In packaging lines, barcode and vision systems provide important functions of identification and traceability, verifying labels, lot codes, and fill levels.

Output indicators using LEDs are also important for visually signaling machine status with lights that are bright, durable, and rated for wash‑down or harsh conditions. Indicators can be as simple as single-color lamps, multi-color configurable stack (tower) lights, or even scrolling text displays for advanced messaging to operators.

Safety sensors from Banner.

Banner: A Vision for the Future

With the wide variety of booth displays, Banner produced a vision of the packaging industry’s future, where sensors are not simply the five ‘senses’ of automation, but are a new generation of smarter signal devices. Communication, predictive maintenance, and collaboration with workers; these are all achievable with the right devices and strategies.

Banner’s visual indicator catalog.

Packaging lines are always demanding more speed, flexibility, durability, and accuracy. These are difficult targets to achieve all at the same time. Banner‘s demonstrations give a promising look at tools that meet these challenges, not only for incremental upgrades over time, but for a complete re-examination of how sensors, safety, and vision will work together in the next generation of packaging systems.