Pack Expo Exceeds All Expectations

It was an exciting first day at Pack Expo, and by the first hour, it was clear it was exceeding all expectations, even for La Vegas! From the number of attendees (est. 30,000) to the more than 2,000 demonstrations from companies dedicated to improving and optimizing the field of packaging and processing, there was truly something for everyone. And boy, did the exhibitors deliver!

Covering the show, the Control.com editorial and engineering team worked the “room” touring the North, South, and Central expo halls, engaging innovators and top subject matter experts. We had a video crew with us much of the day, capturing video from our visits and even better, machines and robotics in action. Even more exciting was getting a chance to field test and evaluate some amazing and truly forward-thinking devices and systems.

 

A Most Excellent Journey

Following are just a few first-day highlights from Control.com’s most excellent journey across the packaging control and automation landscape at Pack Expo this year.

 

Pack Expo Las Vegas 2023

 

Balluff

With a wide array of sensing and detection products, Balluff’s central theme was keeping track of your resources (both products and equipment) throughout the system.

Condition monitoring has been a more recent staple of the Balluff catalog. Their technology allows users to keep track of equipment health and stay steps ahead of unneccesssary and costly downtime. Tracking a product’s progress through RFID and barcodes creates accountability and traceability throughout the entire product’s production lifecycle.

Oh, and do you favor fancy tower lights? Of course you do, don’t we all? If so, be sure to check out tower lights as well as all of Balluff’s exciting offerings, booth, SL-6368.

 

Festo

When we want high-quality pneumatic devices, we often turn to the blue and white colors of Festo, but the product catalog includes far more than just air valves, actuators, and filtration supplies.

One of the newest products highlighted at the Festo booth is the CPX-AP-A, a modular, terminal-based system for connecting the worlds of electrical signals with pneumatic controls. In a typical distributed I/O fashion, a bus module provides a network connection, while I/O modules (including both discrete and IO-Link) and pneumatic valve banks.

The system is compatible with most major PLC manufacturers, simplifying the design complexity by creating a single connection point for various machine center I/O, all displayed at booth SL-6160.

 

Patlite

You know what I love? Companies with clearly defined product lines, missions, and visions.

Patlite has such a vision. Specifically, Patlite makes vision in the form of stack lights.

And I love stack lights.

 

Patlite’s newest offerings include light towers with up to 20 programmable levels for visually displaying level, pressure, or any other variable quantity.

 

I own a lot of Patlite stack lights, and I can’t wait to get more some day. Running a process in any production line requires clear visual indicators to operators and engineers. Identifying faults and getting equipment running is not optional, it’s essential.

But in reality, it’s more than just the lights. The product catalog includes simple discrete connections, IO-Link, Ethernet, wireless protocols, fixed and variable colors, and integrated visual and audible indicators.

I love lights. You will too, if you stop and see booth SL-5816.

Rockwell Automation

If you’ve been traversing the automation control landscape for any length of time, you are no doubt familiar with Rockwell Automation and the Allen Bradley line of controls and automation. With an extensive lineup of products and services, Pack Expo served as the ultimate showcase for machine builders at any scale.

Flexible manufacturing is the cornerstone theme of Rockwell’s strategy, offering the industry equipment and solutions that let users pivot and stay nimble to meet changes in the markets and demand. One example of this is the agility that comes from engaging Emulate3D, a service that allows customers to tune and test an entire production system before it is built.

 

Rockwell Automation’s Optix Panels, built for the future of visualization, accessing data seamlessly from local and remote data streams.

 

If you’ve ever wanted to witness how a ‘digital twin’ works but don’t understand the intricacies, be sure to stop by Rockwell’s booth SL-6127 to experience Rockwell’s innovation first hand.

 

Robotiq

Pick up boxes and put them on a pallet. How hard could that possibly be, am I right? What about heavier boxes and loads, additional shifts with no employees, and increased product demand? And lest we forget, what about expansion into new product lines?

If those concerns are keeping you up at night, automated palletizing might just be your next adventure in control automation. In fact, Robotiq is showcasing a variety of practical solutions, including its new PE20 palletizer. Along with its palletizing systems, Robotiq also offers grippers, vision systems, CNC tenders, and screwdrivers.

Easing labor challenges and programming difficulties are what Robotiq’s technologies are all about. Be sure to stop by and check them out at booth SL-6870.

 

Banner Engineering

As a leader in sensing technology, Banner’s display centers around the connectivity and accessibility of data from your process. From the optical and proximity sensors to the gateways and converter devices that allow those devices to communicate with the rest of the system.

Safety, detection, communication, and networking with systems including IO-Link and Banner’s own Snap System are just a few of the offerings to see at the Banner Engineering booth, SL-5907.

 

Banner Engineering’s Snap System provides access to asset monitoring with pressure, vibration, and other sensors.

 

There’s Always Something More

Pack Expo is all about packaging and processing all the great products most of us use every day. From motion control, smart vision, and amazing autonomous material handing, there is always something not to miss. Regardless, we’ll be back bright and early tomorrow to capture more of the show’s technology and excitement. Can’t wait to see you there!!