Glass & Solar

Automation Innovation Pty Ltd

Keysborough Australia

Traditional methods of cleaning damage the mould over time. As a result, every year, each mould requires an additional 1 gram of materials to make the same bottle. This results in raw materials wastage and consequentially, waste of energy required to process these excess raw materials.
Traditional methods of cleaning glass bottle moulds might also involve harsh, potentially harmful chemicals or radioactive waste

Automation Innovation, together with Siemens, developed a solution using robotic automation and artificial intelligence to innovate the glass mould cleaning process.
The artificial intelligence algorithm takes data from 2D and 3D images, then identifies almost instantaneously the right cleaning path for the laser. The algorithm is also versatile enough to clean almost any types of mould.
The addition of AI technology to this innovation also cuts down the time to program a cleaning robot from around 5 hours to 2 seconds.
Siemens hardware are also involved in the glass mould cleaning machine. The glass mould cleaning machine uses a SIMATIC Box IPC 427 with a failsafe software controller. The infeed and outfeed conveyors are controlled with SINAMICS G120 modular VSD’s. The precision movement of the mould on the robot is controlled with a SINAMICS S210 Servo Controller. The machines have ET200SP I/O , WinCC, RF ID camera, SCALANCE switches, and wireless access. It also includes a MindConnect devices to store the results and profiles of respective moulds.

We were able to develop an innovative solution for the glass bottling industry using a range of Siemens automation controls and software, combined with artificial intelligence and data analytics. This has been a fantastic example what can be achieved through digitalization and automation.

Walter Meyler, CEO, Automation Innovation

This innovation eliminates traditional cleaning methods of chemicals or ceramic bead blasting and has significant implications in global supply chain emissions:

700,000 tonnes of raw materials saved every year.
The energy used to convert the aforementioned excess raw materials (silica) to glass results in about 1 billion kg of CO2 per year.
Reducing energy used on site by 30%.

Glass & Solar

Automation Innovation Pty Ltd

Keysborough Australia

Glass & Solar

Automation Innovation Pty Ltd

Keysborough Australia

Completion 2016

Satisfaction in every regard

Completion 2018

Family Firm 4.0 – in all its variety

Completion 2018

Technology from a single source