HMI and Embedded Software for Stretch Wrapping Machines

Facilitates human-to-machine interactions, supports equipment diagnostics

Lantech manufactures packaging and material handling equipment for warehouses and industrial companies. The company’s catalog features automatic and semi-automatic stretch wrappers, case erectors, and case sealers.

Problem

The company turned to Softeq to design a front-end solution that would help equipment operators interface with stretch wrappers, re-engineer the embedded software the equipment was running on, and consult their internal firmware development team.

Solution

Front end/HMI

With the new HMI, equipment operators can control the wrapping process by setting the following parameters:

Load weight
Load shape and size
Containment force
Film width and thickness
Revolutions number
Wrapping pattern parameters
Load parameters, which can be stored as custom profiles to facilitate repeat data entry

Embedded software

The embedded software interlinks the UI level with and equipment’s operations to allow the operator to:

Variate all the details of the wrapping process
Activate the stretch wrappers’ embedded controllers using load parameters, entered manually or collected from wrappers-integrated intelligent sensors
Perform equipment diagnostics
Enable manual jog mode
Create custom profiles, logs, and reports

Result

Even though the client did not provide a detailed project specification, Softeq managed to investigate the subject to the full extent and made a valuable contribution to the project:

We created an easily modifiable QML-based front end suitable for all types of the Lantech packaging equipment
We fixed bugs and solved critical issues affecting the performance of the embedded software, which had been programmed by a 3rd-party team

Happy with the end result, the client went from the T&M to the Dedicated Team engagement model and hired our specialist full-time.