🚀 Beckhoff's Cabinet-Free Automation Revolution: Future Packaging Machines at PPMA 2026! 📦

[Ahmet Ö.]

✨ Beckhoff's Impact at PPMA 2026: MX-System and Smart Transport Technologies​

Beckhoff UK, a giant in automation and control technologies, will be present at the PPMA Show, held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham from September 22-24, 2026. At stand F40, they will showcase their groundbreaking technologies designed to help machine builders create more compact and easily adaptable packaging machines.

💡 MX-System: The New Face of Cabinet-Free Automation​

One of the exhibition's focal points will be the MX-System, a modular approach that integrates control, I/O, and drive technologies onto a robust baseplate. This plug-and-play architecture significantly simplifies machine installation and eliminates the need for traditional control cabinets, allowing systems to be easily reconfigured as production requirements change.

🚚 Flexible Transport and Drive Innovations​

• XTS Linear Transport System: Flexible transport technologies will be showcased, including a hygienic stainless steel version ideal for washdown environments in the food and beverage industry.
  
• XPlanar System: Will demonstrate contactless product movement using magnetic levitation without fixed mechanical guides. This system provides wear-free and silent movement with up to six degrees of freedom.
  
• Expanding Drive Portfolio: New AF1000 variable frequency drives and compact AX1000 servo drives (single or dual-axis variants) providing up to 1,700 W output at 400 V AC will be introduced.
  
• Pick-and-Place Demonstration: A two-axis pick-and-place demo, developed with British linear motion specialist HepcoMotion, will integrate the latest motion control, industrial PC, and vision technologies.
  

📈 Transformation in the Packaging Industry: High-Mix, Low-Volume Production​

The packaging industry is moving towards high-mix, low-volume production, requiring machines that can handle frequent format changes without long downtimes. Traditional machine architectures rely on large, centralized electrical cabinets with fixed mechanical footprints and complex point-to-point wiring, making field upgrades challenging. Distributing the control architecture directly onto the machine frame via IP67-rated systems like the MX-System can significantly reduce overall machine footprints.

Furthermore, advanced transport technologies enable software-based format changes without downtime and process products individually rather than relying on rigid, timed mechanical indexing. This is a critical advantage for creating scalable and resource-efficient packaging lines.