HERMA: With a few clicks to the labeler of your choice

When it comes to labelers, practically every user or machine builder has their own special requirements. But never before has it been so easy to put together the right device for the job yourself with just a few mouse clicks - without time-consuming on-site appointments, without sending powerful CAD data, without studying thick catalogs with their maze of possible configuration and equipment variants. To make the integration of a labeler as convenient and as fast as possible from the start of a project, HERMA now offers an online configurator that is probably unique in the industry. Machine builders and system integrators can use it to put together their HERMA 500 including stand - and thus ready for installation - according to their respective wishes and requirements themselves or together with a HERMA expert. This applies, for example, to construction width, running direction and release systems, but also to the required speed and the type of unwinders and rewinders used. The highlight here is that the corresponding CAD data is then available for download in various output formats. "So you can export the configured CAD model and transfer it to your own machine or line," explains Jana Paul, project manager at HERMA Labeling Machines. "You can use it to see immediately if there are any interfering contours anywhere. If that's the case, you simply optimize the selected model in the configurator." On this basis, a data sheet with 3D visualizations for the individually configured labeler can also be created and downloaded. Due to the configurator's intelligent selection logic, impossible combinations are excluded from the outset. Another advantage: depending on the selected version, the price of the desired configuration is displayed immediately. "This means that HERMA provides all the important parameters for successful project planning and implementation practically in real time," explains Jana Paul. Due to the automated ordering process, HERMA also promises an exceptionally short delivery time: it is approximately eleven working days. The designs that have been configured once and also ordered, if necessary, can also be saved for repeat orders. "This is helpful for machine builders who need 30 or more identical copies of the HERMA 500 per year, but usually order them one by one."

Integrated in real time
The new online configurator is just one example of how HERMA is driving digital transformation. In addition to an integrated web server, the HERMA 500 is prepared for connection to common higher-level control systems with interfaces such as OPC UA and Modbus TCP. Thanks to the supported Industrial Ethernet protocols such as Profinet and Ethernet/IP, the HERMA 500 can also be integrated into controllers from Siemens, Schneider and Allen-Bradley in real time - a major advantage with regard to Industry 4.0. Investment security is also ensured by the simple and prompt expansion of functions and performance via code enabling. This means that users do not have to invest in new labelers or send in their device for a service appointment if the range of requirements and applications expands. "The HERMA 500 simply grows with the operational requirements," Jana Paul sums it up. "Because one and the same labeler can cover an enormous spectrum of performance and functions thanks to the upgrade function."