Ernest Neckhaim, owner of Neckhaim Consulting, invented the "Skinner" machine, which unpacks faulty packaged products fully automatically. The system saves costs by recovering rework and better recycling and is also an important contribution to sustainability.
As a management consultant, Ernest Neckhaim, owner of Neckhaim Consulting GmbH, based in Grossrußbach north of Vienna/Austria, is constantly involved in issues such as strategy development, location analysis, vertical production as well as logistics and production optimization in networked companies. In this context, the graduate engineer was confronted with a special problem at a Viennese wafer manufacturer: How to efficiently unpack defective goods that have already been packed and return them to the production or the recycling process?
The background of the question: broken goods not only have a negative effect on sales. Additional recycling costs are incurred, and the eco-balance of the food manufacturer also suffers. It is true that the rejects could be reused for rework and the packaging material is recycled. Yet, either the recycling of defective products by unpacking them by hand is a time-consuming process, or the goods have to be disposed of at high cost. Now, Mr Neckhaim has developed the ”Skinner” machine for this purpose, which enables the automatic unpacking of defective products. ”Thus, the production of rework can be completely automated,” explains the company owner, who is active in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. ”This enables companies to work more economically and sustainably. Thanks to the vertical solution, it is possible to recycle broken goods in an environmentally friendly and profitable way at the same time.”
Every year, large quantities of faulty food are simply disposed of globally, together with their packaging – a fact that Ernest Neckhaim does not want to accept: ”Instead, we advocate a functioning recycling economy in which nothing has to be thrown away anymore”. In view of the increasingly stringent sustainability requirements for the food industry, broken goods are also seen as a growing problem factor.
Defective products ejected from the manufacturing process can be fed directly into the Skinner via an assembly line connection. There, the machine pulls the packaging off the product via rollers and sucks the packaging with a vacuum pump. The empty packaging is collected in a container attached to the machine and can then be recycled. The unpacked broken product is then discharged so that it is collected in a container or automatically integrated into the rework process via conveyor belt. Detectors first check the rework for packaging residues before it is crushed and can be reused in production. In this way, the Skinner automates the entire rework process and enables companies to take a significant step towards recycling.
As Mr Neckhaim explains, the Skinner, which currently operates at a cycle rate of less than 4 s, is economically viable for all products between 2 and 250 g. According to the inventor, it is not important what has to be unpacked. After all, the equipment can be adapted to different shapes and sizes with just a few fine adjustments. The machine thus closes an important gap in food production: a study investigating the system‘s cost-effectiveness showed that the return on investment is achieved in less than a year after purchase. According to Neckhaim Consulting, it took only four months at the confectionery manufacturer Manner.
