POWERJO · On-demand specialists
Your packaging project – from idea to running line
Twelve phases, seven decision points. Depending on the project, customer and requirements, often only individual elements are needed – we agree beforehand what’s necessary in each case. You can bring us in for a single phase or the whole way. The decisions stay with you.
1 Project phase Your decision (gate)Task POWERJO takes on
Idea & Requirement
Goal: clear on what’s being built – and why.
It rarely starts with a machine, but with a bottleneck: a line reaches its limit, a new product needs packaging that doesn’t yet exist, or staffing levels can no longer support manual palletising. In this phase, gut feeling becomes a solid brief: which products, which formats, which quantities – today and in five years. Added to this is an outline concept of what actually makes technical sense, and an initial cost estimate that management can work with.
From practice: If you base this only on today’s output, you’ll buy a system that’s too small for the next product change. Asking about the formats of the day after tomorrow costs nothing at this stage – during commissioning, it costs a conversion.
Product, Material & Packaging Materials
Goal: everything that runs through the system is specified and procurable – before the machine is defined.
Before machines are even discussed, what runs through them must be settled. Product, film, cardboard, tray, label, adhesive – every material has tolerances, and machines are more sensitive to this than to almost anything else. That’s why the specifications and the complete format list with dimensions, weights and performance requirements are drawn up here, and the packaging materials are sampled and checked for machine suitability. In parallel, procurement of the raw materials takes place, bringing its own lead times and minimum order quantities.
From practice: If a system doesn’t maintain its promised output in continuous operation, the cause is more often variable packaging material than the machine. If you only choose the film after the contract is awarded, you’ll be negotiating performance twice.
Feasibility & Budget
Goal: a budget that supports the investment decision.
The concept now becomes a figure that can carry the investment approval. This includes budget-price enquiries with potential suppliers, a realistic schedule, and a cost-effectiveness calculation that also covers everything around the machine: foundation, utilities, electrical installation, site management, training, spare parts package and downtime during conversion. The investment application stands or falls on whether these items are complete.
From practice: Budgets rarely fail because of the machine, but because of what was forgotten around it. A budget estimate without construction and utility costs isn’t a budget estimate – it’s a machine price list.
Layout & Line Concept
Goal: everything fits – space, material flow and operations.
This is where it’s decided whether the system will actually work in the plant. The group layout clarifies where the line sits and how material flows – from delivery to dispatch. The detailed layout adds the finer points: operating sides, maintenance areas, escape routes, connection points for power, compressed air and IT, forklift traffic and hygiene zones. Alongside this comes the operating and staffing concept – how many people operate the line, and what they need to be able to do – as well as the safety concept, which later forms the basis for the CE assessment.
From practice: A layout that only shows the machines always looks good. Only once pallets, empties, spare-parts trolleys and cleaning staff are marked in does it become clear whether there’s actually enough space.
Requirements Specification & Tendering
Goal: quotes that can be compared.
The requirements specification describes what the system must achieve – not how the supplier builds it. This separation is exactly what makes quotes comparable while still leaving room for the best technical solution. Added to this is the component standard, which defines which makes are permitted for drives, control systems, sensors and pneumatics, so that your maintenance team doesn’t end up managing several separate worlds of spare parts. Bidder questions are collected and answered identically for all bidders, and the quote comparison sets performance, price, spare parts and service side by side.
From practice: Three quotes are only comparable if all three have priced the same requirements specification. If a performance limit or an acceptance criterion is missing, you’re comparing prices for different systems.
Award
Goal: the right supplier on solid terms.
Before placing the order, the open technical points are closed and the supplier’s functional specification is checked: in it, they describe how they will meet the requirements specification – and what they explicitly won’t deliver. Negotiations cover not just price and schedule but also the payment plan, penalties, warranty, spare parts package, service availability and the order of precedence of the documents in the contract. The latter decides which document applies in the event of a dispute.
From practice: A payment plan under which almost everything is paid before final acceptance takes away your most effective piece of leverage. Hold back a meaningful instalment until after the successful performance test at your own plant.
Design & Engineering
Goal: no surprises on site.
After kick-off, the supplier gets to work, but the project keeps moving: in design reviews, the design is checked against the requirements specification before steel is cut. Interfaces to existing systems, to building services and to IT must be agreed – they’re the most common point of dispute, because both sides assume the other will provide them. Changes are logged, assessed and tracked, rather than happening verbally.
From practice: Any change that isn’t recorded in writing with its impact on schedule and price will resurface later as an extra charge or a missing function. A change log is cheaper than any argument at acceptance.
Manufacturing & FAT
Goal: the system runs at the supplier’s before it comes to you.
During manufacturing, the aim is to find out about schedule problems before the deadline is actually missed – that’s what supplier expediting is for. The real test is the pre-acceptance at the supplier’s works: the system runs there with your original product and your real packaging materials, not sample material. Whatever doesn’t work there certainly won’t work at yours. Defects go onto a list with an owner and a deadline, and only then is the system released for shipping.
From practice: A pre-acceptance with someone else’s cardboard isn’t a pre-acceptance. Take enough original material with you – including the batch that, from experience, sits at the edge of tolerance.
Installation & Commissioning
Goal: on schedule at the plant, without stopping ongoing production.
Now the project meets day-to-day operations. The site must be prepared – foundations, utilities, access, crane standing areas – and the installation sequence must fit into the production schedule, often within plant shutdowns or weekend windows. Several trades work on site at the same time: mechanical, electrical and controls, often in multilingual teams. After cold commissioning, the system runs with product for the first time.
From practice: Most lost days don’t happen during installation itself, but while waiting – for power, for compressed air, for a sign-off, for the forklift. A fixed point of contact on site who coordinates the trades saves more time than speeding up the installation itself.
SAT & Ramp-up
Goal: performance proven, your team has taken over.
The performance test demonstrates that the system achieves the agreed output under your real conditions – over a defined run time, with your formats, your staff and your environment. In parallel, operators and maintenance staff are trained, because a system that only the commissioning engineer can master becomes a black box once they leave. Any remaining points are recorded in writing and the acceptance record is signed; the warranty period starts from this point.
From practice: Training crammed into the last day is money wasted. Have your team work alongside the process during commissioning – then they take ownership of the line, rather than just having it handed to them.
Operation & Optimisation
Goal: efficiency that lasts.
After acceptance, ramp-up begins: the line doesn’t just need to reach its output once, it needs to hold it across shifts. Now the operating data shows where the real losses lie – micro-stoppages, changeover times, start-up scrap, fault patterns by shift. Analysing operating and MES data reveals what gets lost in day-to-day operation, and this leads to retrofits, parameter adjustments or training. Open warranty cases are tracked for as long as the period runs.
From practice: The biggest lever is often not technical: a user interface in the shift’s own language, or refresher training after four weeks, regularly achieves more than the next conversion measure.
Close-out & Lessons Learned
Goal: a clean finish, knowledge captured – the chapter that’s usually missing in practice.
The chapter that’s usually skipped in practice, because the next project is already under way. Here, the last outstanding items are closed, documentation is completed – as-built drawings, spare parts lists, control programmes, acceptance records, CE documents – and the post-costing is carried out: what was planned, what actually happened, and where the difference came from. At the lessons-learned workshop, everyone involved comes together one last time before the knowledge disperses. The project team is then released and the line moves into the responsibility of production.
From practice: Without post-costing, the next project repeats the same mistakes with the same budget approach. An hour of honest review is the cheapest safeguard for the next investment.
Throughout all phases
What we support in every phase
Whether a single phase or the whole flow: you bring in the experience for exactly the step you’re missing – and you keep the decisions.
Which phase is your project in? 15 minutes, an honest assessment – we’ll tell you which step is worth doing with us, and which isn’t.
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