Coordinate three inputs
Monitor the main rear feed and both side feeds as they enter the line, establishing a consistent reference for speed and material movement.
DACS LABS
DACS LABS Portfolio
Here you’ll find a selection of our work. Explore our projects to learn more about what I do.
The challenge
Keep three moving webs aligned, measured and under control.
A continuous laminating process depends on more than line speed. Each material has to arrive at the combining point consistently, with tension, position and quality kept within the required limits.
The proposed system creates one practical view of the line: the main web entering from the rear and two additional webs feeding from the sides, all monitored through the critical stages of the process.
System approach
Measure the process where variation begins.
The design combines automation, sensing and machine vision so operators can see what is changing before it becomes wasted material or lost production time.
Synchronise the process
Use line-control data to maintain a stable relationship between the webs across the full 10–35 m/min operating range.
Check continuously
Apply inline machine vision and sensing at the useful control points, making alignment and developing defects visible while the line is running.
What this enables
Evidence operators and engineers can act on.
01
Earlier warning of feed, alignment or process variation.
02
Clearer diagnosis by connecting inspection results with line conditions.
03
Focused improvement based on measured causes rather than assumptions.
Experience behind Dacs Labs
Reducing energy use on large plastics machinery.
Before founding Dacs Labs, Stephen Anderson led industrial drive projects through Proplas International. This installation was published as a Rockwell Automation case study.
Proplas helped a leading European rigid-plastic packaging manufacturer improve large production machines at two UK sites. The customer remained unnamed in the original article.
“The machines were being driven by hydraulic pumps, with their motors set at a constant speed…”
Stephen Anderson · Director, Proplas International
The hydraulic-pump motors ran continuously at fixed speed, including periods when the process required less flow. Allen-Bradley PowerFlex 700 AC drives were installed so motor speed could respond to the machine’s actual demand.
01Understand the loadAssess how the hydraulic system behaves across the production cycle.
02Control the demandMatch pump-motor speed to the process instead of running continuously at full output.
03Improve the operationReduce avoidable energy use while retaining the machine’s core hydraulic system.
Historical project delivered by Proplas International, with Stephen Anderson serving as Director. It is included here to show the industrial engineering experience that informs Dacs Labs’ work today.
More of our work
Practical systems built around the operator and the process.
Each solution was developed for a specific production need, combining control, positioning and vision where they added real value.
02
Servo positioning
Servo-controlled laser guidance for rapid product changeovers
One centrally mounted laser established a fixed product centreline. Two additional laser line projectors travelled independently to different positions using a servo-controlled system.
The projected lines showed operators exactly where the product should be laid. Stored positions enabled quick size changes without repeated manual measuring and the same approach can be used to provide adjustable guides for trimming applications.
- Clear visual positioning for operators
- Independent movement of two laser guides
- Faster, repeatable size changes
03
Machine vision
Facial recognition for operator identification
DACS Labs installed a machine-vision facial recognition system to identify the operator using the equipment.
The system connected the recognised operator with machine use, giving the business clearer traceability of who was operating the equipment at the relevant time.
- Automatic operator recognition
- Identification at the point of use
- Improved operational traceability
A similar production challenge?