Abstract: The rising demand for format-flexible packaging
machines is caused by current market changes. Increasing the formatflexibility
is a new goal for the packaging machine manufacturers’
product development process. There are no methodical or designorientated
tools for a comprehensive consideration of this target. This
paper defines the term format-flexibility in the context of packaging
machines and shows the state-of-the-art for improving the
changeover of production machines. The requirements for a new
approach and the concept itself will be introduced, and the method
elements will be explained. Finally, the use of the concept and the
result of the development of a format-flexible packaging machine
will be shown.