Category: Technology

Smart Connection

Illustration courtesy of Maschinenbau
Koehl’s new communication platform connects field-level tobacco machinery with the Cloud.
By Stefanie Rossel
Communication is key—not only in everyday life but also on the factory floor. On the road to Industry 4.0, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is an important milestone. The digital mapping of production plants and their connection to systems for collecting and evaluating production data is the basis for smart analysis methods to optimize production processes. To keep up with the fast-paced development of new ideas and concepts that the fourth industrial revolution brings about, manufacturing companies are confronted with the difficult task of driving their digital transformation.
Modern tobacco manufacturing equipment comes with built-in features that allow it to communicate data on performance, settings, history and so on. However, the secondary machinery communication landscape in most tobacco factories is highly fragmented, both for machine-to-machine and machine-to-higher-systems data streams. Over the years, many production lines have formed a heterogenous machine landscape. The individual plant components often comprise controllers from different suppliers and generations. Over time, physical media, protocols and data formats, sometimes proprietary, have accumulated, leading to unnecessarily complex integration efforts. Fragmentation also limits the opportunity to extract manufacturing insights from the machine data.
To solve this problem, the world’s four leading cigarette manufacturers—Philip Morris International, BAT, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Brands—and the OPC Foundation created a working group about five years ago to describe general requirements for manufacturers for primary and secondary machinery. “OPC” stands for Open Platform Communications. The OPC Foundation is responsible for the development and maintenance of OPC UA, the interoperability standard for the secure and reliable exchange of data in the industrial information space and in other industries. It is a platform-independent, open and license-free communication platform and ensures the seamless flow of information among devices from multiple vendors.
The jointly developed companion specification for the tobacco industry, named Tobacco Machine Communication (TMC), is based on the OPC UA information model and aims at harmonizing data exchange and interoperability requirements for the common benefits of both cigarette manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It seeks to create interoperability between the various OEMs. The main objective of the companion specification is to provide information-modeling concepts and object libraries that can be applied to model a complete production work center. It covers machine configurations, product flows, setup, service, live status and historical information and can be applied to conventional tobacco products as well as products in the heated-tobacco environment. The OPC UA server of the work center can expose information in a harmonized way to upper-level systems or to other compliant work centers. While the working group started out by focusing on secondary machinery, the new standard 2.0, which was introduced in May, also covers primary equipment.
The TMC standard can be downloaded from the OPC website. All new tobacco machinery delivered today needs to be compliant with the standard.
Enhancing Efficiency
Arno Fries
However, cigarette-making equipment is known for its longevity, which means there are many shop floors with equipment that was developed before the standard was introduced. For such factories, Koehl Maschinenbau, a Luxemburg-based supplier of processing and logistics equipment for the tobacco industry, has designed a machine-to-cloud solution, the IIoT Server. Based on the TMC companion specification as a platform, the application server enables vertical data transmission to a business intelligence system (BIS) without, in the best case, changing the components’ programming. This way all data accumulated on the shop floor can be semantically processed in the same way to collect and analyze it centrally. The server collects and handles data at the shop floor level and forwards it to a Cloud or Fog environment where the data is stored, analyzed and archived.
“For the customer, this leads to an increase in efficiency and a reduction of costs,” explains Arno Fries, technical director of logistics and information systems at Koehl. He heads the company’s manufacturing IT department, which implements solutions and products for intralogistics and production logics. The IIoT Server is a proprietary development commissioned by one of Koehl’s tobacco clients. “It’s an easy, flexible, cost-effective and future-proof way to integrate and digitalize established machines into the customer’s preferred Industry 4.0 ecosystem,” says Fries. “An intelligent production optimizes workflows, maintenance, energy consumption and service management.”
The ability to interact with various programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in a heterogenous production environment is key to standardized data processing in the IIoT, says Fries. “The PLC connection module of Koehl’s TMC server is based on a highly flexible and exchangeable driver technology that is used for communication with different PLCs and different protocols. Drivers are available for the most common PLCs, such as Siemens Step-(300, 1200, 1500) or Beckhoff or for protocols, for example OPC UA.”
Easy Installation
The IIoT Server allows for collection of data from all machinery, whether new or old, is OEM independent and provides tailor-made solutions for equipment that is not standard. Transformation and normalization of data take place just in time. There are no programming changes of existing PLCs required. The web-based configuration enables central configurations for all instances. The server consists of a small data processor that fits into a control cabinet, which is required to have two Ethernet ports.
Depending on the customer’s requirements, the IIoT Server can be installed in a decentralized or centralized architecture. In a decentralized installation, each PLC is connected to a separate server unit, with data being transferred from the production network to the cloud in a secure way. In a centralized environment, all PLCs of a production line or an entire plant are connected to a central IIoT Server unit, which according to the company can be easily integrated into existing server or virtualization architectures. Either way, hardware requirements are minimal.
Implementation is uncomplicated, according to Fries. “The data to be transferred and their respective addresses are set once for each PLC through a configuration tool. The storage of the data retrieved by the various controllers and their depiction in the TMC information model is the main characteristic of Koehl’s server application. In addition, it allows for storage of data, which the PLC can neither provide nor store. After configuration, the TMC server runs in the background and provides the configured data as TMC objects to each OPC client for further processing. The operator is not involved unless he wants to add a further configuration.”
Koehl’s server can either be used if existing production lines are to be connected or if an OEM needs a bridge between a machine and the IT level that is compatible with the TMC standard and that he can’t or won’t realize himself.
Successful Pilot Project
The pilot project was installed at an Other Tobacco Products (OTP) manufacturer’s site. Three pilot lines out of nine OTP lines were selected for connection to the cloud-based customer BIS via the TMC standard. For each system, an industrial inter-process communication was placed in the respective control cabinet. “With these having a second network adapter, it was not necessary to take the PLCs out of the production network. The PLCs are therefore accessed via a different network than the data collected here,” relates Fries. “In order to be able to compensate failures of the higher level system, the IIoT Server also allows for the archiving of data movements and changes over a longer period of time.”
Across machines, data about machine running time, downtime and root cause analysis is now collected and can be accessed by the BIS via the TMC standard. Information about material rejects, production defects, material turnover and machine efficiency as well as predictive maintenance and machine configuration changes are also provided.
“The greatest challenge was the collection of data from existing production lines with different controllers without program changes in the PLC,” says Fries. “After we had collected the data, it was validated by the machinery operators, and since then, system has been running smoothly.”
Following the successful pilot, Koehl has been ordered to roll out the system to the customer’s remaining OTP lines. Fries observes increasing interest for his company’s solution in the industry. “If a tobacco manufacturer has several locations and lines and a fully automated production, the IIoT Server is ideal because it not only allows to comply with the TMC standard but also to control and evaluate processes.”
Stefanie Rossel is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial contributor. An experienced trade journalist, she combines sharp reporting skills with in-depth knowledge of the tobacco and vapor industries. Prior to joining Tobacco Reporter, Stefanie was editor-in-chief at Tobacco Journal International, where she worked for a decade. Fluent in English, German and French, Stefanie covers tobacco news around the world. She is based in Germany.

September 1, 2022
All Eyes on Harm Reduction

Photo: Borgwaldt KC
Suppliers of instrumentation and lab services are focusing on novel nicotine products.
By Stefanie Rossel
Two things are for sure: Instrumentation and lab service suppliers don’t have any time to be idle. And a look at their most recent innovations conveys a good idea about where the nicotine industry is heading.
Two years ago, instrumentation manufacturers and providers of laboratory services were busy supporting makers of electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS) with their submissions for premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“It certainly has been an interesting two years for ENDS manufacturers,” says Chris Allen, chief executive officer of Broughton, a U.K.-based contract research organization helping companies with delivering full-service regulatory projects.
Chris Allen
“In the last few weeks, there have been marketing denial orders (MDOs) for multiple Myblu and Juul products as well as three high-profile manufacturers being awarded marketing orders for their products. Broughton is thrilled to have played a significant part in the granting of some of these marketing orders, and we expect more to come soon.
“With these five separate PMTA decisions, the FDA has given the industry an indication of where the bar is set for gaining a marketing order. It also gives additional insight into its evaluation process as the rationale behind the Myblu and Juul MDOs were very different. Although not everyone benefited from these decisions directly, they have given manufacturers new confidence to move forward with product development and future business roadmap decisions.”
Nicotine companies are now considering new PMTA applications, modified-risk tobacco product (MRTP) applications and marketing authorization applications for products under European Medicines Agency regulation. “The industry isn’t losing its appetite or ambition for innovation and new product development,” says Allen. The PMTA process is now firmly established as one of the costs of selling next-generation nicotine products in the U.S., and manufacturers have adapted to this and are moving forward.”
In addition to full-service solutions, Allen observes a significant interest in Broughton’s standalone services, such as toxicological assessments and laboratory services, many of which are in support of preparing for or responding to PMTA deficiencies. “Unfortunately, many companies have been provided with a substandard service for their PMTAs. Now [that] we have understood the bar for gaining approval, many companies are requesting us to provide extra evidence to submit before their applications enter into substantive review.”
Focus on Reduced-Risk Products
Joost Elvers
Reduced-risk product (RRP) testing continues to be at the core of instrumentation suppliers’ business. “The industry as well as governmental organizations still have a strong focus on new-generation products like e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products (HTPs),” notes Joost Elvers, group leader of key account management at Borgwaldt KC, a German manufacturer of quality control instruments and devices that is part of the Hauni group of companies, which also includes metrology specialist Sodim. “New product designs combined with upcoming further regulations and standardizations will continuously require close support,” says Joost. “Besides, the combustible product category experienced a focus revival with the opening of markets to cannabis and hemp products. We are therefore strengthening our portfolio of quality control equipment for the different product categories as well as our broad range of emissions testing devices. Furthermore, with the reduction of Covid-19 measures in companies and countries, our team of service engineers has increased its service activities again to support our customers on site in addition to the remote services that have been introduced over the last 2.5 years.”
U.K.-based Cerulean is focusing on three tobacco-related areas, according to Ian Tindall, head of innovation and marketing.
“The first is supporting companies within the ever-expanding heated-tobacco product market,” he says. “This still requires a lot of specialist equipment to generate information needed in support of MRTP applications as well as other product development activities.
“Also, with increasing amounts of products coming to full-scale production, we are finding routine quality assurance equipment is definitely an area we see as expanding. Partly, we are addressing this need by working with our sister company G.D in providing closed-loop control for makers and combiners and partly, it is rolling out and deploying our X-ray equipment to monitor combiner output.
“A second area we are really excited about is in producing routine test equipment for modern oral products as we see this as a rapidly growing area where quality assurance can be automated and improved. We launched a product, the Orion, just for this market, and we have received almost overwhelming positive feedback from companies.
“The final area is in supplying test equipment for the safe regulation of legal recreational cannabis use in the United States. We have rapidly found that this is not another cigarette-type application, and we are learning alongside clients how to ensure the safety and compliance to regulation of these now legal products.”
While the Orion is currently one of Cerulean’s most sought-after products, Tindall has detected another trend, which he finds difficult to describe. “It’s the service that starts with a customer saying, ‘I want to measure something, but I am not quite sure what,’” says Tindall. “The service is about working with customers to develop test and measurement equipment for new-to-the-world products that have no background of tests to ensure conformance.”
While Cerulean’s commitment to customer confidentiality prevents Tindall from elaborating on current projects, he cites the example of a customer who wants to prevent burst capsules from wetting tipping paper. “We might come up with a way to measure the radial and longitudinal positioning of the capsule in the filter, which prevents liquid getting too close to the outside tipping paper,” he says.
New Testing for New Products
Cerulean’s Orion
Cerulean’s Orion, the first automated snus test station to enter the market, is but one example of an array of innovations for testing novel nicotine products. Currently, the Orion measures the weight, length and width of the pouch along with the tensile strength of the pouch seams as well as extension against load.
“We will, before the end of Q3, deploy extra measurements in the form of longitudinal pouch seam position and overlap, pouch transverse seam size and pouch moisture,” says Tindall. “We are listening to the customer base and expect to be adding further enhancements in the future once we have really established what is important to our customers, including the potential for auto-sampling and feedback to a maker to reduce reject rates. We expect Orion to follow the trajectory of most of our products in that it will be developed and enhanced as our customers’ needs change.” The Orion can be used for all types of modern oral pouches as long as the size fits in the maximum and minimum dimensions allowed and the pouches follow a rectilinear format.
Sodim recently introduced a test station dedicated to the testing of HTP consumables. “HTP and RRP confront us with many challenges, such as different format compatibility and new measurement request,” says Christine Camilleri, director of sales and marketing at Sodim.
“This, combined with sustainability, guides our development team toward instruments [that are] fully scalable, responding to the needs of this market as regards to quick product changes. All our test stations are compatible with HTP products of any size. Multiple diameter measurements on filter rods are an example.”
From Borgwaldt comes the LM1E DtL, a new vaping machine that provides direct-to-lung testing. ISO 20768 requires aerosol to fill the mouth before entering the lung, which is commonly named mouth-to-lung vaping.
Consumers, however, tend to vape different products differently. Borgwaldt KC developed the LM1E-DtL based on the draft development standard of CEN/TC437. “This vaping machine fulfills the requirements of an additional vaping regimen considering inhalation from an electronic cigarette directly into the lung,” explains Elvers. “As you can easily imagine, the emissions composition differs from that generated under the ISO 20768 process and therefore reflects the consumer exposition much better.”
Design Support
The industry’s focus on RRPs is reflected in the demand for lab services too. With nicotine pouches, one of the most rapidly growing segments within the reduced-risk category, Broughton is seeing much interest in its consulting and testing services. “There are some interesting innovations around oral pouch materials, so our feeling is that the scope for oral pouches will grow beyond nicotine. The products are covered by the PMTA process within the U.S., so we have been busy providing support for these applications. Within the EU, any work performed is typically to support product development and/or due diligence. As per the ENDS analysis, the focus is placed upon nicotine content and HPHCS [harmful and potentially harmful constituents]. However, automated (flow-through) dissolution analysis is widely used to support the R&D process.”
Broughton is also offering development services for next-generation products as well as for cannabinoids, another big theme in the sector. The company already has a medicinal cannabis and CDB business. For novel nicotine products, it has launched a division that helps customers design their products in a way that increases the chance of regulatory approval, for example by ensuring that development decisions taken early in a project support the later stages of a planned regulatory submission or go-to-market strategy.
“This could be early development material or ingredient selection to expedite extractables and leachable studies or ensuring product designs are suitable for mass-market manufacturing scale-up,” says Allen. “Our services are completely scalable to the needs of the client so we can help with one stage of product realization or work as an extension of an in-house development team all through the product lifecycle. We created the service in response to requests from existing clients, so we know there is a demand for this sort of expert advice and consultancy.”
As far as trends are concerned, Allen sees growth in the diversity of nicotine-delivery systems. “There are more heated-tobacco products, more modern oral nicotine pouch manufacturers plus innovations like water-based vape devices and new heating mechanisms,” he says. “Disposable vape devices are also growing in popularity, and there are some exciting innovations around device material selection, especially focused on improving the recyclability of products, which we predict will be very important in the future. At Broughton, we work with a wide variety of ENDS manufacturers of different sizes and backgrounds. We are seeing a lot of new technology coming from regions like the Middle East, India and Indonesia in addition to where you’d expect it to come from, such as the USA and China. It really is a very dynamic industry with lots of new players looking to bring something different and differentiated to the market.”
Greener Measurements
While flexibility plays an important role in novel-products testing equipment, Borgwaldt KC and Sodim have also noticed growing demand for sustainability. “We can currently see two trends gaining momentum within our customer base. One is for sure the change in available product portfolios of some of our customer groups; the other is the realization of sustainability targets in the instruments environment,” explains Elvers.
“We therefore spend many efforts in making flexible emissions testing solutions for combustible cigarettes and cigars as well as for the new electronic product segment of ENDS. The successful launch of the 10-port vaping machine NGX10 and its continuous modularization with further add-ons shows us the high demand for such a modern and ENDS-dedicated solution on the market. Besides this, the trend of rethinking life cycles of instruments and how they can be converted for new demands to save resources made us create our ‘lifetime extension’ program in which we update older instruments with the newest measuring technology by fully building upon existing infrastructure and reusing or refurbishing existing parts for a more sustainable outcome.”
Camilleri notes that customers are moving to “green” products, such as hemp and cannabis. “On physical parameters, they are aiming to get fast measuring solutions in a quickly changing market,” she says. “Specific developments become the norm compared to standard solutions in the past. We orientate our products on super flexible instruments adapted to different market environments and production allowing long-term evolution of test stations, including the possibility to upgrade them to cater to new product trends. Our products can have several lives in different segments of the industry, reducing the impact on the environment.”

Christine Camilleri
Testing Without Standards
As more countries legalize cannabis, instrumentation makers detect new opportunities—even though testing standards are not yet in place. “Weight is currently the most important parameter, but we also see a new interest to measure the same physical parameters as in conventional cigarettes to improve the quality of the products and reduce cost generated by waste,” says Camilleri, whose company has adapted its Sodiline and Sodiqube test stations to cannabis testing.
Borgwaldt and Sodim are active in the raw material and emissions testing segments of cannabis products. “Combined with the experience gained with production machines of our sister companies Garbuio and Hauni, we established ourselves as a main contact point for raw material and production control as well as emissions testing for cannabis products,” says Elvers.
Borgwaldt has developed an electrostatic precipitation trap, HV1, which is used to trap emissions for the analysis of metals. Being a phytoextracting plant, cannabis collects and saves metals from the soil so that these elements will be released during the smoking and consumption process. “This smoking and vaping machine-independent solution can be used as a flexible add-on for the emission control of metals of cannabis products,” says Elvers.
Cerulean also has an electrostatic precipitator trap upgrade kit in its portfolio. The company has been working with Kaycha Labs in Denver, Colorado, USA, to overcome some of the problems inherent in the Colorado state requirement for emissions testing for metals, and it has published several white papers describing some of the changes required to allow a vaping machine to work with highly viscous cannabis oils. “This work supports the multiple machines we have sold to legal operations in the United States and hopefully demonstrates our commitment to this new industry,” says Tindall. He hopes that a set of practical conditions and analysis standard operating procedures can be adopted by the cannabis industry that provide a basis for comparisons from state to state.
Agility is Key
Regarding future requirements for testing equipment and lab services, Sodim and Borgwaldt KC say agility will be key. “Demands change within months, [and] products appear and disappear on the markets in a short period of time, therefore we as a supplier of quality control and emissions testing equipment have to keep up and even overtake these market demands and show our ability to react fastest to new market challenges,” says Camilleri, speaking for both companies.
“Also, digital solutions within the instruments business are expected to play a bigger role in the future. This can be related to the use of data being generated by measurement equipment or the combination and common usage of such data by the measuring instrument and the manufacturing systems. Even the partial replacement of physical measurements by a digital process is something to be considered as a future requirement.”
“My personal view is that we have probably hit, or are near to hitting, an innovation ceiling for vaping products,” predicts Tindall. “HTPs are still in a growth phase, and there will be other entrants beyond the big players currently in the market. There will be novel HTPs for sure over the coming five years.”
Tindall expects quality assessment and quality control for physical tests to transition from the laboratory to the production floor. “This means we need to have robustness and simplicity of operation in the forefront of our equipment design,” he says. “Especially if, as I expect, HTP manufacture is increasingly accompanied by more stringent traceability [requirements] as HTPs become even more highly regulated than combustible cigarettes. This will make current good manufacturing practice a baseline requirement that our equipment would need to support. Moreover, the interconnectedness of manufacturing processes and data retrieval becomes a fundamental of design and not just an afterthought.”
The recreational cannabis market, he says, will continue to spread. “This will mean that belatedly, there will be regulation of emissions, requiring new vaping equipment.”
With more than 1 billion adult smokers in the world—a number that is still increasing—Allen expects demand for testing to support regulatory submissions to increase over time, with a demand for more sensitive testing criteria, more in-depth analysis of test data and great insight from real-world evidence based on human factor studies over longer time periods.
“Remember, this is still a very young industry, so continuing to collect data is going to be essential to underpin belief in reduced-risk products and their contribution to tobacco harm reduction,” he says.
Stefanie Rossel is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial contributor. An experienced trade journalist, she combines sharp reporting skills with in-depth knowledge of the tobacco and vapor industries. Prior to joining Tobacco Reporter, Stefanie was editor-in-chief at Tobacco Journal International, where she worked for a decade. Fluent in English, German and French, Stefanie covers tobacco news around the world. She is based in Germany.

August 1, 2022
BAT Launches Glo Hyper X2

Photo: BAT
BAT unveiled its Glo Hyper X2 tobacco heating device in Tokyo on July 21.
Building on the technology of Glo Hyper+, which launched in 2020, the Hyper X2 incorporates advanced induction heating technology encased in a smaller, lighter weight device. A separate boost function for faster heating, battery status LED indicator, a protective iris-shaped shutter and bold new colors complete the new hyper X2 offer, according to BAT.
Hyper X2 works with existing consumables from the Glo Hyper series.
“The launch of Glo Hyper X2—our newest, state-of-the-art heated tobacco product—marks another key milestone in our transformation as we build the brands of our future,” said Kingsley Wheaton, chief marketing officer at BAT, in a statement. “Since launching our first Glo product in Japan in 2016, we have built Glo into a billion-dollar global brand through our deep consumer insights, science and innovation.
“Our multi-category portfolio offers the industry’s widest choice of scientifically substantiated, less risky and enjoyable products for adult smokers who are looking to switch. This is a further big step in accelerating our transformation into a consumer products business that defines itself by the consumer needs that we meet, rather than the products we sell.”
“In addition, final results from our landmark one-year clinical study of Glo have provided important new data that adds to evidence supporting Glo as a reduced-risk product. In the study, people switching completely to Glo achieved significant and sustained improvements across many exposure and potential harm measures compared to those who continued to smoke, with many indicators similar to quitting.”
Glo hyper X2 will be available in Glo stores across Japan and on the Glo and Velo official online store from July 25, 2022, and in convenience stores in Japan from August 2022.
Glo products are available in 25 countries. The global rollout of Glo Hyper X2 will take place over the coming months.
July 24, 2022
Geekvape Shares Fluid Dynamics Expertise

Photo: trodler1
Geekvape shared its expertise in computational fluid dynamics (CDF) at the 14th International Conference on Computer Modeling and Simulation, hosted June 24-26 by the Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications.
Geekvape has used CFD to structurally optimize ceramic atomizers. In designing electrically heated atomizers, the heat and mass transfer phenomenon is essential for maximizing the product’s performance. The company’s engineering team developed patented product designs with higher heat efficiency and better atomization performance.
“This invitation is a great honor for Geekvape to communicate with many international experts and scholars in related research fields, to discuss the latest technological progress and share our most recent findings,” said Jiadong Zang, who represents Geekvape’s advanced technology and application research institute, in a statement.
“This has profound implications for the future development of the global e-cigarette industry, as well as for the improvement of scientific and technological innovation to facilitate the industry’s high-quality development.”
July 7, 2022
E-Cig Batteries Power Drones in Ukraine War

Photo: Rakursstudio
Ukrainian volunteers have started using e-cigarette batteries to help power drones deployed in the war against Russia, according to a report in The Independent.
The batteries are being used to power release systems attached to drones so that they can carry and drop anything from medical supplies to grenades. The release systems are built using 3D printers.
The initiative was developed in response to the rising price of lithium batteries. War-related airport closures have driven up the cost of many imports. To collect disposable e-cigarettes and retrieve lithium polymer batteries, the volunteers set up drop-off bins outside the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
“Lithium batteries used to cost $1 each but went up five times in price adding significantly to our costs,” says engineer and PhD student Maksym Sheremet. “So we started powering dropping systems from the batteries in disposable e-cigarettes. It’s free, easy to repurpose and environmentally friendly because we are recycling.”
A team of around 60 volunteers are making the drone systems, with 30 working specifically on the e-cigarette plan.
In four months they have built 4,000 dropping systems – which cost under $30 – and are sent to the front. They are also building drones from scratch and repurposing existing commercial drones to go with their dropping systems.
Seriously outgunned by Russia, Ukraine relies heavily on drones, which allow its forces to spot artillery and so direct fire efficiently, saving ammunition.
July 4, 2022
Smoore Recognized for Industrial Design

Photo: Smoore
Smoore has been recognized by the Shenzhen Municipality Industrial Design Development Support Program for its innovation and design capabilities.
The municipality singled out the vaping technology’s specialist for its “innovative design and achievement transformation of closed-pod electronic atomizer based on leadless ceramic heating technology.”
The industrial design team of Feelm, Smoore’s flagship atomization brand, has designed a number of solutions that combine consumer experience with advanced smart manufacturing.
Between 2020 and 2022, Feelm’s industrial design team won eight prestige International design awards, including the Red Dot Award, the iF Design Award, the German National Design Award and the MUSE Design Award.
In 2022, won a Red Dot Product Design Awards for four products, including a lipstick-inspired vaporizer with a twistable nozzle that prevents dust from collecting on the mouthpiece, and an eco-friendly disposable e-cigarette composed of recyclable and reusable aluminum foil.
“Feelm design is devoted to helping clients in improving the user experience from the perspective of a vaping tech brand,” said Totom Lu, head of Feelm Industrial design team, in a statement. “I think the future direction of design of closed-pod vaping solution should lean on three dimensions: product experience, emotional experience—to identify problems before users notice them—and sustainable experience, to focus on product sustainability.”
July 1, 2022
Choppy waters

Photo: BAT
Machinery makers navigate supply chain challenges and customers’ changing product portfolios.
By George Gay
I was rummaging around in my office the other day, looking for something that I didn’t find, but as is often the case when rummaging, I did find many things for which I wasn’t looking. One of those things was a 20-year-old CD with the name of a tobacco machinery company on it and the title “Past, Present and Future,” and given that I was due to write a machinery story, I decided to take a look. The CD contained a PowerPoint presentation with 44 slides, 20 of them dedicated to the past, 23 to the present and one to the future. The future slide was unique not only in respect of it being the only one to address the future but also because it was blank except for the words “The Future.”
I don’t blame the presenter for being cautious. Predicting the future of the tobacco industry and its various sectors has always been fraught. The industry has been written off, prematurely, more times than I care to remember. But there is no doubt that, nowadays, the storm clouds appear to be more threatening, partly because they are coming from both within the tobacco industry and without. The range of regulations that govern the industry is becoming wider and more radical at a time when, partly in response to those regulations, the industry has chosen to transform itself.
So where is the industry, and, in particular, the tobacco machinery sector headed? It hardly seems worth stating that the future of the tobacco machinery business is linked to the future of the tobacco business, and, since the tobacco business is in decline, the tobacco machinery business must be in decline. End of story. But, of course, the situation is far more complex than that.
One obvious caveat that has to be added to this story concerns the offshoot the tobacco industry has grown, comprising lower risk tobacco and nicotine products. The problem here, however, is that it is not easy to predict whether this offshoot will flourish or atrophy. And, even if it does flourish, it is not easy to predict what the conversion rate of smokers to the consumption of these new types of products will be. It has to be remembered that if the traditional tobacco business is in decline, the opportunity for converting smokers diminishes, though this could be offset if nonsmokers were drawn to these products.
While some countries are encouraging, or at least not discouraging, such new products, others with huge populations are banning (India) or discouraging (China) them. In some countries, and for some time, entry to the new products markets will probably remain prohibitively expensive for many consumers, and there is the looming problem associated with environmental issues.
Optimization
Nevertheless, asked what the situation would look like in three years’ to five years’ time, Norbert Schulz-Nemak of TMQS had no hesitation in saying new-generation products (NGPs) will have taken a higher share of the overall market simply because such a conversion is a strategic goal of multinational companies. But combustible cigarettes would still be around because they were relatively cheap to buy and relatively easy to consume.
Was it the case, though, that the tobacco industry might split into a number of tobacco industries operating quite differently in various regions or countries in response to local regulatory environments and, therefore, the different products on sale within those regions or countries? It is not difficult to imagine a U.K. market without tobacco but with e-cigarettes completely divorced from an India market without e-cigarettes but with tobacco.
But in response, Schulz-Nemak said TMQS believed the only split would be in respect of technology. Tobacco manufacturers would continue a process started some time ago whereby they had concentrated the manufacture of their various products within specific manufacturing sites, thus optimizing the use of those sites. Focusing within individual sites on the machinery and processes necessary only for specific products provided for clear structures and logistics. Obviously, added Schulz-Nemak, there would be exceptions, but generally speaking, such developments were logical.
Maintaining Existing Equipment
Despite the transitions that the industry is going through, tobacco manufacturers large and small will clearly aim to maintain production levels and efficiencies within their traditional operations while keeping their businesses flexible enough to deal with future market trends. And this, according to TMQS, is leading many companies to be more cautious in their planning than they had been previously.
Catering for an increasing portfolio of NGPs and vaping products involved a costly exercise in bringing in new machinery, said Schulz-Nemak. And this was occurring at a time when combustible cigarettes still accounted for the major output of manufacturers—combustible cigarettes whose production lines also needed investments, both routine and regulation-specific, such as those requiring the manufacture of biodegradable filters.
Schulz-Nemak said that, in the case of secondary machinery, TMQS could help optimize production while keeping expenditure down. This potentially meant eliminating the need to invest in new machinery and then, perhaps, having to invest in new supporting infrastructure, different spares and materials. TMQS could offer machinery improvements, including those extending the life of equipment. It could provide everything from routine maintenance to repairs, conversions, extensions and modernizations. And it could offer support with spare parts and assembly groups.
Filling the Gaps
One change that has happened in the recent past is that tobacco manufacturers have tended to reduce their traditional product portfolios, which, presumably, has pushed more production toward the long-run end of the manufacturing continuum, and which, in turn, would have helped maintain demand for high-end, high-capacity machinery. But there is a flip side to this. When products are removed from the market, the holes created are seen as opportunities by entrepreneurs. This phenomenon is to be observed in many industries, and while it tends to be more subdued in the case of tobacco because taxes often dominate the retail prices of cigarettes, it happens. This raises the question of whether the inevitable gaps left in the market will see the emergence of more niche players requiring more modest machinery, either new or rebuilt, and simpler factory layouts.
In fact, Reto Iten of Iten Metals told me recently that the strength of demand for relatively old, slower cigarette making machinery was currently “amazing.” Demand was being driven by niche manufacturers that might want to produce, for instance, a CBD cigarette or an environmentally friendly cigarette, perhaps one using organic tobacco or one using only locally grown tobacco. With the right machines, such manufacturers, which were active on relatively small but attractive markets, could use high-quality cut rag to make good-tasting cigarettes.
So why aren’t we all getting in on the act? Well, according to Iten, to be successful at such niche manufacturing, you have to be willing to make a certain level of investment. A secondhand maker that had been the subject of only an overhaul would probably produce more hassles than cigarettes. And buying the sorts of equipment sold by his company—rebuilt, as-new machines based on original OEM drawings—was not easy at the moment because of a number of factors, not the least of which was the lack of donor machines. In fact, Iten said he had plenty of inquiries at the moment but nothing to offer, so recently, he had been in discussions about how to overcome the current shortages of donor Molins Mk8 and Mk9 makers, especially their machine bases, since the mechanics and electronics of these machines were well known and could be reproduced fairly easily.

Machinery rebuilders have been struggling with supply chain disruptions. For example, PLC components that used to be available immediately off the shelf are now subject to delivery times of six months or more.
(Photo: gen_A)
Materials and Manpower
For start-ups, Iten recommends a standard industrial cigarette maker, such as the Mk8. For such machines, it was not difficult to find consumables and spare parts, many of which were off the shelf, and for others of which the original drawings were available so that they could be made by a proficient engineering company. Because of the Mk8’s ubiquity, even skilled operators were often available locally, but the machine’s most important advantage was that it produced a quality product.
But there are other problems with delivering rebuilt machinery, one of which comprises recent interruptions to deliveries of suitable raw materials. Not all materials were currently available, said Iten, so there were times when effort had to be expended finding substitutes, which increased costs and lead times. And these disruptions are occurring not only in respect of mechanical parts and materials. Electronic components, including PLC components, that used to be available immediately off the shelf are now subject to delivery times of six months or more. “The planning of a project has become really messy,” said Iten in an emailed reply. “It is simply not possible to keep a delivery time agreement these days.”
In fact, Iten described the delivery interruptions, which had started in 2020 with a lack of container availability and had become worse since May 2020, as “incredible.” Now, before a machine rebuilding project was started, it was necessary to have ordered all of the e-parts for the PLC control. A shortage of manpower was another factor—one that was causing some workshops to be operating under capacity.
Iten said he expected the current problems to last through 2022 and even expand. It was not possible, he added, to gauge what would happen during 2023, but it was likely that things would remain difficult.
Meanwhile, TMQS also helps niche tobacco manufacturers set up their operations. Schulz-Nemak said TMQS could rework machinery and set it up so as to operate easily and flexibly to meet a wide range of production needs. It could provide additional machinery, high-quality parts and assembly groups.
And when it came to setting up small operations, TMQS could combine forces with experts in different fields to create the optimum, cost-effective production lines.
The writer would like to thank Chris Crawley, global business development consultant to the tobacco industry, for his input on this piece.
George Gay is Tobacco Reporter’s European editor, but his territory spans the globe. Based in London, George has covered the tobacco industry since 1982, initially for a U.K.-based publication and since 2004 for Tobacco Reporter. George’s understanding of industry issues, combined with his keen sense of observation and dry wit, have earned him a loyal following among Tobacco Reporter’s readers.

July 1, 2022
Medad Pioneers Ultrasound Water Pipe

Image: Studio217
Medad Technology has developed a shisha pipe that it says is less harmful to health than traditional hookah, reports The National.
Unveiled at the recent World Vape Show in Dubai, the company’s Nesta pipe delivers a nicotine hit via ultrasonic vibrations, which could cut cancer risk from inhaling toxic fumes, according to Medad Technology.
The device’s patented algorithm reportedly produces mist droplets containing nicotine that are evenly distributed as they are inhaled.
Misting is distinct from vaping as it uses ultrasound technology rather than heat. The absence of charcoal and tobacco means the product generates none of the harmful carbon emissions or toxic fumes that are usually inhaled by users of traditional hookah pipes, according to the company.
“The challenge was to develop real, alternative products that were safer than shisha and e-cigarettes, not categorized under vaping, so a completely new product,” Medad Holding CEO Mohammed Al Mazrouei was quoted as saying.
The device has been approved by the European Union Medical Agency and by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, according to Medad Holding.
It is under review by UAE authorities. The company is planning to also apply for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
An estimated 100 million people use shisha, or similar water pipes, on a daily basis around the world.

June 22, 2022
Feelm Unveils Ceramic Coil Disposable Pod

Photo” Smoore
Smoore showcased the Feelm Max, a pioneering ceramic coil disposable pod solution, at Vaper Expo UK 2022
Most existing disposable vapes are equipped with cotton coil, which produces relatively large aerosol particles, leading to inefficient deposition of inhaled particles in the lungs, hence low nicotine delivery and satisfaction, as well as harshness in throat. Soft cotton coils are also associated with leakage and burnt taste, according to Smoore.
Equipped with a cotton-free, microporous ceramic coil, the Feelm Max delivers more reliable and efficient atomization, Smoore explained in a press note. At the same liquid volume, it offers 25 percent more puffs than traditional cotton coil disposable vapes. Because the ceramic coil generates smaller vaporized particles, the product leaves less residue in the throat, ensuring a smoother vaping experience. The ceramic coil also guarantees constant vapor production, delivering flavor consistence of more than 95 percent.
According to Smoore, the Feelm Max has a leakage rate of less than 0.03 percent. It also generates smaller vaporized particles, ensuring efficient lung delivery, along with greater and faster satisfaction.
At Vaper Expo UK 2022, Feelm also showcased its eco-friendly non-nicotine disposable e-cigarette and anti-dust mouthpiece hygienic e-cigarette. Both were recently awarded Red Dot Awards for their green product concepts and avant-garde design. Unlike traditional disposable e-cigarettes made of plastic, the external structure of the eco-friendly non-nicotine disposable e-cigarette is composed of recyclable and reusable paper and aluminum foil while anti-dust mouthpiece hygienic e-cigarette features a twist nozzle, similar to that used on lipsticks, to prevent the contact of mouthpiece with unclean substances.
The market for disposable vaping products reached approximately $2.13 billion in 2021, accounting for 22.7 percent of all vaping device sales, according to Frost & Suvillian. The consulting firms expects the segment to expand at a compound annual growth rate of more than 28 percent between 2022 and 2026, making it the fastest-growing category among all vaping products.
May 29, 2022
The Virtuous Loop

Illustration: Hauni
Reducing waste and saving energy in manufacturing boosts revenues, improves customer satisfaction and reduces environmental damage.
By George Gay
Filter cigarettes and the hinge-lid packs in which, on many markets, most cigarettes are sold have been available in similar forms for 60 years to 70 years, and, during that time, their manufacture has been guided by increasingly specialized materials suppliers, brand owners and machinery builders that have become environmentally aware, commercially astute and technically advanced. So, on being asked to write a story looking at what tobacco machinery suppliers are doing to reduce the usage of energy and the creation of waste during the operation of their machines by tobacco manufacturers, my first thought was that perhaps, after so many years of development, there wasn’t much more that could be achieved.
I needn’t have been concerned. While the central objects of the exercise, the cigarette and pack, remain, to the uninitiated at least, much the same, the focus and interests of machinery suppliers have broadened to take in everything from how their employees get from home to work through production materials to the new industrial revolution. There is even a focus by one company on the efficiencies of factories that might or might not use its machinery.

Aiger recently installed a 350 MW solar power system on the roof of a new manufacturing bay. (Photo: Aiger)
Nurturing a Mindset
But what about the bit concerning how your employees get from home to work? How does that fit into the grand scheme of things? I hear you ask. Well, according to Courtland Macduff, Aiger’s sales director for Asia, this has to do with the idea that if you are going to improve the operational efficiencies of the equipment you offer in respect of such things as energy usage and waste, you need to build such thinking into the ethos of the company. Aiger had set up, for instance, a carpool system that allows its employees to get to work using less gasoline and creating fewer carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than they would if they all traveled alone. Four years ago, the company introduced efficient waste management systems to deal with everything from machining waste to general consumables. And, on a larger scale, it recently installed a 350 MW solar power system on the roof of a new manufacturing bay, allowing it to function as a smart factory in which heating and lighting are based on zone scheduling, a system that has provided for a 20 percent saving in energy costs.
As Macduff said during an email exchange, saving energy and reducing waste worked by example, so now, every design engineer was focused on smart solutions aimed at providing better machine performance because the faster a manufacturer was able to operate with the highest uptime, the less waste was generated. But this had to involve a joint effort. Machinery manufacturers could have only a limited impact on operational waste if factories didn’t maintain high efficiencies by optimizing their procedures and materials.
But no operation could be perfect, so, at the same time, Aiger machinery “digested” rejects as far as possible by recycling tobacco shorts and reclaiming the tobacco. End-of-bobbin machine production wastage had been reduced as had glue application.
In reducing energy usage, designers were, for instance, working on the optimization of drive selections and had already minimized the power consumption of heating elements by using a higher level of temperature control and new insulation materials to protect the areas heated to high temperatures, which was one of the major power drains. At the same time, designers were constantly looking to incorporate new technologies.
In this regard, Macduff made the interesting comment that while new technologies were welcome, they came at a price, so they had to be introduced at the right time and for the right reasons. Tobacco companies would not pay more simply to have a machine that used less energy. Output mattered at the end of the day, and high efficiency was not negotiable.
There was something of a trade-off to be made here. While modern machinery was generally faster and more reliable and consistently produced better quality products than was the case in the past, such improvements did not necessarily lend themselves to energy savings because the newer machinery used more controls, more automation and more drives.
But there are other areas where savings of one type or another can be made, often working in conjunction with materials suppliers and tobacco manufacturers. Factory floor layouts could be optimized, said Macduff; optical fibers could replace cables; new, harder-wearing materials could ensure that parts had longer lives; and the 3D printing of parts at customer sites could cut the impact of transporting such materials. Coreless bobbins could be introduced, filters and packaging materials that are more environmentally friendly could be brought in and the use of plastics could be reduced in respect of packaging materials for tobacco products and even machinery exports.
Finally, Macduff said Aiger was one of the leaders in machinery manufacturing flexibility, and the modular concepts engineered into its machinery helped to keep efficiencies high in the face of brand changes, which always created a degree of startup waste.

Montrade now offers technology to help tobacco companies to manufacture plastic-free filters. (Photo: Montrade)
Win, Win, Win
Meanwhile, Montrade’s senior sales manager, Emanuele Massari, said his company’s machines were designed so as to map product flow because the focus was on maximizing product quality while minimizing material consumption and waste. The company had a division dedicated to the research and development of sensor and process control systems that, once integrated into its machines or even those of other companies, enhanced productivity optimally. “It is an essential step of the migration toward industry 4.0,” he said- in what I took to be a reference to the sorts of new processes that focus on interconnectivity, automation and machine learning.
Artificial intelligence provided all Montrade’s sensors with auto-learning skills, so systems improved themselves autonomously, he said. And such autonomous maintenance initiatives helped provide for an increase in machinery MTBFs (mean time between failures), which, in turn, led to “a righteous path of real sustainability.” “This synergy allows us to optimize and reduce the material and energy consumption and the waste of spare parts,” said Massari.
Sustainability was said to be one of the main drivers at Montrade because working to reduce waste and save energy created what Massari described as a “win-win-win virtuous loop.” The first win was that customers could use Montrade’s equipment to manufacture more high-quality products while spending less, thus increasing their revenues and consumer satisfaction. The second win saw Montrade’s business boosted because its customers were satisfied. And the third win meant that the environment and, consequently, the global community profited from the reduced impact of the tobacco industry.
Massari said that his company’s machines were designed to constantly monitor the consumption of utilities with an eye on reducing usage. The levels of electrical consumption and compressed airflow rates, etc., were always available to view on human-machine interfaces, which was a standard feature not an optional one.
Another issue on which Montrade had been focusing its sustainability efforts concerned the materials used on its machines. The company collaborated closely with its customers and with materials suppliers to rethink the product as more eco-friendly and more fit for the final consumer. Recent examples of this approach could be seen in the company’s machines for producing biodegradable cigarette filters and paper tubes. A unique crimping technology allowed conventional acetate filters to be replaced with paper ones while reducing by about 20 percent the paper consumption typical of other machines available on the market.
As well as offering new filter-making equipment, Montrade also revamps older equipment to produce eco-friendly products. “For instance, we offer our paper crimper in a free-standing configuration to retrofit existing filter makers to convert them to make plastic-free filters,” said Massari. “In the same way, we have also recently developed a wide range of conversion kits for existing packing machines to reduce the wrapping materials and/or replace them with plastic-free ones.”
The Holistic View
Another way of looking at reducing waste is to examine just tobacco waste but over complete operations. Marco Castro, global head of Hauni Advanced Services (formerly Hauni Consulting), said that while the whole tobacco industry was currently working on reducing waste, his division had, in July 2020, set itself the ambitious challenge of approaching this objective in a different way. And, in doing so, it had pioneered a completely original approach, tobacco waste prevention (TWP), by developing an integrated methodology for preventing waste at critical points in green leaf threshing plants (GLTs) and during primary processing and secondary manufacture.
Interestingly, TWP can be applied to all production facilities regardless of the machine base. “Our approach is strictly based on the existing conditions of our customers’ brands,” said Castro in announcing the initiative. “This enables them to prevent waste quickly and successfully, maintaining these gains over the long term.”
TWP is said to offer immediate, measurable improvements, and figures said to have been achieved already in customer projects are impressive: The reduction of waste generation in GLT processes is up to 50 percent, in the primary it’s up to 70 percent and in the secondary up to 60 percent.
“The first step is to quantify the potential for waste prevention at the customer’s site,” said Castro. “This is the basis on which we implement our TWP methodology, which aims to achieve the physical limits for waste prevention for the respective combination of blends, brands and equipment as quickly as possible.”
The approaches adopted as part of TWP are said not only to prevent waste but also to reduce production complexity and technical costs by standardizing blend/brand and equipment combinations where they are relevant to waste.
The starting point for every TWP project is the manufacturer’s own production facility. “This means that we not only strictly consider their specific blends and brands but also implement the TWP specifically for their existing production equipment,” said Castro. “No investments in equipment are necessary to achieve this new, optimized level of waste and costs—at least initially. Of course, on request, we can advise our customers on the potential of machine upgrades or other changes to their equipment while focusing on waste prevention.”
What might well appeal to tobacco manufacturers is that the price of implementing TWP is performance-based, something that Hauni says underlines its belief in its new service. “We are certain that we can deliver the savings we promise our customers after quantifying the waste situation,” said Castro. “That is why payment for this service is performance-based. If we achieve less than we promise, the price is reduced. If the improvement falls below a set level, our clients pay nothing.”
George Gay is Tobacco Reporter’s European editor, but his territory spans the globe. Based in London, George has covered the tobacco industry since 1982, initially for a U.K.-based publication and since 2004 for Tobacco Reporter. George’s understanding of industry issues, combined with his keen sense of observation and dry wit, have earned him a loyal following among Tobacco Reporter’s readers.

May 1, 2022