ES2880424T3 - Method of controlling the operation of a continuous flexible band treatment machine - Google Patents

Abstract

Method for controlling the operation of a treatment machine for treating a continuous flexible band whose movement is guided in a transport direction, said treatment machine (1) integrating a plurality of guide rollers (2) from a feeding unit (10 ) to feed the flexible band (3) to a collection unit (30) to collect it (3), and at least one treatment unit (20) located between said feeding unit (10) and said collection unit (30) , which comprises the acquisition of various information related to different operating parameters, including parameters related to making adjustments, to different operating states of the treatment machine (1) over time, each of said states being operation defined by a series of detected parameters of said feeding unit (10), treatment unit (20) and/or collection unit (30), said operating states comprising at least: a preparation state (E1) of said machine in which preparation and/or adjustment operations of elements and/or parameters are carried out in said feeding (10), treatment (20) and/or collection (30), · a production state (E2) of said machine in which the treatment task is performed on said moving flexible band (3), applied by said at least one said treatment unit (20); · a stop state (E3) of the treatment machine, in which none of the preparation and/or adjustment or treatment activities are being carried out. wherein said acquisition of differentiated information comprises the steps of: a) monitoring the operating parameters of the different operating states of said at least one treatment unit (20), and/or feeding unit (10), and/or collection unit (30) to treat, feed or collect the flexible band (3) by means of sensors b1) analyze by means of a programmable control device (41) the monitored operating parameters b2) automatically detect by means of said programmable control device ( 41) a relevant variation or combinations of relevant variations that exceed predefined threshold values in at least one of the parameters of at least one of said units (10, 20, 30), and automatically infer from said relevant variation the start of one of said operating states (E1, E2, E3) and/or the end of one of said operating states (E1, E2, E3) c) communicate and store said start and/or end of a state operating (E1, E2, E3) together with a temporary register, in a local or remote status register (40); and d) performing the sequence of steps a) to c) throughout a control cycle of the treatment machine, in at least a few predefined moments of time, detecting further starts and/or ends of operating states (E1, E2, E3 ). characterized in that the method further comprises determining, and storing in the status register (40), the start of the production status (E2) verifying the performance, during a specific predefined time uninterruptedly and without relevant variation, of the treatment task performed in the flexible band (3) and assigning the entire period of time during which said treatment task has been carried out uninterruptedly and without relevant variation as part of said production state (E2)

Description

DESCRIPTION

Method of controlling the operation of a continuous flexible band treatment machine

Technique field

The present invention concerns the field of methods for controlling the operation of a machine for treating a continuous flexible strip guided in movement in a transport direction, obtaining, from detected data, relevant information related to operating parameters of said machine. treatment that make it possible to automatically deduce and store an operating state of said treatment machine selected from at least one preparation state, a production state and a stop state. State of the art

It is known in this field of the art to remotely control the operation of a machine for treating a flexible strip from a control center, in which data about the production of the machine are mainly collected.

Document DE102007000952 A1 is a known state of the art that reveals a method according to the preamble of claim 1, in which a printing installation is described that includes sensors and a control device configured to increase the printing speed step by step. Starting from a setup state and ending in a production state, automatically making any necessary adjustments during the setup state and controlling different aspects of print quality at each step before increasing print speed further.

The method described in DE102007000952 A1 requires the automatic performance of the adjustments, and the automatic analysis of the printed product to automatically determine that all the adjustments produce a satisfactory printed product.

Analysis of the printed product required the use of specific equipment and expensive computer hardware and software.

However, there is no knowledge of a method that allows obtaining information on the operation of a machine of this class, in which a distinction is made between a production state and a preparation state automatically without requiring automatic quality analysis. of the printed product and that also takes into account the duration of each one of said states and the transitions between them, also allowing to differentiate a state of stoppage from a state of readiness.

Brief description of the invention

The present invention concerns a method for controlling the operation of a machine for treating a continuous flexible band guided in movement in a transport direction as defined in claim 1, said machine integrating a plurality of guide rollers from a unit of feeding the flexible band to a collection unit thereof and at least one interposed treatment unit.

It will be understood that a treatment machine is therefore a machine designed to apply a treatment that produces an alteration to a continuous flexible band by means of said treatment unit, the flexible band being continuously transported and guided, in the transport direction, by the interior of said treatment machine, the flexible band being supplied by the feeding unit, which is arranged upstream of the treatment unit, and recovered by the collection unit arranged downstream of the treatment unit.

Said flexible band can be, by way of non-limiting example, paper, cardboard, plastic sheets, etc., which will typically be used for the production of product wrappers. The treatment applied to said flexible strip can also be of a different nature, such as, for example, printing, laminating, cutting, perforating, bending, welding, etc. depending on the treatment unit involved, and the type of treatment machine envisaged.

Thus, the present invention proposes, in a novel way, the acquisition of differentiated information, referring to different operating parameters, including parameters referring to making adjustments, of different operating states of the treatment machine, over time, each one of said different operating states being defined by a series of detected parameters of said feeding, treatment and / or collection units, said operating states comprising at least:

• a state of preparation of said machine in which operations of preparation and / or adjustment of elements and / or parameters are carried out in said feeding, treatment and / or collection units; for example, to prepare the treatment machine for a new job;

• a production state of said machine in which the treatment task is performed on said moving flexible band, applied by said at least said one treatment unit;

• a state of stoppage of the treatment machine, in which none of the activities of preparation or adjustment or treatment is being carried out, that is, it is neither in a state of preparation nor in a state of production. wherein said acquisition of differentiated information comprises the following stages:

a) monitoring the operating parameters of the different operating states of said at least one treatment unit, and / or feeding unit, and / or collection unit to treat, feed or collect the flexible strip by means of sensors;

b1) analyze the monitored operating parameters by means of a programmable control device and b2) automatically detect, by means of said programmable control device, a relevant variation or combinations of relevant variations that exceed predefined threshold values in at least one of the parameters at minus one of said units, and automatically infer, from said relevant variation, the beginning of one of said operating states and / or the end of one of said operating states;

c) communicating and storing said start and / or end of an operating state together with a temporary register, in a local or remote state register; Y

d) carry out the sequence of steps a) to c) throughout a control cycle of the treatment machine, in at least some predefined moments in time, detecting subsequent beginnings and / or ends of operating states. Thus, the invention proposes to obtain information related to different operating parameters of the different units integrated in the treatment machine by means of the use of sensors. The information detected referring to the aforementioned parameters will include information related to the execution of adjustments, and will be communicated to a local or remote programmable electronic control device, equipped with memory and calculation capacity, such as a programmable logic controller, a computer, tablet or smartphone. Said programmable electronic control device will be in charge of analyzing, through the execution of stored analysis algorithms, the information referred to the operating parameters to detect relevant variations or combinations of relevant variations that exceed certain predefined and stored threshold values, thus determining the operating state of the treatment machine selected from among the different anticipated operating states.

It will be understood that there may be short periods of time, of a maximum predefined duration, during which any of the conditions required for the automatic detection of a certain operating state are not met without causing a modification of the operating state assigned by the device. programmable control. This allows operators to carry out, for example, inspection tasks, of short duration, which require modifying some parameters of the treatment machine, without this causing a change in the detected treatment state.

The aforementioned parameters referred to making adjustments will be understood to be parameters that undergo variations during adjustment tasks, which are those adjustments required by the treatment machine, the at least one treatment unit, the power supply unit and / or the collection unit, to ensure a production of a flexible band treated with optimum quality, said adjustments having to be made during a test treatment on a flexible moving band, or requiring the adaptation of the treatment machine, or its units, by means of adjustment, removal or replacement of any of its mechanical components. The detection of the variations or combinations of relevant variations mentioned above referring to the pre-production settings determines the detection of the state of preparation, as it is a sign that preparation tasks are being carried out to prepare the treatment machine to go into production.

The production state is determined when a readiness state is not detected, and when the treatment machine is performing a treatment, by the treatment unit, on a flexible web moving in the conveying direction. Therefore, the state of production indicates that the treatment machine is correctly applying a tight treatment on a flexible band that can be used since it will predictably be error free. The determination of this state is carried out by detecting the rhythm of movement of the flexible band, and the absence of modifications of the treatment settings during a determined period of time, which is indicative of the acceptance by the operators of the treatment carried out.

Finally, the stop state is determined when neither the readiness state nor the production state is detected.

The automatic detection of the operating status of the treatment machine allows to know in detail the time during which the machine is producing, and the time during which the machine is not producing, without the periods of preparation status being incorrectly determined as periods of production or unemployment status. In addition, it allows knowing, automatically and without requiring a user to identify the state of the treatment machine, said state of the treatment machine, from which the reasons why it is not in production can be inferred. This allows better control, as well as locating possible inefficiencies or ways to increase the periods in which the treatment machine is in the production stage.

Stage a) of the aforementioned proposed method consists of collecting information regarding the performance parameters of the different constituent units of the treatment machine.

This step will preferably be carried out using sensors installed in said units. Steps b1) and b2) referred to the detection of relevant variations in the parameters detected, will be carried out by analyzing the information collected in step a) by the programmable electronic control device described above.

Stage c) includes the transmission and storage of the changes of state detected during stage b) to a status register, which can be for example a remote or local unit, or a module of the programmable electronic control device itself. Said storage will also include a temporary reference related to each of the records, in order to know the time elapsed between the different stored records.

Steps a), b1), b2) and c) of the method, corresponding to the collection of data related to the operating parameters, their analysis, the detection of the operating state, and the subsequent storage of said operating state, is repeated at different times in order to obtain a time record that allows knowing the duration of each of the operating states between its beginning and its end, which allows obtaining information regarding the productivity of the treatment machine and its operators.

The aforementioned status register may be consulted through, for example, a screen connected locally to the electronic programmable control device, or on a screen of a piece of equipment remotely connected to said electronic programmable control device.

According to an optional embodiment, said preparation state occurs only before starting the production state of a new job for the first time, said new job being defined by an order card accessible by the programmable control device that includes some production requirements of a job that have not yet started to be fulfilled.

It will be understood that the order form is a document that contains information related to the specifications of the treatment to be produced on the flexible band, including information related to the amount of flexible band to be treated, called production requirements. Said information will be accessible by the programmable control device, and will be in a format that allows its analysis by it. In this way the control device can determine the end of a previous job, upon completion of the established production requirements, and the start of a new job, the production requirements of which have not yet begun to be met. Knowing these start and end of a job, the programmable control device can recognize the state of preparation, among other reasons, because it is prior to the start of a production state of a job that has not yet started its production.

Additionally, it is contemplated that said stoppage state occurs when a production state of a job is interrupted before the production requirements established in said order card stored in the programmable control device are completed. A stop state can also be established after completion of the production requirements set out in a custom ticket stored in the programmable control device, and before starting a readiness state or a production state of a new job. In other words, the programmable control device can recognize a stop state, among other reasons, for occurring after the start of the production state of a job, either before or after completing the established production requirements, which may be indicative of an unscheduled shutdown due to a technical problem, or be indicative of a scheduled shutdown but not intended to carry out a job change, or be indicative of the completion of a treatment job but not the beginning of a stage of preparation of a new work, for example to carry out the preparation of cleaning tasks, maintenance or tuning of the treatment machine before starting a new job with a preparation stage.

According to an alternative embodiment, it is also proposed that said step b2) includes automatically differentiating the state of preparation between at least the following two sub-states:

• a state of work change during which the removal or replacement of one or more mechanical elements of said feeding and / or collection units occurs to feed or collect the flexible web and / or of said treatment units of the machine treatment; Y

• a working setting state during which the flexible band is moved through the treatment machine in the conveying direction, and treatment tasks are performed on said flexible band, and relevant modifications are made to the operating parameters of the machine treatment.

During the work change state, parts of the treatment machine are being modified or replaced by the operators. In this type of treatment machines it is necessary to carry out said mechanical replacement of parts of the machine to adapt it to new work of treatment of the flexible band, so these mechanical changes are not limited to repairs, but are part of the usual tasks required for the operation of this type of treatment machines. This state can be detected by analyzing, for example, parameters related to the position of the elements that need to be replaced, or of elements that need to be moved to access the elements to be replaced, or by analyzing parameters related to the existence of an exchange of information between the mechanical element to be replaced and the rest of the treatment machine through a data connection to detect the disconnection of said data connection, or a combination of these and / or other parameters. Said state of work change may or may not include the displacement of the flexible band in the transport direction, as it may include the substitution of the material that constitutes the flexible band. During said work stage, which is carried out until the approval of the quality of the treatment applied to the flexible band, the flexible band will be in motion through the treatment machine in the transport direction, and the at least one treatment unit It will be applying a treatment on said flexible band, but in addition, adjustment tasks will be carried out on the operating parameters of the treatment machine. Therefore, the treated flexible band produced cannot be marketed since, until the completion of the adjustment stage, errors and deficiencies will occur in the treatment of the flexible band due to the fact that the adjustments have not been completed, so it is advisable have an accurate record of the flexible band footage consumed during the adjustment stage, so preferably this information, and / or other information that allows knowing said footage, such as a time record and a record of the speed of the flexible band, also it will be stored in the status register.

As stated above, the determination of the work setting status can also be maintained for short periods of time of predetermined duration during which some of the conditions required for the determination of said work setting status are not met. For example, the state of adjustment would be maintained even if during said short periods of time the treatment applied to the flexible band does not undergo adjustments of its parameters, or if the flexible band is stopped during said short periods of time.

Additionally or alternatively, it is proposed that said information referring to the detected operating parameters include parameters referring to the presence of electrical power in the treatment machine and / or in the feeding, treatment and / or collection units, and where said step b2 ) include automatically differentiating in the stop state at least the following two states:

• a state of work stoppage during which the treatment machine receives electrical power, but does not carry out treatment tasks or displacement of the flexible band occurs; Y

• a state of absence of power supply to the treatment machine during which the treatment machine is not supplied with some of the energies necessary for correct treatment, such as electricity, gas or hydraulic fluid.

This state of absence of power supply is distinguished from the work stop state in that said work stop state the treatment machine does receive power supply.

Said work stoppage status may include the selection of a stoppage reason from a list of possible stoppage reasons. Said selection can be made manually by an operator or automatically by the programmable control device. The possible reasons for the work stoppage can be, by way of example, selected from the following reasons: change of work, start or end of factory hours, change of shift, operator break, maintenance of the treatment machine , treatment machine breakdown, treatment machine emergency stop, machine cleaning. In the case that the treatment machine is a printing machine, the reasons may also include change of the doctor blade, lack of ink, ink adjustment, ink spill, cleaning the anilox rollers, change anilox rollers, cliché cleaning, cliché mounting, passing of the flexible band through the treatment machine, deficiencies in the quality of the flexible web, change of the flexible web reel, break of the flexible web, failure in the reel change, drum cleaning, wait for ink supply, wait for supply of printing sleeves, wait for approval of test prints made, expect flexible belt, job change, lack of clean solvent. The invention also proposes that the aforementioned relevant variation in at least one of the parameters, included in step b2), is defined from a comparison of the values of said monitored parameters with predefined threshold values, said values being preferably defined threshold to guarantee no overlap between operating states. Thus, the values referred to the operating parameters are analyzed in comparison with stored threshold values, when certain threshold values are reached, the start, end or change of state of the treatment machine is determined. Said comparison will be carried out by the programmable electronic control device, which will have said threshold values stored in its memory.

It is also contemplated as an option that said sequence of steps a) to c) of the method, carried out during step d), be carried out in real time, continuously, achieving constant monitoring of the operating state of the treatment machine.

From said step b2), information on the duration of said operating states and / or the duration of a transition between said operating states, which will be stored in the state register. According to the present invention, the production status is determined by checking the performance of the treatment task carried out during a certain predefined time without interruption and without a relevant variation in the aforementioned parameters. As previously said, it is understood that a relevant variation is one that exceeds margins defined by stored threshold values. This allows the production status to be determined when the treatment machine remains in operation producing the treatment on the flexible band for a certain period of time without the machine settings being modified, or not being modified in a relevant way, otherwise. It follows that the operators are not making adjustments, which indicates that the adjustments are already correct. In this way you can distinguish between the state of readiness and the state of production.

Likewise, it is contemplated that the entire period of time during which said processing task has been carried out uninterruptedly and without relevant variation, prior to the determination of the production status, is assigned as part of said production status and is included in the quoted state record. This characteristic allows that, although a certain period of time of execution of the treatment is required in an uninterrupted way and without relevant variation to detect the production state, all this time during which the machine is effectively in production state but during which it is still This state has not been determined because it has not remained unchanged for the predefined time, it can be detected and stored a posteriori in the state register as a production state.

It is also envisaged that said monitoring of step a) is carried out by means of information provided by sensors associated with parts or parts of a component of the treatment machine and / or feeding unit and / or collection unit and / or by means of a image acquisition system, which can focus the flexible band after passing through the treatment unit.

The invention also proposes that said flexible band feeding unit comprises at least one flexible material reel, an unwinding device, and optionally also a reel replacement device, and wherein the parameters to be analyzed are selected from:

• amount of flexible band stored in the reel;

• exhaustion of the stored flexible band;

• duration of a stage of replacing an exhausted coil with a replacement coil.

Likewise, the invention proposes that said flexible band collection unit comprises at least one coil of flexible material, a winding device, and optionally also a device for replacing said coil, and wherein said parameters are selected from:

• amount of flexible band stored in the reel;

• forming a complete coil from the stored flexible web;

• duration of a stage of replacing a complete coil with an empty spare coil.

According to another envisaged embodiment, said treatment machine is proposed to be a printing machine that integrates one or more printing groups provided with printing rollers and ink supply units, said printing groups constituting said at least one processing unit for continuous printing on said flexible web. In this case, the preparation state will be a state in which test prints are produced on said flexible band, making adjustments such as color, position, longitudinal or transverse registration adjustments with respect to the transport direction, or others. .

The invention proposes that said printing machine be a rotogravure printing machine, or alternatively a flexographic printing machine, or offset, which will typically have a central drum, on which said flexible band will rest, surrounded by a plurality of groups. printing whose printing rollers will be pressed against said central drum, with the flexible band interposed.

In the case that the treatment machine is a printing machine, said analyzed parameters can include parameters selected from:

• distance of said printing rollers with respect to the flexible web,

• relative position of a plurality of printing rollers with respect to the flexible band, to ensure correct alignment of printing motifs, which is known in the sector as lateral and longitudinal registration in the transport direction;

• printing groups involved in the operation.

Alternatively it is contemplated that said treatment machine may be a laminating machine that integrates at least one lamination unit, constituting said at least one treatment unit, for continuous lamination of at least one additional flexible band on said continuous flexible band. In such a case each of said at least one additional flexible strip will also be supplied to the laminating machine, for example by additional feed units.

According to another optional embodiment provided, said treatment machine will be a cutting machine that integrates at least one operative cutting unit on said flexible band, constituting said at least one treatment unit, for continuous cutting of said continuous flexible band. Said cutting unit will cut the flexible band into smaller parts, either by longitudinal cuts in the transport direction, and / or by transverse cuts in the transport direction.

Other characteristics of the invention will appear in the following detailed description of an embodiment. Brief description of the figures

The above and other advantages and characteristics will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of an embodiment with reference to the attached drawings, which should be taken by way of illustration and not limitation, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a diagram of a first embodiment in which the method is applied to a printing machine equipped with six printing groups, in which the dashed lines show a connection for the transmission of information from the different units integrated in the printing machine to a programmable electronic control device;

Fig. 2 shows an example of the record of operating states obtained from the application of the method, in which a list of the different operating states detected is shown, arranged chronologically and related to a time measurement, allowing to determine the duration of each one of the operating states.

Detailed description of a realization example

Fig. 1 shows, according to an exemplary embodiment with non-limiting illustrative character, a diagram of a machine for treating a continuous flexible band guided in movement in a conveying direction in which a method is applied to control the operation of said treatment machine 1.

According to the present embodiment, the proposed treatment machine 1 is a printing machine equipped with a plurality of printing groups 21, constituting treatment units 20, surrounding a central drum on which a portion of a flexible band 3 is supported. Said printing machine can be an offset, roto-engraving, or flexo-engraving type printing machine. Said printing groups 21 include printing rollers 22 that transfer ink on the flexible band 3 supported on the central drum, producing its printing. Said printing rollers 22 integrate printing sleeves that require their replacement in order to modify the print motifs, or the size of the print to be made, as well as print adjustment tests to precisely regulate its correct position and print color.

During the replacement tasks of the printing sleeves, the treatment machine 1 will be in the job change state E1a, and during the adjustment tasks using test prints the machine will be in the adjustment state E1b, but the two states will be part of the readiness status E1. In contrast, during unadjusted print jobs the machine will be in E2 production status. If it is not in any of the previous states, it will be understood that the machine is in the E3 stop state.

The proposed method makes it possible to identify each of said operating states of the treatment machine 1 automatically and determine its duration.

Obviously, it is also contemplated that said treatment machine 1 may be a laminating machine, a cutting machine, or another type of flexible strip treatment machine 1 3.

The invention proposes that the flexible band is proposed to be a flexible plastic or paper band 3 supplied by a feeding unit 10, driven inside the printing machine guided by guide rollers 2, where the printing groups 21 they apply a printing treatment on said flexible band 3, and collected by a collection unit 30 arranged downstream of the printing groups 21 after their printing.

The power supply unit 10, the collection unit 30, and all the intermediate treatment units 20 have sensors that collect information related to some operating parameters of the treatment machine 1, detecting, for example, if there is a supply of electrical energy in the treatment machine, if the flexible band is stopped or moving, the speed of the movement of the flexible band, the distance of said printing rollers with respect to the flexible band, the relative position of a plurality of printing rollers with respect to the band flexible, to ensure a correct alignment of some printing motifs, the printing groups that are in operation at all times, the consumption of ink, the opening of covers or maintenance gates, the extraction of a printing shirt from a group of printing, amount of flexible web stored on the reel, exhaustion of stored flexible web, duration of a replacement step of a reel depleted by a spare reel, amount of flexible band stored in the reel, formation of a complete reel from the stored flexible band, duration of a step of replacing a complete reel with an empty replacement reel.

The information related to the operating parameters collected by the sensors is transmitted to a programmable electronic control device, where said information is analyzed in order to detect the operating status of the treatment machine 1 based on the detection of certain parameters of operation, and / or a certain combination of operating parameters, and / or certain values of the operating parameters regulated by predefined thresholds. Said information relative to the operating parameters enables the electronic programmable control device 41 to catalog the operating state of the treatment machine 1 according to any one of a plurality of predefined operating states. Said predefined operating states are, in the current example, the following:

• a state of preparation E1 of said machine in which operations of preparation and / or adjustment of elements and / or parameters are carried out in said units of feeding 10, treatment 20 and / or collection 30;

• a production state E2 of said machine in which the treatment task is performed on said flexible band 3 in motion, applied by said at least said one treatment unit 20;

• an E3 stop state of the treatment machine, in which none of the preparation or adjustment or treatment activities are being carried out.

After the analysis of the information received, the operating state is cataloged in one of the previous possible operating states, and is transmitted and stored in a state register that is part of the programmable electronic control unit 41 together with a temporary register, obtaining a status register as shown in Fig. 2.

Additionally, it is contemplated that the state of preparation E1 contains at least two substages that will be: • a state of change of work E1a during which treatment tasks are not carried out or the movement of the flexible band 3 occurs, but the withdrawal occurs or replacement of one or more mechanical elements of said feeding units 10 and / or collection 30 of the flexible band 3 and / or of said treatment units 20 of the treatment machine 1; Y

• an adjustment state E1b during which the flexible band 3 is moved by the treatment machine 1 in the conveying direction, and treatment tasks are performed on said flexible band 3.

Likewise, it is expected that the E3 unemployment status will be subdivided into at least two substations:

• a work stop state E3a during which the treatment machine receives electrical power, but does not carry out treatment tasks and does not move the flexible band 3; Y

• a state of absence of power supply E3b of energy to the treatment machine 1 during which the treatment machine does not receive electrical power, neither performs treatment tasks nor does the flexible band 3 move.

Thus, it is contemplated that the programmable control device 41 is capable of identifying, automatically by means of information obtained from sensors, between up to five operating states, one of them being the production state E2, and two of them being relative to the readiness status E1, and two others related to stop status E3.

Claims (13)

1. - Method to control the operation of a treatment machine to treat a continuous flexible band whose movement is guided in a transport direction, said treatment machine (1) integrating a plurality of guide rollers (2) from a unit of feed (10) to feed the flexible band (3) to a collection unit (30) to collect it (3), and at least one treatment unit (20) located between said feed unit (10) and said collection unit (30), which comprises the acquisition of various information related to different operating parameters, including parameters related to making adjustments, to different operating states of the treatment machine (1) over time, each one being said operating states defined by a series of detected parameters of said power supply unit (10), treatment unit (20) and / or collection unit (30), said operating states comprising operation at least: • a state of preparation (E1) of said machine in which operations of preparation and / or adjustment of elements and / or parameters are carried out in said feeding units (10), treatment (20) and / or collection (30) , • a production state (E2) of said machine in which the treatment task is performed on said flexible band (3) in motion, applied by said at least said one treatment unit (20); • a state of stop (E3) of the treatment machine, in which none of the activities or preparation and / or adjustment or treatment is being carried out. wherein said acquisition of differentiated information comprises the stages of: a) monitoring the operating parameters of the different operating states of said at least one treatment unit (20), and / or feeding unit (10), and / or collection unit (30) to treat, feed or collect the flexible band (3) by means of sensors b1) analyze by means of a programmable control device (41) the monitored operating parameters b2) automatically detect by means of said programmable control device (41) a relevant variation or combinations of relevant variations that exceed predefined threshold values in at least one of the parameters of at least one of said units (10, 20, 30), and automatically infer from said relevant variation the beginning of one of said operating states (E1, E2, E3) and / or the end of one of said operating states. operation (E1, E2, E3) c) communicating and storing said start and / or end of an operating state (E1, E2, E3) together with a temporary register, in a local or remote state register (40); Y d) carry out the sequence of steps a) to c) throughout a control cycle of the treatment machine, in at least a few predefined moments in time, detecting subsequent start and / or end of operating states (E1, E2, E3 ). characterized in that the method also comprises determining, and storing in the status register (40), the start of the production status (E2) verifying the performance, during a specific predefined time without interruption and without relevant variation, of the treatment task carried out in the flexible band (3) and assigning the entire period of time during which said treatment task has been carried out uninterruptedly and without relevant variation as part of said production state (E2) 2. - Method according to claim 1 wherein said state of preparation (E1) occurs only before starting for the first time the state of production (E2) of a new job, said new job being defined by a custom file accessible by the programmable control device (41) that includes production requirements of a job that have not yet begun to be fulfilled. 3. - Method according to claim 1 wherein said state of stop (E3) occurs when a state of production (E2) of a job is interrupted before the production requirements established in a custom card accessible by the device are completed. programmable control (41), or where said stop state (E3) occurs after completing the production requirements established in an order form accessible by the programmable control device (41), and before starting a readiness state ( E1) or a production status (E2) of a new job defined by an order card accessible by the programmable control device (41) that includes production requirements of a job that have not yet begun to be fulfilled. 4. - Method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said step b2) includes automatically differentiating the state of readiness (E1) between at least the following two substages: • a state of work change (E1a) during which the removal or replacement of one or more mechanical elements of said feeding (10) and / or collection (30) units occurs to feed or collect the flexible band (3 ) and / or of said treatment units (20) of the treatment machine (1); Y • a working setting state (E1b) during which the flexible band (3) is moved by the treatment machine (1) in the conveying direction, treatment tasks are performed on said flexible band (3), and make relevant modifications to the operating parameters of the treatment machine. 5. - Method according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 4, wherein said information referring to the detected operating parameters includes parameters referring to the presence of electrical power in the treatment machine and / or in the power units (10 ), treatment (20) and / or collection (30), and wherein said step b2) includes automatically differentiating in the stop state (E3) at least the following two states: • a state of work stoppage (E3a) during which the treatment machine receives energy supply, but does not carry out treatment tasks nor does the flexible band (3) move; Y • a state of absence of power supply (E3b) to the treatment machine (1) during which the treatment machine is not powered. 6. - Method according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, wherein the predefined threshold values of step b2) are defined to ensure no overlap between different operating states. 7. - Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sequence of steps a) to c), defined in step d), is performed in real time, continuously. 8. - Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said information regarding the operating parameters is provided by sensors associated with pieces or parts of a component of the treatment machine (1) and / or power supply unit (10) and / or collection unit (30) and / or through an image acquisition system. 9. - Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said feeding unit (10) to feed the flexible band (3) comprises at least one coil of flexible material (11), an unwinding device and a replacement device coil, and where the operating parameters analyzed include parameters selected from: • quantity of flexible band (3) stored in the coil of flexible material (11); • exhaustion of the stored flexible band (3); • duration of a stage of substitution of a reel of flexible material (11) exhausted by a reel of flexible material (11) for replacement. 10. - Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said collection unit (30) to collect the flexible band (3) comprises at least one coil of flexible material (31), a winding device and a replacement device of said coil, and where said operating parameters analyzed are parameters selected from: • quantity of flexible band (3) stored in the coil of flexible material (31); • forming a complete flexible material coil (31) from the stored flexible band (3); • duration of a step of replacing a complete flexible material reel (31) with a spare empty flexible material reel (31). 11. - Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said treatment machine (1) is a printing machine that integrates one or more printing groups (21) equipped with printing rollers (22) and supply units of ink, said printing groups (21) constituting said at least one treatment unit (20) for continuous printing on said flexible band (3). 12. - Method according to claim 11, wherein said operating parameters analyzed include parameters selected from: • distance of said printing rollers (22) with respect to the flexible band (3), • relative position of a plurality of printing rollers (22) with respect to the flexible band (3), to ensure correct alignment of printing motifs. • printing groups (21) involved in the operation. 13.- Method according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 10, wherein said treatment machine (1) is a laminating machine that integrates at least one lamination unit that constitutes said at least one treatment unit (20) for lamination continuously of at least one additional flexible band on said continuous flexible band (3); or wherein said treatment machine (1) is a cutting machine that integrates at least one operative cutting unit on said flexible band (3) and that constitutes said at least one treatment unit (20) for continuous cutting of said flexible band (3) continuous.