Patent ID: 6944511

Claim:
A method of controlling an automatic machine comprising a number of operating devices located along a production line for producing a succession of articles ( 2 ); some of the operating devices ( 10 ) comprising at least a relevant adjustable work member, which operates in a continually repeated work cycle and when activated can operate in a number of different operating configurations substantially independently from the other work members to adjust a relevant first characteristic of said articles ( 2 ); for each adjustable work member, each relevant operating configuration establishing the manner how the work member interacts with the articles ( 2 ); the method comprising the steps of receiving, during normal operation of the automatic machine ( 1 ), a command to adjust said first characteristic; and adjusting the operating configuration of said adjustable work member without modifying the operating configuration of all the other work members to adjust said first characteristic of the articles ( 2 ) as the adjustable work member performs a following work cycle to process an article ( 2 ); the adjustment to the operating configuration of said adjustable work member comprising the passage from a start operating configuration to an end operating configuration different from the start operating configuration; wherein the configuration of said adjustable work member is adjusted by acting on a servo actuator connected to and for setting and maintaining a given configuration of the adjustable work member; the operating configuration of said adjustable work member is not adjusted until the adjustable work member is set, in the course of its work cycle, to a passive position in which the adjustable work member does not substantially interact with the processing of a said article ( 2 ).