Innovative solution for efficient box palletising of multiple production lines
In the modern manufacturing industry, automation is a crucial factor in increasing efficiency and reducing costs. This case study examines how a plastic packaging manufacturer managed to automatically palletise 16 production lines with just one robot. This was made possible by using a gantry robot with an extended working range.
Challenges in palletising multiple production lines
The working range of a stationary articulated arm robot is limited. This means that multiple robots are necessary to automatically palletise multiple production lines at the same time. This leads to high investment costs. The challenge was to find a solution that would still allow 16 production lines to be stacked efficiently and cost-effectively.
The solution for palletising 16 production lines: the Spider gantry robot
With a gantry robot, the working range can be significantly extended. This makes it possible to line up all pallets side by side and palletise multiple lines with one robot. The frame of the gantry robot was made long enough for our Spider palletiser to reach 16 pallets. This allowed the manufacturer to limit the investment to one robot that stacks all production lines simultaneously, each according to their specific stacking pattern.
Additional pallet spaces
Two additional pallet spaces are provided. When a pallet from one of the 16 lines is full, the robot further stacks the boxes from this line on one of the two empty pallets. Once the operator has removed the full pallet, a new empty pallet can be fed in. This results back in an empty pallet space. The operator only needs to evacuate the full pallet, as empty pallets are retrieved from a warehouse by the robot, aligned and placed on the empty pallet positions.
Cost-efficient palletising of multiple production lines
The overall feed rate of the 16 lines is not high. This allows the robot to pick up box by box, which minimises the cost of the infeed line to the robot which benefits the investment budget. After all, the boxes do not have to be sorted out by type in individual infeed lines.
Future automation
At a later stage, the disposal of full pallets can be automated using AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles) or AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robots). Full pallets can then be automatically discharged to a central pallet wrapping line. Wrapped pallets can then be discharged to the warehouse and stored. This step will further increase efficiency and further minimise the need for human intervention.
Conclusion
The case study illustrates the benefits of using a gantry robot to automate stacking processes . By exploiting its extended working range, investment costs could be reduced. The possibility of using AGVs or AMRs in the future to transport full pallets demonstrates that further automation is possible, which could lead to even greater efficiency and cost savings.