Goals
- Automation of the entire end-of-line process from quality control to palletising
- Reducing human error and ensuring consistent product quality
- Increase production capacity and simplify logistics processes
- Ensuring system flexibility even in the case of product change
Challenges
- Time-consuming palletising and inspection with manual intervention
- Space constraints for end-of-line automation
- Managing frequently changing carton sizes and types
- Need for accurate orientation control and error detection
Solution
- Camera-based quality control and orientation monitoring station
- DMC code detection and tracking
- Automatic sorting by recipe and product type
- Sectional adaptive robotic gripper on linear sled
- Automatic palletising, wrapping and labelling
- Central HMI control, fast product changeover
Results
- Continuous, uninterrupted end-of-line material handling, fully automated pallet building for different types of boxes:
2.000 - 5.000 € / year time savings - Significantly reduced human labour needs:
8.000 - 16.000 € / year savings - Increased production efficiency and process safety:
10.000 - 15.000 € / year indirect savings - Stable, predictable cycle times - increased warehousing and logistics efficiency:
3.000 - 8.000 € / year indirect savings - Easy maintenance, modular expandability
Automated robotic palletising - a complete end-of-line solution in one system
Our client was looking for a complex solution to automate the quality control, sorting, orientation control and loading of products at the end of the production line. The system, designed by our engineering team, can perform all these tasks under unified control - even serving multiple pallet locations in parallel.
The cartons are transported by lift from an elevated conveyor to the system, where they are positioned by the sorting station of the infeed section. In the next stage, a camera station checks orientation and quality, including damage to the boxes and the integrity of the DMC codes. Defective pieces are automatically filtered out by the system.
The boxes are then sorted by product type and conveyed to the robotic palletiser on dedicated conveyor lanes. The sectional gripper automatically adapts to the size and shape of the box, so the pallet is always built up in a stable way. The system includes 4 palletising robots to increase availability and redundancy. The number of robots can potentially be reduced to 2, as they can serve multiple pallet positions when mounted on a linear sledge.
Automatic palletising, foiling and labelling are also part of the complete system. The finished pallets can be transported by forklift and the system automatically places the next empty pallet in the palletising position.
Who is it for?
The solution is ideal for manufacturing and logistics companies where:
- High volume, repetitive box handling and palletising is done
- Accurate orientation and quality control are important
- Manage a variety of product types and box sizes
- Expect fast, stable cycle times and reliable operation
Typical industries
- FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods)
- Electronics industry
- Pharmaceutical industry
- Packaging production
The main units of the system
The palletising system is transparent, modular and extensible in its material flow structure. Individual units can be upgraded or maintained independently, while operating under a single central control.
1. Inlet conveyer belt section:
From the collection conveyor running at high level (4.5 m in our case), the products are lowered by a lift to the height of the end-of-line palletiser (1 m in our case). From here, the infeed section starts, which transfers the unsorted cartons to the sorting station.
2. Sorting and orientation control station
The cartons arriving at the infeed conveyor section are stopped by means of stoppers and diverters and sorted to one side of the conveyor. At this station, the orientation of the cartons is determined by a camera control unit.
3. Camera quality assurance and DMC detection station:
After the sorting station, the cartons are separated and taken to the camera control station. After positioning the products, the cartons are quality checked by rotating them 180° on a vertical axis in 2 different directions.
During the quality check, the following are tested:
- tearing of the box,
- box deterioration,
- compression of the box,
- the presence of an adhesive film,
- correct orientation of the box (not upside down),
This is the station where the DMC code is detected and monitored. Regardless of the result of the check, the carton is forwarded to the distribution conveyor in the specified orientation.
4. Dividing and sorting conveyors:
The distribution conveyor is used to separate the different product types. Each product type has a dedicated conveyor line. Depending on the recipe and production design, several lines can be assigned to one product. When a carton of a given type reaches its designated conveyor lane, it is stopped by a stopper and pushed to the sorting conveyor by a pusher.
The boxes are moved to the end of the driven sorting conveyor, where they are impacted and positioned for robotic pick-up.
Depending on the number of product types and the expected cycle time, the number and allocation of the required sorting conveyors is determined.
Reject conveyor and recirculation conveyor:
If the box does not pass the camera quality check, or for some reason does not pass any of the sorting conveyors, it is transferred to the reject conveyor at the end of the distribution conveyor. Here the operator manually removes the box from the conveyor. Using a manual code reader and a display, the operator is informed of the reason for the transfer to the reject conveyor. After inspection and repair of the box, it is possible to return the box to the system. Before the very first camera inspection in the material flow, there is an infeed conveyor onto which the operator can place the carton.
6. Palletising robot:
The carton, positioned on the sorting conveyor, is picked up by the palletising robot with a special robot tool and placed on a standard EUR pallet according to a given palletising image. The system can also handle other types of pallets in addition to this EUR pallet. It is possible to handle different pallets at the same time within one production.
The robot tool can handle different carton sizes thanks to its sectional, folding plate design and linear servo drive. Between different carton sizes, the tool will adjust the size of the gripper to the specified type. The cartons are gripped from the side by means of parallel lamellar grippers. One plate is fixed and its position cannot be changed, the other plate is adjustable. The latter is moved for each product change.
By default, the robot is mounted on a podium, which is connected to the industrial concrete base. If it is necessary to extend the robot's working envelope, the robot is placed on a servo-driven linear sledge, so that 1 robot can load several pallets.
7. Stacking station:
The robot builds the pallets from the individual cartons onto the pallet based on the palletisation image and the required pallet height for the pallet dedicated to the article number. Depending on the recipe, different types of cartons can be placed on one pallet.
8. Pallet truck:
The task of the pallet truck is to transfer the finished pallets from the loading station to the conveyor in front of the pallet wrapping workstation, and then to place an empty pallet from the automatic pallet feeder to the empty pallet loading station.
9. Automatic pallet loader:
The automatic pallet dispenser can store 10-15 empty pallets. The pallets are automatically discharged to the pallet truck. It is also possible to form several buffer pallets in front of the pallet feeder unit, with automatic feeding.
10. Automatic pallet wrapping machine and label applicator:
The pallets waiting to be wrapped are fed one by one into the wrapping machine by means of a conveyor system, where the pallets are wrapped according to the program. After wrapping, the pallets are labelled. At the end of the process, the finished pallets are conveyed to an outfeed conveyor, from where they are moved by forklift truck operators.
Benefits
- Flexible, modular design
- Easy to expand and customise
- Quick recipe changeover with minimal adjustments
- Ergonomic, safe human–machine interface (HMI)
- Centralised system control
- Reduced need for manual labour (palletising and handling automated)
- Increased process safety and improved utilisation
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