Drives & Controls April 2022

42 n CONVEYORS AND MATERIAL-HANDLING April 2022 www.drivesncontrols.com Palletiser robots offer stacks of benefits A global supplier of fastening and assembly components – such as screws, nuts, and bolts – wanted to automate one of its production lines which packs a variety of fasteners. Previously this had been a manually intensive operation. With different sized boxes running on the line, the supplier wanted not only to automate the entire labelling and palletising process and create a uniform stack of boxes, but it also wanted to introduce an inspection system to ensure that the correct boxes are palletised, without any errors. The company commissioned Bedfordshire-based Endoline Robotics to design and manufacture the new line, which incorporates a Fanuc M-710C/70 robotic arm with a bespoke gripper to ensure reliable picking of every box. At the start of the line, an operator delivers 12 pallets at a time to a conveyor which feeds a de-stacker that positions the pallets automatically. The robotic palletiser sends a signal to the de-stacker whenever it needs a pallet and, when the pallet stack is empty, it requests a new stack to be loaded. The filled boxes are moved on a powered roller conveyor through a labelling system and barcode reader which checks that the correct contents are being palletised. A stopper on the conveyor ensures consistent labelling and reading of every box. Any products that shouldn’t be palletised are ejected. At this point, the robotic palletiser lifts the box from the conveyor onto a pallet. When the palletising process is complete, the system delivers the finished pallet to a low-level discharge conveyor. The system maintains the consistency of every pallet maintained, and also manages changes to the stack configuration when a new box size is introduced, rotating the boxes through 90 degrees to side-apply labels. “Two different box sizes were required to run on the line – a full-size and a half-size box,” explains Endoline’s UK sales manager, Suraj Patel. “Boxes on the pallet need to be stacked so that the label was facing outward and, due to the size differences, the full-size box was labelled on the shorter side, while the half-size box was labelled on the longer side.” The new line is said to have increased efficiency dramatically. It runs autonomously without needing human intervention. It has reduced the risk of manual errors, and allowed employees to be redeployed to other tasks. “The integration of all the equipment also ensures that every box is stacked neatly and contains exactly what is on the label,” Patel reports. n By installing a robotic palletiser, a supplier of fastening components has improved the efficiency of a previously manual operation, cutting errors and achieving considerable time savings. The robotic palletising line has reduced the risk of errors and increased efficiency“dramatically”