34 n FOOD AND BEVERAGE March 2024 www.drivesncontrols.com Palletising cell doubles cereal-maker’s output Peterborough-based Life Health Foods produces own-label and branded cereal products and packaging services, and integrates products from five major OEMs for leading UK brands and retailers including Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Tesco. Previously the company relied on manual palletising and labelling. In May 2023, it inaugurated a turnkey start-to-pallet cell, segregating clean food processing from warehouse palletising and doubling its production output. The company now has the capacity to process, palletise, wrap and rack 86,000 cases of cereal every 24 hours, with minimal human intervention. The new system has eliminated human labelling and palletising errors, at the same time as boosting staff morale. The installation includes three Fanuc M410 palletising robots, more than 250m of straight, spiral and overhead conveyor, and is integrated with a centralised ERP system. The installation has been designed to address every production, safety, traceability and warehouse logistics productivity pain point. The greatest logistical challenge of the project was relocating palletising from a clean production space to an adjacent warehouse more than 90m away. This was done without increasing the physical footprint. The switch from manual palletising to fully automated handling of 100 dierent SKUs and product cases, was achieved without needing to shut down production. Working within the existing warehouse footprint, Endoline Robotics designed the entire conguration, including a special 90m-long, 3.5m-high overhead conveyor. By running it along the perimeter of the warehouse, rather than down the middle, the cereal-maker was able to keep its existing loading docks and delivery access points. The elevated height ensures that forklifts at the site have full ground clearance, reducing the risk of collisions. “This fully automated palletising turnkey line has increased the versatility for our busy plant,” reports Jon Edgley, Life Health Foods’ HSE manager. “We have already observed that sta morale is higher, labour costs are down, line speeds improved, and palletising errors eliminated. There are also signicant workforce health and safety, and stock control, benets.” Cases from 11 cereal-packing lines are labelled using one of eight GSI1-compliant A UK cereal producer has doubled its output to 86,000 cases every 24 hours by replacing a manual palletising and labelling operation with an automated installation. The robotic system, worth more than £2.5m, was the biggest in the automation supplier’s 42-year history. Life Health Foods’ new robotic palletising installation has future-proofed production for the supermarket cereal supplier, and can pack 30% more than its previous system. Label printing and application systems connect to centralised ERP systems, ensuring that the correct case is delivered to the right palletising cell and capturing valuable data on throughput and quality control
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