Said to be the first of its kind, a custom installation of a mobile, containerised sack packing and robotic palletising line by Pacepacker Services has doubled capacity at Suffolk, UK-based aggregates supplier Earsham Gravels and reduced the company’s reliance on manual labour.
The Essex-based packaging machinery company built a portable turnkey cell incorporating its Total Bag Control (TBC) sack closing system, its C21 sack placer, a bag kicker, a bulk hopper and a weigher.
Within the container, the sack placer opens the empty sacks and presents them to the aggregate specification weigher, for filling from the bulk hopper.
The TBC system then takes hold of full sacks with a pair of motorised grip arms and motors toward the sealer.
“As the bag top is held at all times prior to sealing, the system stabilises the bag throughout the closing process,” explains Paul Wilkinson, Pacepacker’s business development manager.
Earsham Gravels had specified an automated line compact enough to fit within a confined space measuring 40ft x 8ft x 8ft, in order to fit within a purpose built trailer container, and robust enough to withstand the harsh quarry environment.
“To ensure the TBC can cope with harsh conditions, all parts that come into contact with the aggregates are made from stainless steel, and the feeder uses heavy duty rubber belting,” says Wilkinson.
Following the success of the first portable turnkey cell, Earsham Gravels constructed a second purpose built trailer which Pacepacker equipped with a FANUC R2000 palletising robot.
Once sealed within the first container, the sacks pass through a sack kicker and into the second container, where they travel to the FANUC R2000 palletising robot via a flattener conveyor with powered rollers, followed by a ‘pick’ conveyor, whose roller design and spacing facilitates picking of the sacks.
Earsham Gravel reports that automating the line has raised bagging speeds from 5 or 6 sacks/min to 9 or 10. “This means we’ve now got the capacity to bag up to about 140 tonnes per ten-hour day, compared with 70 or 80 tonnes previously,” says the company’s MD Jim Bennett.
“The kit can be packed up on a lorry within 30 minutes, then, once transported, can be up and running in a new location within another 30 minutes.”
