Smart hot spots

31 January 2008



In the beginning product was packaged manually. It was labour intensive and had little to commend it, other than providing the community with much needed employment. Today, the hands-on approach is only adopted by specialist contractors mainly in the gift packaging sector. Packaging Today reports


The consumer might still be king, but his or her needs seem to be influenced to an ever increasing degree by the supermarket giants and sheds. And, in order to satisfy the ever-expanding needs of these “master” retailers, speed has to come first and foremost. And this is something with which the manual approach is unable to keep pace.

Automated packaging lines have long since been in existence but, in more recent years, technology has become more and more sophisticated to embrace robotics and decentralised vacuum disciplines.

Today, everybody profits… from the fast moving counter goods supplier, the filler and the retailer. Consumers, too, stand to benefit. Gains include lower packaging costs, improved hygiene and speed of product to shelf.

According to Barr & Paatz managing director Stirling Paatz, the latest figures for industrial robot sales were up 11% in 2006, despite a global downward trend. But the pundits say that this year the number of operating robots worldwide will pass the million mark, with the average machine service life extending to 12-15 years.

“As robotics’ traditional customer base, automotive manufacturing, largely stagnates through market saturation, there will be increasing investment from general industry, with food processing and packaging regarded as potential hot spots,” says Paatz. “There are many sound operational reasons for sub-stantial, some might say long overdue, investment growth in the packaging industry, not least falling machine costs, smaller installation footprints, greater meantime between failures, virtually no maintenance requirements and the increased integration of robotics and vision systems.

“At the same time, with packaging formats and presentations constantly changing, product life cycles shortening and mixed or “rainbow” packs in greater demand, the packaging sector itself is beginning to look favourably upon the inherent flexibility, faster changeovers, operating precision and robustness that robots can deliver.

“Robots can now be successfully implemented for almost all packaging automation applications, including depalletising and de-casing, in-feed and raw material handling, primary and secondary packaging, filling rainbow packs and pallets, and general material handling.

“Teamed with vision systems or integrated with feed mechanisms, robots can handle difficult to collate, accumulate and orientate products, as well as varieties of pack types and presentations. They can also be equipped and programmed to manipulate other packaging components like case lids, inserts, partitions, separator sheets, labels and empty cases.” Those who suggest that robots cannot keep pace with high-speed packaging lines should check out modern Delta-type configurations, especially Elau’s new PacDrive P3, which boasts picking speeds up to 160 cycles/min and has brought highly competitive pricing to this robot class. Using IEC-conforming motion control, rather than a dedicated robot controller, it can be co-ordinated with plant-wide systems and fully integrated into modular packaging machines.

Six-axis articulated robots – still the most popular category with 60% of installations – and 4-axis SCARA machines (each with a variety of packaging lines applications like material handling, assembly, picking, packing and palletising, and handling payloads up to 800kg) are also available from Barr & Paatz.

Robots can also be specified for cleanroom, washroom, dust-laden, potentially explosive or ultra-hygienic environments for the most demanding duties.

Having accepted that robotics has an important role to play in the design of a material handling system for any consumer goods manufacturing process, one is confronted with the increasing need to save energy and up to 30% has been achieved in some instances with today’s innovative decentralised vacuum technology.

“The more distance there is between the vacuum source and the point-of-use, the more energy is consumed,” says PIAB business unit manager for the consumer and pharmaceutical industry Häla El Sheemy.

“With a traditional centralised vacuum system, one vacuum source usually provides vacuum to multiple points-of-use at varying distances. Conversely, a decentralised system locates vacuum pumps closer to the points-of-use. By switching from a centralised to a decentralised system, energy consumption is greatly lowered.

“Designing the ultimate decentralised vacuum system is made possible by positioning vacuum power exactly where it is needed. COAX is an improved design based on the multi-stage concept for creating vacuum with compressed air. It can be easily integrated into the body of manufacturing machinery with multistage cartridges, making maximum use of energy by eliminating line losses and inefficiencies.”

Recently, a Swedish manufacturer of tubes for the food, pharmaceutical and personal care industries installed an industrial vacuum conveyor based on COAX technology to transport plastic granules.

The conveyor achieves higher performance and consumes 25% less energy than did the previous conventional pump. Since the new system was installed, the company’s energy costs have been greatly decreased. As products move through the production line at high-speed, accurate handling is a must. Smaller items, such as blister packs and candies, require a reliable grip. Finding a flexible solution for fast changeover with all of these advantages that can also reduce energy consumption is possible.

Because the energy-efficient COAX cartridges are smaller than a pencil and made of extremely lightweight materials, they are ideal for the rapidly moving robotic systems used for applications like pick-and-place. By eliminating tubing between vacuum and point-of-use, the cartridges significantly improve initial flow, enabling a quicker and more secure grip for suction cups and faster performance.

Difficult-to-handle products like plastic bags and porous, uneven surfaces like cardboard can benefit greatly from an energy reducing decentralised vacuum system as well.

Filneapack, a producer of original solutions for end-users in the food industry located in Barcelona, Spain, integrated COAX cartridges into its bag handling machinery, providing a multistage vacuum ejector directly at the point of use. The decentralised solution provided a strong grip on the moving flexible packages and significantly reduced the amount of production line downtime.

“The cartridges allowed us to improve how quickly and reliably the machine could adapt to a change of product on the line,” says the company’s engineering manager Xavier Plana. “We were impressed with how economical our machines could be when utilising the new technology.”

The VGS series of products comprises three gripper system sizes that allow users to increase productivity and lower operating costs. Vacuum flow levels are dependent on the size of the cartridge integrated in the system. The VGS series of products also features DURAFLEX suction cups in varying sizes, ensuring a strong and reliable seal on difficult to handle materials like plastic bags and cardboard boxes.

Meanwhile, KUKA has launched a robotic gripper system designed to streamline the automation of depalletising applications. The layer-depalletising gripper is able to handle and deposit layers of products, with or without shrink-wrap because of its ‘roll-up’ principle. Two rollers, driven by servomotors, gently push against the pallet layer from opposite sides.

The products are then rolled up and pushed on to two symmetrical carrier plates. Software enables the gripper to adjust contact pressure and positioning of the rollers to suit the weight and height of the products.

KUKA says a typical robotic cell featuring the new gripper system could handle a layer weighing up to 200kg and depalletise as many as 300 layers/hr. The gripper is suitable for handling a variety of products, offering short cycle times and easy operation. It also incorporates a special centring function that ensures it accurately deposits the goods.

While we are on the subject of palletising, the PAL-VITE 200 skid-mounted poly-articulated palletising robot for low throughputs from Newtec has been designed for production units with throughputs of between 7-16 products/min (500-1000 products/hr).

This end-of-line machine handles products either individually or in pairs from 0.5-20kg using grippers and is particularly suitable for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

Little floor space is required and installation is simple. The monoblock module is delivered on skid for easier transport by container or truck. The equipment is supplied with Sirocco programming and pallet pattern configuration software, giving full autonomy to the user.

The PAL-VITE 200 is fitted with an ergonomic gripping head including positioning and clamping grippers and an integrated sheet pick-up system. And taking pride of place on Stand 14B29 at interpack will be Newtec’s PAL-PACK 4900 high-speed palletiser for companies that need to produce big volumes in constantly changing formats. This new concept enables continuous operation without incoming flow interruption.

Throughputs are said to be impressive. Features include poly-articulated robots, brushless motors and belt transmission, and access to the main workings makes maintenance easier. Line tracking, as opposed to turning devices and orienting systems, is used for product positioning, one by one or by group, eliminating the risk of damage.

Schubert’s automated packaging machines feature a new, lightweight robot arm that has been designed to boost productivity and provide longer service life. It has equipped its TLM-F44 robot stations with the new TLM-F4 unit, which is smaller, lighter and more efficient than the previous aluminium version. The new arm is made of carbon fibre and weighs 25% less than its predecessor to achieve even faster cycle times.

One of the first machines to incorporate the new robot units has been installed at one of the UK’s leading snack food manufacturers. The Schubert system is being used to pack around 400 chilled pastry products/min.

Schubert has also launched a new generation of robots that offers a greater variety of frame sizes. The redesign means operating control panels can be incorporated into safety door pillars, while a more streamlined conveyor structure allows better maintenance access to the packaging system. “The design modifications mean carton erecting, filling and closing, can be easily integrated into the same machine,” says Schubert UK’s managing director Alan Law.

Robot technology also plays an important role in minimising product waste, say where three current formats are filled with different colour combinations. This involves about five to six colour changes per shift, a complexity that is far too error prone for manual work.

Cosmetic specialists Kugler installed Optima filling and packaging machinery consisting of three workstations and two loops that are interconnected at two points. It starts with the robot, located between the filling and capping machine. All parts of the containers are delivered, bottles and tops, such as wands, brushes or caps, for the mascara and the lip-gloss. The two-arm robot takes the bottles from the tray and places them in the pucks of the first conveyor loop. In parallel, the second picker takes up the wands, brushes or caps and places them in the pucks of the second conveyor loop.

For the pharmaceutical industry Optima robots can be used in sterile conditions. Tubs and nests are transferred into the Inova line through an air lock and are fed to the Inova TRR 120 robot operating under an isolator. The robot takes over the tub and removes the Tyvek sheet and the inner Tyvek liner in a diagonal motion.

New robot technology from PAAL and available in the UK from CC Automation features a camera recognition system for single pick applications. The new picker technology has been designed for use on robots with open control and standard cameras. That applies just as much to the central process control that is responsible for the logistic control of the complete picker system.

This applies in particular to the product infeed, the case transport and the control of peripheral devices such as tray erectors, blister magazines or closing modules. Picker and robots are therefore flexibly applicable. Easy operation is made possible by open controls. n


Contacts

Barr & Paatz
T: +44 (0)1803 869833; www.barr-paatz.co.uk

PIAB
T: +44 (0)1509 814 280; www.piab.co.uk

KUKA Automation + Robotics
T: +44 (0)121 585-0800; www.kuka.co.uk

Schubert
T: +44 (0)1676 525825; www.schubert-uk.co.uk

Newtec
T: +33 (0)251 641 400; www.newtec-group.com

CC Automation
T: +44 (0)1892 544789; www.ccautomation.com

Energy-efficient COAX cartridges are smaller than the size of a pencil Depalletising with KUKA's new robotic gripper system

Depalletising with KUKA's new robotic gripper system Depalletising with KUKA's new robotic gripper system
Energy-efficient COAX cartridges are smaller than the size of a pencil Energy-efficient COAX cartridges are smaller than the size of a pencil


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