Robot palletiser head
An urgent solution was required to resolve box packing issues at a large food manufacturing plant, where the existing pick and place robot was failing to give the necessary accuracy of multi-box placement. The problem was identified as a lack of controlled suction through the main vacuum head on the robot, the requirement to re-design the head so that several sizes and orientations of boxes could be accurately picked rotated and placed in specific patterns on a storage pallet.
The solution was a non box marking, suction and discharge
system, designed, developed and manufactured using products
from the Festo and Piab product range and the experience
of a pneumatics system builder.
Another aim of the package was to improve energy efficiency
and reduce the air consumption, which was achieved using
a highly efficient Piab vacuum generator. This enabled us
to reduce the number of suction cups and control
the air flow which subsequently cut air usage by some 75%.
This reduction consequently reduced energy consumption and
helped to improve the life expectancy of the main compressor
system which was reaching its maximum output.
The entire
solution from the first site visit including design, manufacture,
installation and commissioning took place over a period of
two and a half weeks, slicing some three weeks off the original
equipment manufacturers lead time for a direct copy head.
This resulted in a saving of over £20k to the customer in hand stillage labour, over and above the ongoing energy saving.
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