The
plant is formed by a system performing the erecting and filling of
box pallet displays and trays for the large-scale detail distribution. We can
divide the plant into 3 areas:
- box pallet display forming area and display / tray erecting area;
- pick & place and filling area;
- stacking area.
These
last two areas can be integrated into one only.
Box pallet displays forming area:
The
box
pallet display forming system
erects the pallet-like carton display automatically by closing the
bottom part with hot melt and folding the central part. Subsequently,
the display is glued on the wooden pallet or, as an alternative, is
kept steady by inserting a cardboard piece inside. To automatise and
accelerate these operations, it could be necessary to partially
review the packaging. This system, together with the tray erecting
area, forms the initial part of the whole plant automatic line.
The
box pallet displays can have various dimensions and can be of 2 types
(see Pict. 1 and Pict. 2):
-
TYPE 1: “classic” box pallet with bottom part closure by hot melt;
- TYPE 2: box pallet with cardboard piece insertion after forming.
The
box pallet forming system is interfaced with the display pick &
place and filling part.
Fig. 5: Espositori box pallet su 1/4 di Europallet. - Pict. 5: Box pallet displays on 1/4 Europallet. |
The
box pallet display forming system can form, in average, 20 box
pallets/hour.
Trays / displays forming area:
The
tray / display
forming area
erects the carton tray automatically. Trays / displays can be of
different types and sizes.
Fig. 6: Cartone piano fustellato. - Pict. 6: Flat carton. |
The box pallet and
tray displays types can be made with:
- single-wave or double-wave carton;
- printed single-wave or double-wave carton.
Pick & place area:
The
pick
& place area
automatically places the products into the box pallets or trays
displays. The pick & place robotic system, located after the box
pallet and trays displays forming area, is able to handle different
types of products, such as:
- biscuits trays;
- flowpacked packs;
- glass jars in multipacks, matrix 2x1 / 3x1 / 2x2 / 3x2;
- and so on.
The
pick & place area is able to fill in:
- box pallet from 1/4 pallet (600x400mm);
- trays / displays from 1/4 pallet (600x400mm).
Box
pallets and trays arrive to the system already formed and ready to be
filled in. The automatic handling of box pallets and display trays
can be adjusted easily according to the size. An operator prepares
the products manually to be inserted into the box pallet / tray and
loads them into the pick & place feeding unit. Subsequently, the
products are picked up and placed by two anthropomorphous robots into
the box pallet / tray. Depending on the type of product that has to
be handled, there will be a buffer station for the automatic
insertion of interlayer cardboards, or reinforcement cartons, or
bee-nest product separators. Empty box pallet / trays coming from the
forming area are automatically placed inside the filling area and
(once pick & place and flaps closure by hot melt operations are
carried out) accumulated to be subsequently stacked by the two
robotic arms.
Fig. 7: Espositore da supermercato con cartoni interstrato. - Pict. 7: Display for supermarket with interlayer cardboard. |
Fig. 8: Vassoio pieno pronto per la chiusura dei lembi laterali. - Pict. 8: Filled tray ready for lateral flaps glueing. |
Stacking area:
The
box pallet (see Pict. 4A) is already equipped with a mini-pallet or
with a carton piece during the erection phase. Therefore, it is not
“worked on” in the stacking area.
The
trays
/ displays, once filled-in with the requested product, are
stacked at output in the pick & place area. Then the system
closes the trays upper part by glueing the lateral flaps and are
placed on the wooden mini-pallet coming from the forming area (see Pict.
4B). The various operations are set on a central electrical
rack for handling and control.
Fig. 9A: Vassoio su 1/4 di Europallet. - Pict. 9A: Trays on 1/4 Europallet. |
Fig. 9B: Vassoio su 1/3 di Europallet. - Pict. 9B: Trays on 1/3 Europallet. |
The
plant includes 6-axis, brushless COMAU robots that perform the
operations of box pallets / trays forming, pick & place and
trays / displays stacking on mini-pallet.
COMAU
anthropomorphous robots can reach high
speed
and
acceleration,
together
with
high
precision
and
repeatability
of
movements.
The
robot, which also has an IP67 protection on the wrist, is equipped
with a new C5G process computer and an ergonomical terminal with
sealed membrane keyboard, colour LCD and TFT. The C5G also has an
input for a USB key through which it is possible to load new pallet
patterns by e-mail or take out the log, and also has the possibility
to interface with the most common fieldbus as well as the possibility
to exchange data by the resident Ethernet interface with the PC
network already present in the plant. This
way, for e.g., it is possible to transmit the log file data of the
production for the packing list, or for the warehouse load.
Posizionamento del vassoio per il riempimento e impilamento vassoi riempiti.
Trays positioning for filling and filled tray stacking.
Trays positioning for filling and filled tray stacking.
For
more information, please contact our office in the person of Mr.
Brambilla using our email address info@siscodata.com or the following
phone number at +39.0332.472471.