FORMATURA E RIEMPIMENTO DI ESPOSITORI BOX PALLET E VASSOI / DISPLAY - BOX PALLET AND TRAY DISPLAY FORMING AND FILLING PLANT _ Part 2

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.

There will be one silos with minimum capacity of 50 cartons, with easy adjustment so to handle both types and one silos for the mini-pallets (600 x 400 mm, equivalent to 1/4 of a Europallet). This silos can contain quite a few piles of 20 pcs. each.

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.

During tray erection, the lateral flaps are left open so to allow the product insertion during pick & place phase. After filling, in a following glueing station, the lateral flaps will be closed. There is a silos containing a few hundreds flat cartons with easy adjustment. The system forms in average 120-150 trays/hour.

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.

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.