QComp Technologies, Inc. recently completed development and installation of an automated cell for a dairy manufacturer customer that not only packs cases of some of the finest cheese around but palletizes the cases for shipment- all with one robot, two EOAT, and one quick change tool. That's efficiency!
The tubs of cheese enter the cell and are picked and placed into cases on one side of the cell. The cases then travel out of the cell and around on an 180 degree conveyor where the cases are closed. Once closed the cases re-enter the robot cell where the robot with the same end-of-arm-tooling (EOAT) picks the closed cases and places them onto the pallet in a specified proper stack configuration. So the cell uses one robot to case pack on one side of the cell and then palletize the closed cases on the other side. All this at 22 tubs/min at the infeed and 11cases/min on the palletizing side.
The entire system also includes a case erector and case sealer to form the cases and seal them prior to palletizing. In total the manufacturer has three different case configurations and two different tub sizes. To accomodate the case sizes the robot requires two different EOAT tooling peripherals to provide a quick change. The robot moves to a tool change position and within a few minutes the tool is changed- ready for the next type of case.
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