Robots with Pick and Place technology for packaging processes

Pick and Place robots are a technology that provides high speed and accuracy in the process and helps to increase the volume of production in the packaging industry.

Automation with Pick and Place robots is the solution with which manufacturers can achieve cost-effective performance of packaging processes.

And, at the same time, to meet the growing demands in terms of varied product assortments, such as mixed packaging, and the versatility of packaging formats.

This is particularly important for consumer-driven industries. Meanwhile, manufacturers have to face another challenge: the pressure of demands to use sustainable packaging materials.

That is why the technology with robots arises that can optimize the performance of the machines, expand the formats as desired, replace the packaging materials with sustainable variants and always maintain the quality at the highest level.

Robotic technology for the packaging industryThe Maria Schubert developed a T-series robot for its Pick and Place machines, which is based on the well-known Delta robot type.

With these robots, a larger working area is covered within a submachine. Which means more performance over a shorter distance, more flexibility in machine layout, and ultimately, more compact Pick and Place machines.

This compact design can represent a decisive advantage, especially when the location and the available space in the production room are complicated.

The robot T has a fifth axis that allows the products to be rotated and tilted, which is ideal, for example, for cookies that must be placed vertically on a tray.

The additional movement of the arm provides greater flexibility in the packaging process and the possibility of performing difficult sequences particularly effectively and safely.

In this way, product quality is guaranteed even in the most complex machine processes.

Robots in practiceThe T-series robots are already proving their effectiveness in an internationally operating confectionery company and in a confectionery products manufacturer.

A lightline pickerline with T4 robots packages different types of pastries in trays. To accommodate the Pick and Place machine the machine builders used a product conveyor belt and integrated eight T4 robots into the line.

In this case, the high performance density of the robots saves one meter of space over the entire length of the line and delivers the desired performance despite the reduced space of the production hall.

For thin cookies with or without a chocolate base, a round suction cup is used that gently collects the products.

The robots are able to place the cookies safely and efficiently on the plastic trays, even in different orientations and counts.

To ensure that only perfect cookies are packed, it has a 3D scanner that not only detects the exact orientation and surface of the products, but also the height.

Even cookies with a perfect surface are checked according to the criterion of the specified height. This makes it possible, for example, to determine whether the cream filling or the sponge cake base is present in the sandwich products.

This is how this technology represents an option to streamline and automate the processes in the packaging industry production line.

Zixin Yuan - Digital Marketing Coordinator at ÉLITER Packaging Machinery Website: https://www.eliter-packaging.com