CKF Systems has designed, installed and commissioned a new robotic case packing system that has now allowed staff to be relieved from repetitive tasks at an international third party logistics company. Situated within one of the company’s many UK facilities, the new system is the latest robotic automated installation to be successfully completed on this site.
This is the latest robotic system to have been delivered and commissioned by the experienced engineering team at CKF, aiding the client's drive for the improvement and automation of operations within its packing and distribution facility.
In operation, branded pet food products within shelf-ready cardboard cartons are delivered to the automated cell on CKF modular belt conveyors that are designed to handle a number of product formats to meet customer specifications. An automatically formatted collation of cartons is presented to the robot at the pick area, ready for placing into an outer case.
Outer cases are then delivered from a case erector, pre-conditioned and tracked in the robot place zone via variable speed twin side drive belts which provide positional accuracy for the robot placement.
An ABB IRB2600 robot with custom vacuum tooling has been used to pick and place the cartons into the cardboard outer cases. The CKF team opted to use positional tracking to meet the client’s case throughput specification. The robot cell has been designed to handle 25 cartons per minute.
The system is driven via the ABB IRC5 Controller, with the controller housed adjacent to the robot system. The robot cell is configured to fit within a designated area within the client’s facility and is protected with a safety enclosure using a TROAX safety guard system. Operator access into the robot cell is gained through a Fortress interlocked, access door.
Installed and commissioned by the CKF engineering team, with minimal disruption to operations, the automated case packing system has provided opportunities to re-allocate staff from what has been a repetitive task and also enabled improved operational efficiency.