Smarter robotic palletising

More and more, customers are wanting to automate the palletising function within their production facilities but are often unable to provide space for such a system. And in today’s current economic conditions, customers are becoming even more focused on the return on investment of their capital equipment purchases. The result is that customers now seek quality equipment with excellent performance specifications and a predictable commissioning timeline, all at a reasonable price.

To meet the challenge of these requirements, JMP Engineering has developed the CPC Series palletiser, a modular and cost-effective robotic palletising solution. The most noticeable feature of the CPC palletiser is the skid configuration where a Kawasaki industrial robot, a pallet magazine and pallet conveyors are attached to the main support frame. Prior to delivery to a site, the robot can be docked in a position ready for transport, while the pallet conveyors are ‘folded’ up around the pallet magazine and robot.

The Managing Director of JMP, Michael Thornton, says that the design features of this palletiser significantly reduce installation time and ultimately reduce costs. “The system is completely wired and tested in our factory; the palletiser simply folds up and slides neatly into a single 6 m shipping container,” Thornton explains. “A single JMP engineer can attend the site and install the equipment in around four hours, and there is no need for additional trades expertise on site,” he adds.

Michael also says that additional benefits are realised when installing such a system, such as minimised downtime in production. “Obviously we can get in and out the customer’s factory rather quickly, therefore having less impact on their production”, he said.

The Engineering and Robotics Manager at JMP, Keith Mainland, explains that minimal robot programming is required to commission the system at a customer’s facility. In fact, because the pallet conveyor positions are known, all the layer pattern positions and orientations are unchanged after factory testing. “The only robot programming we need to change when commissioning the system is the pick-up point, and this can be done through the robot pendant,” Mainland says. Keith goes on to explain how the engineers installing the system simply move the gripper to the appropriate position then nominate this location as the pick-up point.

JMP has applied some other great ideas to the palletiser, such as integration of the robot controller into the frame and a fencing system that also folds up ready for transport. The wiring for the light curtains is contained within the base frame, hence there is no wiring required on site, and no unsightly cable trays or conduits spreading out to the light curtains.

The CPC palletising system can be supplied in two different configurations, with either one or two integrated pallet chain conveyors. The pallet conveyor(s) can be supplied in a traditional raised format suitable for integration with a downstream stretch wrapper or in low-profile format suitable for use with manually operated fork jacks. JMP can also provide grippers to handle any product whether it is cartons, shrink trays, bags, containers, drums or pails. The robot is capable of around 18 cycles per minute, depending on the product being handled, which means that cartons can be palletised at rates in the vicinity of 35 cartons per minute.

JMP is able to provide both hire and lease options to customers. They can now trial the equipment in their factory with the option of buying the equipment at the end of the lease.