IDM | Technology/IT
No industry is more dynamic
Different requirements for robot-based automation
Author: Michael Fraede, Marketsegment Manager Consumer Goods, KUKA Roboter GmbH, www.kuka-robotics.com
For many years, robots have been processing, commissioning,
packing, stacking, labelling, palletizing and commissioning efficiently
and successfully in the production of so-called fast
moving consumer goods (FMCG), the goods of daily consumption.
While at the beginning of the chain robot-based automation
is primarily used with regard to extremely short cycle times, the
use of robots in the downsteram area is mainly due to high load
carrying capacity.
Complex manufacturing process
Before consumers can select products from shelves, each
product will go through a complex production, packaging and
logistics process. This consists of the four stations:
processing, the production and initial processing of plant,
animal, textile and pharmaceutical products,
Primary packaging
Secondary packaging, sorting of pre-packaged product and
palletizing and de-palletising.
Cycle time and product weight work along this process chain in
the opposite direction. At the beginning, fast cycle times and low
weights dominate and change to palletizing and de-palletising to
high weights and slow cycle times. Processing and primary packaging
also require compliance with statutory hygiene standards. Because
of easy-to-clean materials and the use of food-compatible
lubricants, robots are increasingly used where direct contact with
the product is created.
Automation degree along the process chain
Raw products are conveyed in unsorted form via an assembly packaging
line. At an average cycle time of 120 items per second (cycle
time: ½ second), vision-assisted robots are used to correct the
quality and position of the products on the assembly line. Grouping
of packaged raw products is the first step in secondary packaging.
In this case, the handling weights increase in opposite to the cycle
time. High speed is still required, but the cycle time is considerably
28 · 9 2017 | international-dairy.com
slower with approximately two seconds. Fast, small industrial
robots with a still low load capacity and a compact work area are
predestined for this step. The packaging enables direct contact of
the robot with the product without too high hygiene concerns. The
products packed in cartons and grouped together in the fourth
step of the process chain must be assembled on pallets. Cartons
can quickly reach weights of 50 to 250 kilograms, with the weight of
the gripper still having to be added. Often, the robot also uses the
same gripper to place the intermediate layers, or take empty pallets
from the stack. The cycle time for this step is generally about five to
eight seconds. Every year, thousands of robots are used in the FMCG
industry along the process chain. But even in the emerging markets,
robot-based automation is increasingly gaining ground.
Robots are increasingly being used in "normal" dairies (photo:
KUKA Robotics)