OCME, a well known supplier of conventional and robotic palletizing systems, has introduced new advancements in palletizing systems. An Open House was held on the 21 and 22 February 2011 at the OCME building in Parma, where several business leaders from varied consumer goods sectors from Europe had gathered to observe the new palletizing technology created by OCME.
Specialists and Engineers from food, beverage, detergent, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and petrochemical industries were able to view the advancements made to robotic palletizing methods and also the demonstration of new automation systems for logistics.
The display consisted of the working model of two anthropomorphic robotic manipulators, which had been programmed to generate particular palletizing patterns. A robot, which can pick and place pallets and equipped with a self-alignment option, and a layer forming head robot were also on display. The system had been created for a major brewery firm and a demonstration was carried out using the company’s mid-cone packs of sleek and standard cans, cluster packs, tray-formed packs of glass bottles and shrink wrapped cans, wherein the mid-cone cluster packs were palletized at speeds of 180 to 200 packs in a minute.
OCME’s proficiency and highly innovative technology allow the operation to be electronically controlled without losing contact with the rest of the plant. Formerly, palletizers ran at very high speeds around 30% to 35% more than the filler, which results in unexpected swings in the process and causes damage to packages, resulting in extreme wear and tear on parts and consumption of high energy. At present the scenario is totally different, as OCME is able to control all the moving components such as manipulators, robots and conveyors on the palletizing system with the help of servomotors, which in turn help the palletizer to be in contact with the other machines on the line system. The palletizer speed is adapted to suit the needs of the system at any given time.
This latest technology was developed by the Integrapack.it Laboratory, which is a permanent study group set up by OCME and other local companies, research institutions and universities for research and development of advanced automation solutions for materials handling, packaging, warehousing and logistics sectors.