Cases - palletising and wrapping
Client
Tiger Tim supply a vast range of firelighter products and are world leaders in the market. Their supply volumes and the extent of their product range means their production lines need to be both flexible and fast to help them stay competitive. http://www.tigertimproducts.co.uk/
Challenge
- Palletiser to be fed by two infeed lines
- Limited space meaning double storey conveying would be necessary in some parts of the plant
- Eight pack sizes and palletising patterns
- Four pallet sizes
- Highly stacked pallets requiring precision and careful handling to achieve and maintain stability without affecting operational speed
- Integration of control with upstream bagging and downstream wrapping facilities
Solution
Webster Griffin offered an integrated system involving the expertise of several of our partners. The solution included:
- High speed cambered product infeed from bagging machines
- 2 x Pallet Dispensers capacity 10 pallets
- Pallet dispensing line mapped around and under bagging infeed line
- Okura Robot palletiser A1600V with OXPA easy teach software for flexibility with palletising patterns
- Flexible Multi-Pick Hand capable of lifting up to 3 cartons at once (subject to carton size)
- Fully automatic pallet wrapping system for netting of pallet stacks
- Netting of pallet stacks for greater stability
- Multiple wrapping programmes for the various pallet stacks required for distribution. Automatic tension control to prevent damage to cartons
- Guarding and safety zones to prevent unplanned access to dangerous areas
Result
- The system was successfully installed by a team of Webster Griffin and Tiger Tim personnel
- The new system enabled speedier levels of production
- Minimum demands on the workforce – the new machinery can be run by a single operator and a fork lift operator to remove and transport the completed pallets to storage.
- The large range of cartons put forward by the customer was successfully accommodated by the new equipment.
- The system produced the stable stacks needed for maintaining a fast-moving distribution chain
- Operators received training in the safe use of the system, in particular, switching between the required stacking and wrapping programmes to minimise downtime
- A subsequent training course was arranged to teach operators to create their own modifications of the programmes, helping them to keep up with production changes.