Pet foods - Case Palletizing system
Client
Wagg Foods is a major UK manufacturer of dry pet food for dogs, cats and other domestic animals. This second generation family business, started to manufacture pet food in the 1980s from their factory in Yorkshire, UK. They have an annual turnover of £56 million. https://waggfoods.com/
Wagg Foods now operate four fully automatic Okura robots for palletising shrink wrapped bundles and 5 - 20kg bags included in integrated turn-key solutions for complete packaging solutions.
Challenge
Wagg Foods wanted to automate their packaging and palletising line of their small pets (Hamsters, Guinea Pigs, Rats, Gerbils, Rabbits) product lines without sacrificing the ability to respond to client’s requests for different weights and sizes of packages in the future.
- Fully automate end-of-line palletizing function – providing the possibility to add additional shifts without increasing their labour force.
- Flexibility – system had to be “self adjusting” for palletizing different sizes of packs to enable Wagg Foods to respond to clients’ requests for changes in pack dimensions.
- Shrink wrapped bundles must be handled carefully to protect their appearance – “shelf appeal” being a key consideration of pet food retailers.
- Fully automatic open-mouth bagging which can achieve high speeds whilst maintaining the quality of the pet food
- Capability to produce varying bag sizes utilising Form Fill Seal technology to lower cost per bag.
Solution
Having analysed Wagg Foods requirements, Webster Griffin offered the following:
- Shrink wrapped bundles must be handled carefully to protect their appearance – “shelf appeal” - a key consideration of pet food retailers. The A1600 is an ideal palletiser for this type of packaging and thrives in an industrial environment – the A1600 is inexpensive with very few moving parts.
- Okura unique OXPA “Self-Teach” palletising patterns system with programming memory for 150 different palletising patterns programmes.
- Okura pick-up hand – automatically self-adjusts for different bag sizes
- PLC Control System – purpose built allowing complete control of the entire system
- Pallet protection wrapping system 300 Auto with further modification for combining mini-pallets.
- Compacta Tubular Form Fill Seal Bagging machine – delivering high speed, accurate bagging
- Fully automatic pallet magazine with a capacity of up to 400kg
- Bag conveyor system complete with bag flattener
- Heavy duty check weigher with a capability of up to 1200 bags an hour.
Result
Webster Griffin has provided multiple turn-key solutions to Wagg delivering the following benefits:
- Wagg Foods now benefits from increased packing line flexibility. It is able to respond to changing customer demands whilst guaranteeing the careful handling of their pet food for retail distribution.
- Wagg Foods were so happy with the original solution that further production lines have since been installed.
- Reduced operating costs obtained by handling the production of two lines with one robot palletiser.
- Reduced labour required, providing perpetual cost savings and improvements in productivity.
- Risks associated with manually palletising bundles 24 hours a day removed.
- Open-Mouth bag filling with a throughput up to 750 bags/hour.
- Stretch-wrapped weather protected pallets at a rate of 40 pallets/hour.
- Okura palletiser operating a throughput up to 1500 bags/ hour.
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