What is the essential guide to robotic palletizing?

A robotic palletizer is a type of palletizer that uses a robotic arm to select, orient, and place individual products, arranging them into a single stack of load.

Advantages:

Increased productivity:

Palletizers eliminate manual labor for unitizing products. They are much more efficient, lift heavier loads, and perform the work faster.

Better product handling:

Since palletizers are automated machines, their movements are pre-programmed and designed to function without damaging the product.

Improved workplace safety:

When properly designed, palletizers eliminate workplace threats and hazards associated with manual labor. Manual palletizing poses falling, slipping, tripping, and crushing hazards.

Reduced operating costs:

In most applications, particularly in large packaging systems, the cost-benefit analysis of acquiring a palletizer yields positive results. Savings in operating expenses can be derived from increased throughput, low product wastage, and reduced labor costs.

Types of Robotic Palletizers

Single, In-Line Palletizer:

This configuration is the simplest and most common type and consists of a single robotic palletizer. This single palletizer performs a palletizing function with some designs featuring secondary capabilities such as slip sheet and pallet dispensing and stretch wrapping.

Palletizing-Depalletizing:

This palletizer type adds another layer of versatility—depalletizing. Depalletizing is the inverse process—the individual items are disassembled and separated from the unitized or palletized load.

Layer-Forming Palletizer:

This robotic palletizer configuration involves more than one robot. Layer-forming refers to an integrated system of robots wherein each robot in the system performs a single task. A simple layer-forming system is composed of two robots. One robot does the layer assembly while the other robot accomplishes the stacking. This process multiplies the throughput of the whole palletizing system.

Mixed Configuration Palletizer:

Mixed palletizing refers to the ability of robotic palletizers to accept different products and unitize them into a single pallet. Mixed-configuration robotic palletizers are usually top-of-the-line. They usually have sophisticated programs, custom end-of-arm tools, and sensors.