Are you considering a change in your Palletizing solution? Unsure of where to start?
You’re not alone.
To help clear things up, we have outlined below some of the advantages…and limitations for two of the most common palletizing solutions.
Basically, the difference between integrating an End-of-Line solution versus a Centralized Palletizing solution really depends on the individual needs of your business both in the short and long term.
The End-of-line Palletizing Solution
Typically, this solution requires the use of more robots, sometimes having one robot to one or two production lines, but it requires a less complicated carton conveyor pick off stations, fewer carton conveyors and fewer pallet conveyors. In this instance, more robots mean that there can be greater ability to meet the specific needs of each Production line and greater redundancy means that breakdowns or scheduled maintenance doesn’t mean shutting down multiple production lines.
The End-of-Line solution works on picking one or two cartons at a time in an effort to avoid the need for complex grippers and pick of stations. In most cases, this is possible by having more robots and faster cycle times due to picking less product.
The End-of-Line solution also often uses smaller, faster and lower cost robots since each robot handles a lower payload than in a Centralized Palletizing solution. For example, the
End-of-Line payload might be a maximum of 40kg, and only required to reach two or three pallet positions. Whereas the Centralized Palletizing solution is more likely to have a payload of 100kg or more and need to reach up to four or five palletizing positions.
End of Line Palletizing is ideal when working in conjunction with AGV’s (Automatic Guided Vehicles). The use of AGV’s creates a clearer and safer floor space, as the need for forklifts to deliver and remove pallets is eliminated. In addition, it requires less equipment like conveyors which equals less maintenance. A major cost saving!
One limitation of an End-of-Line solution is often space is limited at the end of production lines immediately after case packing.
The Centralized Palletizing Solution
This solution until recently has commonly been regarded as the industry standard. Normally the Centralized Palletizing solution is used where four or more production lines, each producing different products need to be palletized. It is not uncommon to three or more large robots tending to twelve plus production lines in a single location. I have had the pleasure of recently being involved in a project that called for 28 production lines to be serviced and was pleased with the range of different solutions that were on offer.
To achieve high throughput rates these systems rely on picking multiple products a time and the capacity of the system is dependent on the number of cartons that can be picked and placed in one go. This in turn is dependent on the required pallet patterns of each product to be handled by the system.
The Centralized Palletizing solution is ideal for when you want to automatically transfer pallets from the robot through a stretch wrapper without handling them with a forklift or AGV. It has been common in large systems to often merge multiple production lines into a single carton conveyor to the palletizing system (to save on carton conveyors), bar code readers and diverts are then used to separate the cartons into the respective lanes again so that they can be picked by the robot.
A possible limitation is that when production lines are spread out there is often a lot of carton conveyors required to get the product to the central location. These are often expensive and add to the list of equipment that needs to be maintained. In recent times we have seen the rise of “Shuttle Cart” systems to minimize the cost of pallet conveyors along with the development of a number of different hybrid systems to meet the needs of customers that offer the benefits of both styles of palletizers.
The considerations on what type of solution is best for your needs include the number of production lines to be serviced, carton rates, pallet patterns, pallet rates, the style and size of cartons, budget, factory layout and a good look into the future needs of your business.
Wade Leslie
Robotize Pty Ltd
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