Challenges
The system had to ensure a continuous product flow with high process stability within a very limited footprint. Variations in carton and box tolerances made automated handling more challenging and caused disruptions with conventional feeding concepts. At the same time, the system had to be GMP-compliant and fully integrated into the existing line control architecture.
Our Solution
RoboMat developed an automated product handling and infeed system that manages the complete material flow from the shipping carton through to handover to the downstream packaging process.
The shipping cartons are opened automatically, and the layers containing the product boxes are removed step by step. The boxes are then singulated, buffered and accelerated in a controlled manner. Barcodes are verified before robots transfer the products onto the main conveyor.
Several buffering stages compensate for different process cycle times and enable a continuous product flow to the downstream packaging machine.
Special Features
- Up to 300 boxes per minute
- Automatic opening and unloading of shipping cartons
- Stepwise singulation and controlled acceleration of the product flow
- Multi-stage buffering to decouple individual process steps
- Barcode verification before handover to the downstream process
- Robot-assisted product transfer
- Compact layout for integration into an existing production environment
- GMP-compliant design and integration into the higher-level line control system
Processes
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Needle Feeder
Images & Media
