POWER Plastics says the installation of an
ABB robotic solution has increased its productivity by up to 40%.
Previously, the staff had to manually pack 3000 bottles every hour for a daily total of 60,000. The bottles came in 250 and 500mL sizes and in five different colours.
This workload compromised health and safety and resulted in high labour costs. Increases in workers’ compensation claims from repetitive strain injury (RSI) as well as rising operational and material costs were behind the decision to invest in robot technology.
Sydney-based systems integrator
Apex Automation and Robotics was brought in to assess the situation. It found the client required a flexible solution which could handle diverse products.
The automation provider developed a cell with the six-axis IRB 4400L robot, with a 2.43m reach and a 30kg payload, at its core. Two extrusion blow moulding units and accumulation conveyors feed the bottles to the robot.
The robot picks up a row of ten bottles at a time with an Apex-designed vacuum cup gripper, spaces them out and places them upright on a stainless steel platen. It then rotates 180 degrees and repeats the process with a new row of bottles, placing them upside down between each bottle in the first row.
The robot signals an operator when the platen is full. The operator inspects the bottles, seals them in plastic and takes them to a pallet. Meanwhile, the robot turns to the opposite zone to start working on another platen.
The customer did not automate the entire line because it wanted to retain human inspection and quality assurance within the process. However, the solution has allowed workers to be reassigned to other tasks.
Output has increased by between 30 and 40% on weekends, when the plastic fabricator employs only a skeleton crew.
