Packaging Digest
October 2009
A new secondary-packaging operation at contract packager CCB Packaging
Inc., Cedar Rapids, IA, utilizes pick-and-place robots to precisely
place small pouches containing over-the-counter drug products such
as Advil, Tylenol and the like, into flighted pockets feeding a
cartoner. In addition to the robotic operation, the automated turnkey
system, which was supplied by systems integrator, Blueprint
Automation, includes the cartoner and a stretch bundler,
as well as ancillary equipment.
CCB, which was founded in 1988 to hand-assemble point-of-purchase
displays, has grown from an initial staff of 12 employees to more
than 100 full-time employees and 150 to 200 contract staff with
a 175,000-sq-ft facility. “Our business mainly consists of
breaking bulk packs of products into individual packages or variety
packs, and a typical operation might have as many as 20 people,”
says vp Frank Cotty. “A few years ago, we made the decision
to change our focus to contract packaging through automation. That
lets us significantly reduce our labor costs and line staffing,
while increasing line throughput. This, in turn, affords our customers
reduced pricing and higher overall value.”
Backing up its ideas with action, three years ago, CCB purchased
an integrated line with six pick-and-place robots from Blueprint
Automation. “That was our introduction to Blueprint Automation,
but our relationship since then has progressed to a really strong
partnership,” says Cotty. “They've enabled us to stretch
the envelope in our thinking. With this latest project, we needed
to run 62 different products into four carton sizes. We just went
to Blueprint with our needs, and they came up with the complete
line. They helped us with the installation and startup, and they
maintained a full-time person here to adapt the programming based
on our operator feedback.”
The new line was installed to run convenience-size packages of OTC
products for Lil' Drug Store Products Inc. CCB ran this business
from the mid-90s until 2003, but then it lost the business because
the equipment could only place one package into a carton, and Lil'
Drug wanted multiple packages to be placed into the cartons. The
business went to a copacker in Chicago. The new robotic system,
which can place multiple pouches per carton, enabled CCB to resecure
the contract by reducing the cost per piece for the customer, as
well as maintaining the flexibility to run singles, doubles, triple
or more pouches into a single carton.
As a result of this system, Lil' Drug signed a multiyear contract
with CCB to package the products. “We have had a long, successful
partnership with CCB Packaging,” says Jim Bohnenkamp, director
of operations for Lil' Drug Store Products. “I discussed our
quality and line-speed requirements with Frank Cotty at CCB, and
I was very impressed with the commitment that they are making to
automation. The consistent high-quality product at a reasonable
cost structure is impressive. A number of different philosophies
were reviewed for placing small OTC pouches within cartons, and
this is the best solution by far.”
Three robotic workcells
The new Blueprint Automation line utilizes three robotic work cells
to singulate pouches from bulk and place them in the infeed of the
cartoner at a rate of up to 300 bucket loadings/min for the three
workcells. Within each workcell, a feeder singulates the pouches
and presents them to the robot. The robot utilizes vision guidance
to acquire the pouches from a continuously moving conveyor. A vacuum
end effector picks and places one, two or three pouches at each
robot cycle. Finished cartons are conveyed through a checkweighing
system and then on to a bundler. Bundled stacks are then conveyed
to a manual case-packing station. The RSC cases are automatically
erected and sealed using hot-melt adhesive. “We went from
a range of nine to 12 people to run these products for Lil' Drug
to four to six people with the new automated line,” says Cotty.
Singulator sections
To start the operation, the pouches are dumped into the feed hopper
of a singulating system. The pouches travel up an inclined flighted
conveyor and are released on demand onto the singulator, which consists
of 14 servo-driven tracking sections. A sensor above each section
views the pouches on that section and speeds up or slows down the
rollers to separate the pouches. The goal is a separation of about
25 mm when the pouches discharge onto the robotic-pick conveyor,
which is running at a right angle to the singulator.
A pouch singulator incorporates 14 servodriven sections, each with
a dedicated sensor, to separate pouches before they discharge to
the robotic-placement operation.
The pouches travel beneath a Cognex Corp. vision system that looks
for the center and the orientation of each pouch on the conveyor.
Based on the information from the vision system, the FlexPicker™
IRB360 robot from ABB Inc. descends and picks up one pouch with
one vacuum cup and then descends again and picks up the second pouch.
The end effector turns before each pickup so the pouches are oriented
properly for placement in the buckets. If two pouches are touching
on the conveyor, the robot ignores them and they drop off the end
of the robot-pick conveyor into a box and are recycled.
Robot places pouches
The robot swings over and places the two pouches into two adjacent
buckets on the cartoner infeed conveyor. A laser sensor looks for
the pouches in the buckets, and if each bucket contains a pouch,
it signals the second robot to proceed with its placement. When
this is completed, another laser sensor checks the buckets to make
sure that each bucket contains two pouches and that the pouches
are oriented properly for cartoning. A supervisory control system
collects and displays important production data.
The buckets then continue into the model SC6 cartoner from Oystar
USA. A rotating three-arm suction system picks carton blanks from
a magazine with suction hoods and places them into a horizontal
carton-transport chain. Plastic fingers on the suction hoods open
the cartons as they are being transferred to the chain, which runs
parallel to and contiguous with the bucket conveyor.
Pushers with integral holddown blades extend and push the pouches
into the cartons as they travel continuously through the machine.
The holddown blades ensure that the pouches travel smoothly into
the pouches and don't jam. When loading is complete, a sensor inspects
the cartons to ensure that they do contain pouches. While the cartons
are still in the cartoner and the flaps are still controlled, a
Model A200 Plus small-character ink-jet printer from Domino Amjet
Inc. applies the lot number and a useby code to one end flap. The
end flaps are then sealed with hot-melt glue from a Nordson Corp.
ProBlue 4 unit, after which a SickUSA Inc. bar-code scanner verifies
that the bar code on the carton coincides with the information in
the machine computer, and a Banner Engineering Corp. vision system
verifies that the lot and use-by date have have been printed on
the carton. Machine setup as well as format data are displayed on
a 12-in. color touchscreen operator panel. If errors are found by
any of the inspection systems, the machine stops and the problem
is corrected manually.
Bundling six or 12 stacks
The pouches pass over a checkweigher from Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed
with an accuracy of 0.5 gm, and then travel to a PEWO Pack-250 compact
bundler from Pester Pac Automation USA, which stretch wraps a band
around a stack of six or 12 cartons. During PD's visit, CCB was
running 12-packs. Because of the fifth panel on the cartons, which
have an opening for hanging the cartons on pegs, the cartons then
pass through a device that turns them 90 deg on the conveyor so
they will be properly oriented for bundling. This enables the bundler
to place a stretch band around the sides that don't have the fifth
panel.
The bundler assembles five stacks at a time. In this operation,
five cartons enter the stacking section and spring-loaded siderails
lift them up, after which another five enter the section and are
lifted. This continues until the stacks are 12-cartons-high, at
which point the five stacks are pushed out of the stacking zone.
This group of stacks then enters the subsequent transfer zone in
which the five stacks are separated into one-row stacks by an additional
drag-type cross-feed pusher. The individual stacks are pushed via
the main infeed pusher through the film-wrapping zone, one at a
time.
The machine is equipped with two rolls of film, which are spliced
together in the stretching section. The infeed pusher moves a stack
of cartons through the film curtain, and a closing bar descends
and pushes the film downward behind the stack. Simultaneously, a
heated-sealing blade rises just above the machine table plane. The
sealing blade meets with the rubber sealing profile on the closing
bar at the bottom of the stack, and the two sections of film are
heat-sealed together. The bottom layer of film travels through a
slotted shaft that is mounted cross-wise below the stack and turns
to stretch the film to the proper tension, just prior to this seal
being made. The amount of tension can be adjusted via the touchscreen
HMI to provide the optimal film tightness for each carton.
Print-and-apply labels
Stacks of cartons are manually loaded into shippers after which
they are conveyed to
a hot-melt top sealer.
The 12-pack stacks are turned onto their sides as they leave the
bundler and pass a print-and-apply system that incorporates a Domino
Amjet PCU III printer control unit. The system applies a small label
that includes a bar code and other identification. The RSC shipping
cases are erected by a Lantech.com, LLC, case erector and are conveyed
to a manual station where a worker places the stacks in the station.
The filled shippers are conveyed to a Bel 270 hot-melt top sealer
from Wexxar Packaging Inc. Both the case erector and the top sealer
utilize Nordson Corp. ProBlue 4 hot-melt systems.
The sealed cases pass a Domino Amjet C6000 twin-head ink-jet case-printing
system that applies a product name, bar code and other information
to the cases.The cases are then manually palletized and stretch
wrapped on a Phoenix unit for distribution and shipment to Lil'
Drug Stores
|
|
Packaging World
September 2008
Robotic Case-loading system at Del Monte Pet Foods propels pouch
production into an automated tiger.
Companies typically introduce a new package format due to marketing
guidance based on consumer preferences. For Del Monte Pet Foods,
Decatur, AL, the motivation to convert to pouch packaging was entirely
different. The carton used for its Meow Mix cat food was being discontinued.
Thus Del Monte was compelled to completely change the product's
packaging - and its production operations. All this needed to be
done quickly and seamlessly so as not affect a very loyal customer
base, according to Del Monte. (click
here to download the full story)
Specialty Hispanic foods processor Goya Foods, headquartered
in Secaucus, NJ, produces a range of bagged food items, including
various flavors and sizes (from 12 oz to 10 lb) of beans and flours,
for regular retail and club store markets. Each of the plant’s
seven bagged-product packaging lines incorporates vertical form/fill/seal
machines from Hayssen, Inc. (www.barrywehmiller.com). Case erecting,
packing, and sealing operations for these bagged products had previously
been done manually.
HISPANIC VARIETY. Goya Foods produces a broad
range of bagged products—from beans to flour—in
sizes from 12-oz to 10-lb.
Evaluation and automation
Recognizing the increased operating efficiencies that could accrue
from installing automated casing equipment, Goya Foods began to
shop around for the best options. Ben Spinnickie, GM at the Secaucus
facility, says, “Our research indicated that BluePrint Automation
(www.blueprintautomation.com) manufactures quality equipment in
the food packing arena, and they provide various options that could
accommodate our packing needs.”
Goya chose rotary packer Model
RP case-packing equipment from BluePrint and case erecting/tape-sealing
equipment from Wexxar Packaging Machinery (www.wexxar.com). Between
May 2004 and February 2005, the company installed new BluePrint
casing systems incorporating Wexxar box formers/tape sealers to
accommodate all 7 bagged-product packaging lines.
Spinnickie notes, “Floor space in the plant was at a premium,
but after a few iterations, BluePrint provided various options to
maximize the limited floor space and present an orderly production
flow.”
He notes, “The first two case-packing units were delivered
four months after the order was placed. We began operating these
units within two weeks of delivery and installation. BluePrint personnel
were active participants in the installation, start-up, and operator
training. On-site electrical, mechanical, and programming assistance
was conducted by Blueprint field service engineers.”
 CONVEY/COUNT.
Filled, sealed bags are conveyed
and counted as they enter the rotary gate case
packer.
How the casing system works
The new casing system is completely automatic. Filled, sealed bags
are conveyed, counted, and deposited into the cases in uniform packing
patterns. The case-packing system also incorporates a bag inspection/rejection
sensing mechanism to ensure integrity of bag seals before the bags
are case-packed. (continued next column)
The BluePrint Automation Rotary Gate Packer (RP) is a modular gravity
case packer that allows packing a variety of products directly into
the secondary shipping container. With a rotary gate system design,
this packer allows product to “drop” at much higher
rates.
COMPACT DESIGN. The case packers are
engineered to operate at maximum efficiency in
limited floor space.
“Goya Foods estimates a relatively quick
return on investment in the new casing
systems.”
Product enters the Rotary Gate Packer on a conveyor belt. For slow
speed operations and single bag drops, product is transferred directly
to the rotary gate. For higher speeds with multiple bags per drop,
an indexing gate forms groups of Goya bags. The gates then rotate,
dropping the row/layer of product directly into the case. High-speed
shifting for multiple row patterns was provided to accommodate Goya’s
various pack pattern requirements.
The RP was engineered with very few mechanical, electrical, and
pneumatic components, thus minimizing downtime for repairs and decreasing
spare parts costs.
CASE PACKING. The bags are deposited into the
cases in uniform drop-pack patterns.
Wise investment
Goya Foods estimates a relatively quick return on investment in
the new casing systems. Spinnickie comments, “We have benefited
in the following manner—faster casing speeds, reduced labor
costs, a safer working environment, improved uniformity and accuracy
of case-packs for our customers, and elimination of bottle-necks
in our casing operations.”
He adds,”BluePrint Automation personnel were very responsive
to our concerns and helped us meet all the challenges throughout
the design, installation, start-up, and commissioning stages for
our case-packing upgrade. In the near future, we will be installing
two more case-packing lines in Secaucus, as well as three at our
Miami, FL, plant.” (Packaging World, August 2006, p. 64)
SHIP-SHAPE. Cased Goya Foods’ products are
delivered to regular retail and club store markets
across the U.S.
 |
