If you have decided to automate the palletizing process of your plant, then there is one key thing you should know. There are two categories of palletizers available, that is robotic palletizers and conventional palletizers. In general, palletizing equipment comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. And while there are a plethora of different palletizing equipment layouts, you need to evaluate your process to see whether robotic palletizing is more beneficial to your factory than manual palletizing or vice versa. Here are some of the key things to consider:
- Secondary packaging involved (if any)
- The shape, size and weight of your products
- Any pattern-forming capabilities that are going to be available during production
- The construction and stability of your products
Knowing this information will help you decide whether to go with robotic palletizing or conventional palletizing. Ultimately, you are more informed in knowing what your production line needs in order to be more optimized. However, if you are still hesitating between these two, here are some benefits and features to help you in deciding which one works better for you and your facility.
Speed
When it comes to speed, conventional palletizers are built to adapt to several production speeds. These can vary between 10 to 40 bags per minute depending on the model, but can increase significantly according to the units being palletized. On the other hand, a robotic palletizer can handle up to 40 bags per minutes but this also varies greatly depending on the products being handled. For example, a robotic palletizer can palletize up to 1,200 cans a minute.
Maintenance
Since robot palletizers have fewer mechanical components, it means that they have less frequent down time thus, superior reliability. However, you need to have specially trained supervisors for maintaining your robot palletizer. A conventional palletizer needs more care than a robotic one because of the number of mechanical operations involved. Unlike robotic palletizers however, conventional ones don’t demand specialized knowledge when it comes to maintenance. The only thing it needs is traditional mechanics and pneumatics.
Versatility
Robotic palletizers not only have great versatility but are also equipped with various grippers thus constituting of one of the machine’s most important elements. A palletizing robot has a specialized end-of-arm tooling that can be adapted to almost any and every need. From lateral finger to vacuum and magnetic grippers that are designed to handle multiple goods or containers at a time. In addition to this, a robotic palletizer is also capable of depalletizing different kinds of containers.
Convectional palletizers on the other hand, are designed to palletize only one product type at a time including bales, bags and cases. Generally, the pallets produced tend to be very compact and perfect since each layer is squared and compressed. With this type of palletizing, you can produce very high and stable pallets.
Footprint
Since conventional palletizers are rather imposing pieces of equipment, they need considerable space, both on the floor and also with regard to height. Robot appetizers on the other hand, are more flexible since the dimensions of their equipment may vary depending on the system’s configuration. Therefore, this allows them to be installed in tight spaces, while still complying with the most up-to-date safety standards.
Price
The price of a palletizing robot is comparable to that of a conventional palletizer.
Choosing automated palletizing comes with a myriad of benefits. Among others, most companies usually prefer this kind of technology for the increased safety and reduced labor costs it brings. Robotic palletizers continue to prove profitable for the packaging and packing of goods. Therefore, it shouldn’t matter what your reasons for considering automating your palletizing process are. All you need is a thorough evaluation of your needs which is the key to a well- adapted solution. So, if you haven’t tried automated palletizing yet, now is your chance to enjoy all the benefits it offers.
