Flexible and compact automation solution

Quick size change in just 30 minutes
Compact design
High line efficiency
Transmodul ensures seamless transport
Vision system allows intelligent product combination
Different carton sizes and special bag sizes

Requirements

Automation with a flexible picker line allows continued growth

Packing of snacks in flowpacks into cartons: Schubert scores points with Riverside Natural Foods thanks to a flexible picker line and a service site close to the customer in Canada.

Riverside placed an order for a TLM system to pack granola clusters from its Granola Minis brand. The TLM machine was required to place the granola snacks in flowpacks into their final packaging, consisting of packs of different flavours, different carton sizes and special bag sizes. Schubert employees have developed different packaging sizes in close consultation with Riverside with regard to packaging design, optimal machine compatibility and system efficiency. The crucial factor in awarding the contract was personal contact and physical proximity: Schubert Packaging Automation’s Canadian office is located in Mississauga (Canada), just half an hour’s drive from Riverside’s production site in Vaughan (Canada).

Solution

Different mixes in one machine

A TLM picker line consisting of five sub-machines is in use at Riverside in Vaughan (Canada). The secondary packaging of the granola clusters in flowpacks is carried out by Schubert packaging robots and case packers. The products are fed in by three identical vertical TNA flow-wrapping machines, each with an output of up to 150 flowpacks per minute.

Riverside is a young start-up that relies on automation because of its enormous growth.

Giorgio Calorio

Distribution, Schubert North America

Technical Details

Won over by a flexible automation solution

The snacks in flowpacks are automatically placed into cartons by the TLM machine. To do this, the machine has F2 robots to erect the different carton blanks, a Transmodul section to transport the various packaging sizes, a case packer and F4 pick-and-place robots to pick the flowpacks from the product conveyor so they can be placed into the cartons.

Intelligent product combination

Schubert’s image recognition system recognises the colours of the different flowpacks and supplies this information to the robots for product combination. This makes it possible to intelligently pre-group the granola clusters into the different flavours fed into the machine without sorting on the product belt. The flowpacks are then pre-grouped on the Transmodul into groups of four – two per flavour – and transferred by an F2 robot onto the discharge conveyor so that, downstream of the TLM machine, the granola snacks can be packed into large bags of 20 products each, with the option of carrying this out either automatically or manually.

Overall Performance

2- and 3-lane feeding
Five sub-machines
Packs of 4, 5 and 28 – up to 400 flowpacks per minute
Pre-grouping into groups of four with two flavours – up to 300 flowpacks
Transmodul in use
Image recognition system

The TLM system which consists of five sub-machines can be adapted according to increasing product volumes.

The new system is equipped with a Transmodul section that seamlessly connects the processes within the machine. F2 robots take care of transfer and closing of cartons.