3 Flap Closer

Challenge 

This is a story about continuous production improvement through embracing new automation potential. Back in 2017 Tasman Bay Food Co was packing their delicious real fruit frozen Juicies by hand into cartons of 10 – but word got out and the delicious treat needed much greater volume. Their first move was to install an erector and carton closer to work alongside a manual loading station and this served them well for 2 years.  

Solution 

In 2020 we built a 3-cell robotic upgrade, capable of running 24/7 during peak production periods and with a top speed of 160 per minute.  The new system was capable of packing for retail in an open top carton for both Juicies (in a 10 x 100ml configuration) and their Moosies product (in a 8 x 85ml configuration). The Robots were to have a dual vacuum pickhead and used vision to determine the location of each Juice.  

The system was also configured to allow Tasman to Bulk pack into a Regular Slotted Case shipper with 40 x 100ml Juicies and 50 x 85ml Moosies. Changeovers were to be kept to 15 minutes max.  

A gravity magazine loaded flat RSC blanks. Ploughs assisted the robot to fold the bottom flaps and then a glue gun and compression punch pressed down the flaps to set the glue.  

If we can help with something like this please drop us a line.