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K102

Intermittent, Top Load Cartoner

PROJECT DETAILS

CUSTOMER:

Real Pet

PROJECT:

14758 Real Pet Combination Top Load Cartoner

SPEED:

260 Trays per Minute

CONTROL SYSTEM:

Allen Bradley Control
SMC Pneumatics

CONSTRUCTION:

Stainless Steel Chassis

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Challenge

As is often the case, this project arose as Real Pet was struggling with two old machines which were at the end of their lifespan.  These older ones were unable to deliver the vital ‘shelf-ready’ cartons which were being demanded by the Australian supermarkets.  

Real Pet had been growing throughout the 2010’s with their well-loved brands of wet and dry dog and cat foods and it was business critical that their production kept up with demand growth.  

The planning stages of this project required lots of collaboration with the Real Pet Marketing and NPD (New Product Development) teams to ensure it was future-proofed and capable of handling whatever new formulations, sizes and configurations would be thrown at it! 

It all had to be managed within a tight factory footprint  

All pet food tray formats were to be placed in shelf-ready cartons and the cartons placed into cases before being palletised. 

Solution 

RML utilised robotic and product transfer technology modules to produce a machine to create both top load cartons and RSC (Regular Slotted Container) case packed product in a very small footprint. See the video below.  

  •  The cartoner uses a 3 mat racetrack infeed to accumulate up to 260 trays per minute.
  • Cartons are servo plucked and transferred to a 2 Axis Delta Robot via vacuum.
  • The robot transfers the carton blank over a glue applicator and then punches the blank through a toolset and into a 3-servo main drive.
  • The main drive transfers the formed carton to the loading station where a second 2 Axis Delta Robot grips the accumulated trays from the inferred racetrack and transfers these into the carton.
  • The carton then moves past another glue application station and to the third 2 Axis Delta Robot where the carton is closed and transferred to the outfield. 

This was a complex beast, but it proved so successful that Real Pet went on to order another machine specifically for the Aldi Supermarket chain with a cardboard lid which could be easily lifted off.  

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