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KAPELOU was commissioned by a cable and wire producer for cars. The company is improving its production processes in order to be able to supply car manufacturers with high-quality cables and wire products.
Due to a production relocation, the customer needed to relocate the industrial robot that performed pallet picking and unloading in the factory. The industrial robot also needed to be upgraded to handle incomplete pallets, recognise labels and place boxes with a label on the appropriate side of the pallet.
Project tasks:
- Disassembly of a complex robot system;
- Packing and transport to a factory in Chernivtsi;
- Assembly of the system at a new location in order to be able to continue working in the previous operating mode;
- Upgrading the industrial robot and carrying out system adjustments.
After modernisation, the automation system of the storage area should ensure the following:
- the recognition of the label on the box;
- correct placement of the container on the pallet with the label on the outside;
- picking of incomplete pallets;
- removal of the incomplete pallets;
- reduction of operating costs;
- increasing economic efficiency.
Before the project started, KAPELOU presented a detailed project plan with a precise overview of all phases of the industrial work and modernisation process. For the client company, this was another convincing argument for working with KAPELOU – transparency and overview of the work steps.
As the customer has the obligation to supply the car manufacturers with cable products on time, there was little time to move and start up the system at a new location. The implementation had to be done within 2 weeks.
Our skilled workers carried out the dismantling of the complex industrial robot system and the professional loading in only 4 days. We also organised quality logistics to ensure that the machines were delivered undamaged.
At the factory in the new city, we installed and configured the system as the industrial robot had previously worked. This was necessary so that the customer could set up the production line and deliver the cable products on time. And while the warehouse was running, our skilled workers then upgraded the system.
Before the modification, the industrial robot only unpacked full pallets with 7 rows of 4 boxes per level. Each box was labelled with information about the load, the destination and the time of dispatch. For fast operation, it is very important that the labelling is legible. Because the system labelled the boxes on different sides, the load information was often not legible and sometimes the pallet had to be taken apart.
KAPELOU’s professionals installed and configured the technology for this project:
- a colour sensor to identify the side with the label;
- a distance sensor that allows the robot to determine how many boxes are on a pallet in each row.
The upgrade allows the robot to work with incomplete pallets and place the boxes with the label on the outside of the pallet for quick reading. The system fully automates the process of picking up and removing pallets.
The industrial robot performs two processes in parallel: It places the boxes from a pallet onto a conveyor belt and removes the boxes from a drive roller conveyor to complete a pallet for shipping.
With the help of automation, the following could be achieved:
- the productivity of the storage area has been increased – now up to 5,000 boxes are shipped per day, previously up to 2,000 boxes per day at peak times;
- label placement on the outside of the pallet has been ensured;
- complete pallet picking and unpacking of incomplete pallets;
- reduction of personnel costs in this area;
- easy monitoring of picking – all information about the consignment is clearly displayed.
Automating pallet picking and unloading with the help of an industrial robot is an innovative step for the cable manufacturer. The solution speeds up the continuous handling of pallets and ensures even utilisation of the production line.
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