Feature Materials Handling & Conveying Inefficiency is sent packing
with harsh conditions, all parts that come into contact with the aggregates are made from stainless steel, and the feeder uses heavy duty rubber belting.”
Building on success
Following the success of the first portable turnkey cell, Earsham Gravels constructed a second purpose built trailer which Pacepacker equipped with a FANUC R2000 palletising robot. Once sealed within the first con- tainer the sacks pass through a sack kicker and into the second container, where they travel to the FANUC R2000 palletising robot via a flattener con- veyor with powered rollers, followed by a ‘pick’ conveyor, whose roller design and spacing facilitates picking of the sacks.
The six-axis robot loads sacks onto two pallet stations, which are rotated and wrapped before being taken away by fork lift trucks. “We speci- fied the FANUC R2000 robot because it has a very tight working envelope - it is compact but has the reach to work the whole container,” explained Wilkinson.
In a custom installation thought to be the first of its kind, Pacepacker Services has built a containerised sack packing and robotic palletising line for Suffolk-based aggregates supplier Earsham Gravels
he investment at Earsham Gravels has not only doubled capacity and reduced reliance on manual labour, but also given the company a portable turnkey line that can be easily transported between quarries.
T
A family business, Earsham Gravels bags aggregates - from sand to gravel, shingle, limestone and granite - into plastic sacks for trade customers sup- plying the DIY and construction industries weighing up to 40kgs. Historically, aggregates were bagged on a manually operated line, but as the company’s customer base expanded, this became unworkable. “Health and safety lifting regulations made the manual operation extremely onerous and put pressure on employ- ment,” explained Jim Bennett, MD of Earsham Gravels.
Installing an automated line The company tasked automatic pack- ing systems specialist Pacepacker with designing an automated line that would fit within a purpose built trailer
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Above: the FANUC R2000 palletising robot which has been built within a container
container, enabling the equipment to be transferred with ease to different locations. The kit needed to be com- pact enough to fit within the confined space, measuring 40 x 8 x 8ft, and robust enough to withstand the harsh quarry environment where it is situ- ated, as the aggregates are often abra- sive and wet which can damage and corrode machinery.
Pacepacker built a portable turnkey cell incorporating its Total Bag Control (TBC) sack closing system, its C21 sack placer, a bag kicker, a bulk hopper and a weigher. Within the container, the sack placer opens the empty sacks and presents them to the aggregate specifi- cation weigher, for filling from the bulk hopper.
The TBC system then takes hold of full sacks with a pair of motorised grip arms and motors toward the sealer. “As the bag top is held at all times prior to sealing, the system stabilises the bag throughout the closing process,” explained Paul Wilkinson, Pacepacker’s business development manager. “To ensure the TBC can cope
For over 15 years, Pacepacker has worked as a system integrator to supply FANUC robots as part of an integrated pick and place or robot palletising solution. This has earned the company ‘FANUC strategic Partner’ status.
Earsham Gravel has reported that automating the line has ramped up bagging speeds from five or six sacks per minute to nine or ten sacks per minute. “This means we’ve now got the capacity to bag up to about 140 tonnes per ten hour day, compared with 70 or 80 tonnes previously,” explained Bennett. “We also have the flexibility to further expand capacity by feeding another line into the robot.
“Another advantage of automating the line is that we only need one oper- ator - to take the full pallets away and put empty pallets in their place - and there is no longer any heavy lifting,” he added.
Earsham Gravels has put the porta- bility of the line to the test as Bennett confirmed, “The kit can be packed-up on a lorry within 30 minutes, then, once transported, can be up and run- ning in a new location within another 30 minutes.”
Pacepacker Services
www.pacepacker.com T: 01371 811 544
Enter 221 MARCH 2013 Automation
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