FOOD & BEVERAGE


production capacity. The FANUC robots are quick, robust and reliable and are a proving a valuable addition to our operation.”


DALE FARM FOODS: PALLETISING CHEESE WITH EASE


Based in Co. Kildare, Power Food Technology is a specialist system integrator providing cooling and freezing solutions to the food industry. When it received a request from the UK and Ireland’s largest cheddar cheese producer, Dale Farm Foods, to install a new cooling and palletising line at its cheddar processing facility in Cookstown, Northern Ireland, it knew that FANUC robots would need to be at the heart of the solution.


“The weight of the cheese blocks was the biggest issue for us,” explains John Power, managing director of Power Food Technology. “The cheese arrives in 20kg blocks. Each layer comprises 10 blocks, and the pallets are five layers high. So we’re talking 1,000kg of cheese per pallet. That’s a lot of cheddar!”


to change the end-of-arm tooling when switching from one pattern format to another.”


INDUSTRY-LEADING AUTOMATION SUPPORT


robot handles this job, and also removes the layer card that separates each layer. The pallets are supported and indexed up by two industrial-grade scissor lifts fitted with FANUC servo motors that feed the depalletising robot, ensuring a seamless depalletising process.”


PALLETISING FLEXIBILITY


The Tekpak system then collates the ramekins, loads them into cartons with integrated laser printing, and case packs with subsequent case labelling, before the final palletising process begins. Again, a FANUC R-2000iC/165F six-axis industrial robot is employed here. “With FANUC’s help, we created the required matrix of different twin and quad-pack case formats to give Gü greater palletising flexibility,” says Sinnott. “And as the FANUC palletising robot is equipped with automatic size change, there’s no requirement


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For Tekpak, having FANUC as their partner on this project proved invaluable. “FANUC robots are known for their reliability, plus their support to assist with complex and time critical projects like this is second to none,” says Sinnott. “The team of FANUC engineers that our team collaborate with are a fantastic asset. They helped us set up complex applications and trained our in-house software team so we can support the customer going forward. This is a huge part of what made FANUC the perfect robotics partner for this project.”


Andrzej Rosa is head of Engineering for Gü Indulgent Foods. He adds: “The new packing line has given us greater flexibility and increased our


SPEED, PAYLOAD AND REACH DEMANDS Other than weight, the new palletising cell would also need to manage two product types at one time. “Two different recipes – for example, low-fat, mild, mature or extra mature cheddar – are fed through a common cooling system into the cell, so it was also essential that the solution had full traceability,” says Power. “Not only that, but the client wanted to increase palletising capability at the site from 9.5 tonnes per hour to 15.5.” The FANUC M-410iC/185 high payload, high- speed, 4-axis palletising robot with a 3m reach was the perfect choice for this demanding application. Equipped with a hollow wrist to minimise cable snagging and reduce maintenance, it has been fitted with a custom mechanical gripper made by Power Food Technology to handle lifting the heavy cheese blocks with ease. This has solved one of the customer’s biggest health and safety headaches.


PRIORITISING PEOPLE


“The issue with palletising cheese blocks traditionally is that they’re heavy, and it’s very repetitive work,” outlines Power. “Lifting and dropping down from height is a problem for manual employees. It’s difficult for food producers to find labour for this kind of task, and retention is just as big a problem. If that person ends up becoming injured due to the heavy, repetitive nature of the work, it’s just compounding it further.” Power continues: “Cheese is a product that really lends itself to automation, as automation is consistently reliable, offers full traceability and is highly efficient. This particular cell runs for 20hrs/ day, followed by a cleaning cycle, for 355 days/ year. By leaving the robot to do the repetitive, heavy, potentially dangerous jobs such as palletising, food producers such as Dale Farm Foods can divert their employees to carry out more value-added tasks.”


FANUC UK www.fanuc.eu/uk/en


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