SMART FACTORIES & AUTOMATION
correct adhesive. But achieving the combination of the required speeds, position, precision and repeatability made us think very carefully about the best ways to automate the process.” According to Pegler, one of the key drivers behind the success of the Blackstar business has been as much to do with attitude as it has the engineering skills on tap. “This is how we came to work with Kawasaki Robotics in the first place,” he continues, “and why we have eschewed the approaches of other robot suppliers over the years. In simple terms, the teams at Kawasaki Robotics and Blackstar have a very similar outlook on how best to make a project work. Although we are well versed in the field of
But achieving the combination C
anned drinks are big business worldwide and the numbers involved are staggering. For example, just one of the better-known soft drink brands claims to sell 1.9 billion cans every day across the globe, and around 2.5 billion are produced annually in the UK alone. In the manufacturing and supply chain, getting the cans to the consumer makes use of proven processes that have evolved over time and which are constantly being refined as user demand and legislation changes.
With the food and drink industry being well recognised for its place at the forefront of innovation and development in the fields of automation, packaging and robotics, it is perhaps unsurprising that primary suppliers in the
business have always been at the forefront of new 22
automat on technologies, methods and ideas. So, automation technologies, methods and ideas. So,i when one of the leading suppliers of cans to the drinks industry became aware of an opportunity to further improve on the quality of the service it delivers to customers, it seized it.
To avoid any possibility of contact between the cans and the adhesive labels that must be applied to every pallet dispatched to its customers, the company decided on a novel approach that would effectively reduce to zero the chances of it occurring. Embracing a fresh approach, it was decided to place the labels onto the retaining straps (which are 12mm wide) that secure the load, instead of directly onto the pallets themselves. To put the idea into practice, the company sought the guidance of a business they had relied on previously for packaging and
FEBRUARY 2020 | FA2020 | FACTORY&HANDL NGSOLUT ONS ORY&HANDLINGSOLI UTIONSI
packaging and conveying, we have always enjoyed the advantage of Kawasaki Robotics’ specialist knowledge of robots and how to make them work best as part of our systems. We’re the experts in our fields and they are the experts in theirs, so when this new application emerged and revealed the need for robotic assistance, we didn’t even consider going anywhere else.”
For the Kawasaki Robotics team, their part of the new process involved supplying a robot (in this case, a standard RS-10N model) that would position the labels accurately, repeatedly, and on an unbroken 24-hour shift pattern, sometimes for months on end if required, and with minimal maintenance involved. Operating as part of the bigger package at Blackstar’s customer plants, the RS-10N applies two labels per pallet direct onto the retaining straps and typically works through sixty very large pallets an hour, or one every minute. The required accuracy on the project was for label placement
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