CONVEYORS & END OF LINE PACKAGING
“On any journey around the confectionery plant, there are many areas, including end-of-line packaging, where product spacing is important to ensure good product quality and effi cient processing”
Handling asymmetrical products
For confectionery manufacturers producing premium products – such as pralines – the importance of high quality packaging is as vital as the need for quality ingredients ACMA has extended its services to offer confectionery
manufacturers a range of automated and smart distribution and feeding solutions that are specifi cally suited to the careful handling of spherical or fl at-based chocolate pralines. It can offer a range of distribution, feeding and monitoring solutions for end-of-line operations. Its smart robotic distribution system has been optimised
for use, for example, with fl at-based chocolate pralines which are often considered challenging to handle. There are two gripping options available – a single-grip delta robot is able to orient and sort randomly arriving chocolate pralines into rows. The robotic arm picks them up and inserts them correctly oriented into the machine’s feeding conveyor thanks to a scanning system that communicates directly with the delta robot. The multi-grip system is able to pick
up products already oriented in rows or from counterplates and quickly insert them into the infeed conveyor. The ACMA Carousel is a compact, low-energy feeding
system that is also designed for use with diffi cult to handle fl at-based chocolate pralines. It includes a vision system that scans incoming chocolate pralines, detecting and discarding defective ones, and operating in sync with a robot in charge of correct product orientation. It can work with asymmetrical chocolate pralines, matching a specifi c part of the product shape by evaluating its orientation. When necessary, the system rotates the products 180°, arranging the pralines so that they enter the machine correctly oriented, while ensuring a precise and gentle handling at all times. Operating behind the scenes of these solutions is a product
tracking system that monitors the entire line. it uses vision systems that are set up along the entire line and works with a specifi c software on the HMI of the packaging machine and is programmed to track the status of products as they pass through the different production stages through to the fi nal packaging. This gives a rapid indication of possible failures and provides a clear view of any issues.
Product spacing
On any journey around the confectionery plant, there are many areas, including end-of-line packaging, where product spacing is important to ensure good product quality and effi cient processing. To ensure accurate product spacing when needed it is important to use the correct conveyor solution. “In the confectionery sector increased product separation
allows for the use of pick-and-place machinery to improve effi ciency and perform more advanced processing steps than would typically be possible to achieve manually,” says Wendy Thrower, Senior Marketing Coordinator at Wire Belt. Spreading, converging and diverging conveyor systems
Ladder-Flex Spreading Conveyors from Wire Belt can eff ectively increase product spacing, without the need for manual intervention. 36 Kennedy’s Confection November 2023
KennedysConfection.com
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