Sidel extends cobotic palletizing range for Nestlé

Packaging machinery supplier Sidel Group has extended its cobotic palletizing range with a medium version that offers a higher payload.
 
Launched in May 2019, the CoboAccess_Pal M features a Fanuc CR-15iA robotic arm that allows a higher payload while running at six cycles per minute.
 
The new range, according to Sidel, was developed to meet the requirements of Nestlé, which approached the French machinery maker in 2017 for a new palletizing cobot.
 
Nestlé has recently installed two CoboAccess_Pal units at its site in Orbe, Switzerland, where it manufactures tea capsules under the Special.T brand.
 
“In the past, this plant, equipped with low and medium speed lines, was handling palletizing manually. As volume and productivity needed to increase, we were looking to use cobotic palletizing to avoid repetitive non-ergonomic tasks for operators,” explained Cédric Rey, fill & pack maintenance & improvement manager at Nestlé.
 
The Sidel cobots now help automate palletizing at the plant, offering the company higher pallet quality and increased ease-of-operations.
 
The CoboAccess_Pal solutions feature an industrial automation platform based on the combination of PC and PLC (programmable logic controller).
 
The combination ensures that the cobot performs better-controlled picking and trajectories, leading to greater pallet quality and stability.
 
The feature also allows for an immediate restarting of the machine in case of potential problems or emergency stops, and as such, minimize downtime, noted Laurent Cristol, strategic account director Nestlé, at Sidel.
 
According to Cristol, the cobot is also “extremely easy to install.”
 
“At the factory in Orbe, it took one week including commissioning time; plus it can be easily moved between lines in less than ten minutes,” he added.