Many manufacturing industries make it easier to manage and transport items such as boxes, bottles, bags, cartons and parts into unit loads instead of many pieces. This method, known as palletizing uses conveyor machines to stack layer after layer of the items or goods until they are enough to form a pallet. While there are specific machines that palletise the items, it is a process that takes time and costs. The machines require humans to manoeuvre them to carry out the processes, frequent maintenance to keep them going and they are not very cheap to purchase.
With the advance in technology, things are however changing and many industries are now automating their palletizing processes. They have taken to using industrial robot palletizers to perform the applications automatically, making work easier, faster and safer. Palletizing robots have infiltrated industries like the food processing industries, automobile industries, the shipping industry, the pharmaceutical industries and many others. Just as there are different sizes of pallets, palletizing robots also come in different varieties of sizes, payloads and reachability depending on the workload.
One of the leading manufacturers of palletizing robots is Universal Robots. Palletizing robots made by Universal Robots are modern models with long reach applications, high speed and designed for specific payloads. The flexible collaborative arms, also referred to as cobots from the company are great for palletizing food products, bottles, bags, cartons and many other products with ease as they come with easy to use software. The software on the cobots is also easy to adjust to meet the needs of every industry or business.
Benefits of using cobots for palletization
In today’s industrial palletizing trends, cobots are taking over majority of the tasks because of their flexibility and easy to use applications. Below are some of the benefits of using palletizing cobots from universal robots.
·Efficiency easier redeployment and flexibility
Collaborative robots have the ability to reach every end of the industry to load and offload the pallets. They are faster than the traditional palletizing machines and they are easy to redeploy to take on other tasks besides palletizing. All you need to do is reprogramme them to do whichever other tasks are at hand and they do that efficiently. Packaging and palletizing systems also change with the growth of every industry and instead of buying new robots every time there is a change, you can use the same cobots to go with the changes because they are flexible and come with easy to reprogramme software.
·Reduction of maintenance costs
Though using palletizing conveyors is effective, many industries are turning away from them because they are expensive both to install and to maintain. They also use complex mechanisms that require only qualified technicians to operate. Cobots on the other hand are stress-free because they are easy to install and even easier to maintain. By deploying cobots, you cut down on many costs that in turn go into increasing your productivity. Palletizing cobots compared to the traditional palletizing conveyor machines are also small and occupy less space and you can use this space for other tasks that would benefit the company.
·Safety and precision
Palletizing cobots are safe to use in the workplace to both the workers and the environment. They can work alongside humans without any interference and take on the hard tasks that sometimes lead to injuries. They also come fitted with state of the art arms that are precise, making sure there are no or less damages and that nothing goes to waste.
·Affordability
One of the main advantages of buying palletizing cobots from Universal Robots is that you get value for your money. The cobots are affordable and within a year or two of purchase, you get your return on investment (ROI). Some companies even realise a ROI within the first 200 days after purchase.
Wrapping it up
If you are thinking of automating your palletizing applications, get in touch with Universal Robots and have their engineers come to assess your company’s needs in order to advise you on the best palletizing cobot to go with for all the applications. The criteria for determining the best palletizing cobot includes the payload or the maximum weight of the robotic arms as compared to the pallets, the level of the product from the floor to their palletising application also referred to as the axes, and the speed of the rotation of the robotic arm joints.