Palletiser Suppliers

A problem that may occur when using a fully automated palletiser is inaccurate product placement. This occurs when the robotic arm has been set up incorrectly. If the arm is set to complete large, wide, long or deep movements with its movement limits. The inertia from the product may be pushing the arm outside of these limits. Over time, oscillations in the motors can result in inaccurate product placements and reduced working life for the machine. To fix this, the weight of the product and arm should be taken into consideration when setting the operating speed.

Palletisers operator under the instruction of the provided software, which in turn, is operated by the input of the user. The user can use the software to access advanced diagnostics, safety status features and suggested configurations based on mathematical calculations. The suggested configurations provide a variety of possible layout patterns based on the container demands. It also gives the user the ability to create virtually any pallet layout using manual inputs.

End of arm tooling (EOAT) refers specifically to the type of tool attached to the end of a robotic palletiser arm. The tools are purpose-built and are made for specific product types such as cans, bottles, boxes, buckets and jugs. Here is a list of available EOATs:

• Ring Gripper
• Pallet & Slip Sheet Gripper
• Vacuum Gripper
• Clamp Gripper (Bundle Gripper)
• Finger Gripper
• Fork Gripper (Lateral Finger Gripper)
• Magnetic Gripper
• Pail Gripper

Palletising machines have a high upfront cost and a long working life cycle, so there are additional cost considerations to make when choosing one for your business. For instance, they are large machines that require specialised shipping and installation, both of which will have further costs involved. Employees will require training to use the machine and a transitional period should be factored into the production and shipping of products. Overhead costs such as power, maintenance and spare part costs should also be factored into the cost of ownership.

As the size, speed and efficiency of palletisers vary, so does the price range. Prices range from thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The largest impact on the price is the level of automation. Palletisers can be manual, conventional, hybrid or robotic with upfront costs increasing alongside the type of automation. Here are some other components that affect the overall price of a palletiser: 

• Throughput speed
• End of arm tooling
• Amount of sensors
• Conveyor belts
• Maintenance costs
• Spare parts
• Running costs

There are three different types of palletiser available on the market. They are, in-line, conventional and robotic. 

• An in-line palletiser is fed products via a conveyor belt, which are then organised into a predetermined configuration. After a row has been assembled a mechanical arm slides the products onto a pallet. The process is repeated and the products are stacked in rows. When the stacking is complete the pallet is ready to be wrapped and shipped.
• Conventional palletisers can be either high or low level. The level refers to how products are delivered to the pallet to be stacked. This may be from the ground (low level) or from an elevated location (high). In both cases, conveyor belts are used to sort, orient and position products. The product is then transferred to a pallet through manual or mechanical means.
• Robotic palletisers lift one product at a time and place them into a set configuration on a pallet.  Robotic loading is much faster and more accurate than manual stacking.