Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company is one of the leaders in the international confectionery industry and the world’s largest manufacturer and marketer of chewing gum. Wrigley Confectionery (China) Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned enterprise in China. It currently has three factories in Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, Panyu District, Guangzhou City, and Songjiang Industrial Zone, Shanghai. Wrigley’s brand portfolio in China includes “Doublemint ®” “Juicy Fruit ®” “White Arrow “(Wrigley’s Spearmint ® ), “Wrigley’s coffee gum ® ), “Yida “(Extra ® ) sugar-free chewing gum, 5 Chung sugar-free chewing gum, “Lanyard” xylitol sugar-free chewing gum, “Cool Air ® ) super cool, etc.
For its Guangzhou “Doublemint ®” facility, Wrigley Confectionery turned to Hennopack Solutions to help them automate their case palletizing system and online stretch film wrapping. Hennopack Solutions was asked to integrate a robotic palletizing system with a safe film cost and salve labor located in a small footprint room. To eliminate palletizing downtime and Prevention of covid-19 virus infection, Wrigley Confectionery requested an expedited installation schedule over a 5-day weekend.
Objective 1: multiple processes automatic within a very small footprint
As the existing workshop has the filling machine, sealing machine, and other equipment, the site area is already relatively small, while the need to meet the back of the automatic carton palletizing, cardboard automatic distribution, conveying, and stretch film wrapper packing. Each equipment design and choose type need think compact. Due to the case feeding speed will reach 15 boxes per min, so if adopt a conventional palletizing or servo gantry palletizing machine, it will occupancy a big space. In order to handle this space application question, Hennopack adopts the Kuka robot to reach the palletizing process and consider the packing speed requirement, we adopt total layer pick and place on the pallet. The robot palletizer only occupies a third of the space required by the other two and can be easily converted to another customer different packing carton size products palletizing applications.
Objective 2: Fewer people are involved
The covid-19 viruses are still threatening the lives and health of people, and if the product carries a virus, it will be easy for the user to receive the infection, and at the same time as the manufacturer needs to pay more medical costs. For this robotic palletizing project, only to replace the stretch film for the stretch wrapper will through labor hand. Other process operations are not in touch with labor directly. Take the example for the pallet supply to the palletizing position, we adopt the pallet dispenser machine to reach this point, and it can stack more than 15 pallets, also it will supplementary by forklift with labor driven.
For the stretch wrapper, the customer has the semi-automatic stretch wrapper machine, In order the project design value, we choose the online turntable pallet wrapper to replace. This online type pallet wrapper will communicate with the main control system, and it can auto-apply film to the pallet, and then after finish film wrapping, it will auto cutting film.Those foil wrapping process automatic operation without the manual.
Objective 2: Monitor quality and trace products
Currently,Most companies will now establish a warehouse collection center, for the production of good products and not timely transport delivery to customers will be stored here; at this time, we for each pallet of products, need to know this cardboard product information at all times, to facilitate product access to the warehouse.Each pallet is embedded with a message on top, while scanning feedback to the system; warehouse personnel scan the chip information through the scanner, you can get this card board belongs to the product batch information. Ensure product quality issues at all times.
Sequence of Operations
The empty pallet will place on the conveyor, and then transfer to the pallet dispenser to separated this empty pallet to the Pallet signal traceability detection station; after is signal traceability detection, the empty pallet will arrive at the palletizing station; this time will feedback signal to the robot, and when the box arranges to prepare finish signal to send to the robot, the robot will pick box and place onto the empty pallet; After completing the stacking of cartons on one pallet, it will be conveyed to the in-line stretch film wrapping machine. At the last, when the loaded pallet which has wrapping by film arrive the buffer conveyor, and it will give an alarm to the operation to bring the loaded pallet out.
