Engineers have taken advantage of 3-D printing for rapid prototyping of tools and parts in recent years. Technicians at the German firm Festo AG & Co. are taking the technology to the next level to mass produce end-of-arm robotic attachments.
Engineered to meet the high throughput requirements in bag palletizing and end-of-line palletizing applications, the compact ABB IRB 460 palletizing robot can pick boxes from an infeed line and place them in different pallet patterns on 2 separate pallets.
Equipped with 2 FANUC Robotics Delta (spider) robots for specialty cartoning, case loading, and high-speed pick and place applications, the Schneider RCCL/Spider robotic vertical carton/case loader can handle multiple products and packing combinations.
Economic constraints are impacting all operations areas, but packaging professionals aren’t suspending efforts to improve sustainability and flexibility.
