End of Line Integrated Systems

Major Poultry Company

Project Overview

A major poultry company was introduced to a ProMach multi-brand team by Ossid, with whom they have a longtime relationship. The meeting, which had representatives from all 3 ProMach Business Units, was to discuss End of Line automation that would follow an Ossid solution in the packaging line. ProMach was awarded the contract over 4 competitors based primarily on the strength of the relationship with Ossid.

The Customer Challenge

This was the first time that the customer was going to purchase an integrated End of Line system. They created an automation council which looked extensively at various vendor solutions. The customer was only interested in working with a single supplier to upgrade automation and increase capacity. They requested an ROI of 25% on the integrated solution.

The ProMach Solution

Brenton supplied a packaging and palletizing system for bags of chicken pieces operating at speeds up to 50 bags per minute. ProMach was the only competitor able to provide an integrated solution manufactured by same company. This integrated solution showed the customer an ROI of 50%.

Sports Drink Manufacturer

Project Overview

A major sports drink manufacturer contacted Brenton to retrofit a packaging line in one of its facilities because the original line supplier was no longer in business. Brenton agreed to fix their line which also gave the opportunity to show them Brenton’s extensive packaging and integrating capabilities. The customer was impressed, and days after the retrofit was completed, they asked Brenton to build a similar, but much larger scale, packaging line for another facility.

The Customer Challenge

The customer, at the request of wholesale club stores, needed to take all single flavor sports drink shrink wrapped trays, sort the drinks by flavor and repackage them into multi flavor shrink wrapped trays. They needed a fully automated system in order to keep up with the volume demand from the retailers, desire for rainbow packs from customers, and also for quality reasons as they needed to automatically track inventory through the mixing and re-palletizing process.

The ProMach End of Line Solution

Brenton created a system operating at speeds up to 70 trays per minute, increasing capacity by 30% and adding the ability to track products through the entire repacking process. The system utilized robots with clamp-style tools to remove an entire layer of trays of the sports drink, take off the shrink wrap, use vision technology to resort the drinks into multi flavor shrink wrapped trays, and palletize and stretch wrap the trays for shipment. The new line replaced over 100 people and had an 18 month ROI.

Leading Pharma Company

Project Overview

A leading pharmaceutical company made an inquiry for a complete End-of-Line robotic solution to facilitate automation of all required end-of-line functions after case packing. The customer selected Brenton on the strength of a very successful robotic installation several years before for robotic material handling, along with excellent customer service and parts response since the installation. The project would be for three (3) identical systems to finish pallet loads for their brand new plant in the Southeast.

The Customer Challenge

This company wanted to implement the end-of-line automation to provide the final piece of the automation puzzle between their existing upstream automation and their Automated Storage and Retrieval System interface with Automated Guided Vehicles. A single supplier was preferred to provide robotic palletizing, robotic corner board placement, stretch wrapping, poly top sheet dispensing, and RFID labeling of the full pallet loads upon exit of the system. The customer also wanted a high degree of customization to a degree that a higher capabilities robotics integrator such as Brenton could provide.

EOL Integrated System Solution

• Single-infeed/outfeed
• Currie by Brenton Robotic Case Palletizer
• Orion Corner Board Application System
• Orion FA Stretch Wrapper
• ID Technology Pallet Load Wrapper

A robotic palletizing system utilizing a vacuum venture tool picks and places sealed cases of product onto a pallet. With all loads flowing through the system wide dimension leading, the completed pallet indexes to the Robotic Corner Board Application System. Loads below a preset layer count are bypassed without placing of corner boards. After boards are applied to all corners, the wrapper finishes with a wrap sequence and the load conveys onto the exit conveyor. Finished loads are discharged for labeling, label verification, and removal by customer AGV.

Leading Technology Company

Project Overview

A leading technology company filled out a form on the ProMach web site detailing a new project to replace an existing packaging line. The lead was passed to Brenton because of the customer’s desire for a fully integrated system. Brenton closed the deal by inviting the potential customer to visit an existing customer where a successful End of Line solution was already in place.

The Customer Challenge

The customer needed to replace an existing packaging line to increase capacity and automation accuracy. They wanted to be able to confirm that the correct carton was selected, and the correct product and leaflet were packed. Also of high importance was selecting a provider that could provide superior reliable customer service and timely delivery of spare parts.

The ProMach Solution

Imperative to closing this deal and building the customer’s confidence in Brenton was a plant visit to another Brenton customer, site of another successful total End of Line solution. Brenton presented an automated retail multipack line for packaging ink jet cartridges, operating at speeds up to 220 cartons per minute to increase capacity by 30%. The line integrated 6 work cells, including a robotic de-palletizer, robotic tray unloader, continuous motion horizontal cartoner with literature placement devices, carton nesting, shrink bundler, printing, and robotic case packer. It utilized peripherals including vision, coders, scales and RFID, increasing accuracy by 20%. Most importantly, the process was now verifiable. Brenton dedicated a project manager onsite until the entire line was installed and running. During the process, Brenton was informed that it was the only new vendor to the customer and has since become a key supplier.