• ABB's new flexible delta robot, the IRB 390 FlexPacker.
    ABB's new flexible delta robot, the IRB 390 FlexPacker.
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ABB has launched its new flexible delta robot, the IRB 390 FlexPacker, which the company says delivers faster and higher payloads and supports customised packaging, vertical packing, high-speed and high-variation sorting, and on-demand order picking in logistics and e-commerce fulfillment centres.

Designed for customers in food and beverage, logistics, pharmaceutical and consumer-packaged goods industries, the IRB 390 is ideal for secondary packaging and higher payload applications, with the speed and flexibility to support shelf-ready and retail-ready packaging.

Possible uses include secondary packaging in food (dry and wet), beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, personal care, pet care, consumer-packaged goods, and logistics.

The IRB 390 has NSF H1 Food Grade Lubricants and is built of FDA compliant material, suitable for use in hygienic environments. FGO and FGG (H1) is used in all exposed gearboxes and bearings. It is 35 per cent faster than the IRB 360-8/1130 FlexPicker, with a 45 per cent increase in reachable volume and payload of up to 15kg.

“With the launch of the new IRB 390, ABB now offers an enhanced portfolio of automation products to help our customers meet the latest pick and place challenges,” explains Peter Bradbury, sales manager for Food and Beverage at ABB Robotics.

“We are combining the speed, payload and dexterity of FlexPacker with the proven high-speed picking and packing capability of FlexPicker and the advanced vision and digital twin capability of PickMaster Twin to help our customers make their lines more flexible than ever before, to handle the growth of low volume, high mix and higher payload production.”

With its FlexPicker robot and PickMaster software, including the recently released PickMaster Twin, ABB is helping logistics, e-fulfillment and retail operators worldwide to meet the consumer demand revolution. Manufacturers can build a complete solution for pre-sorting and group packing by combining the IRB 390 FlexPacker with the IRB 360 FlexPicker.

The PickMaster software increases productivity by dramatically shortening commissioning and changeover times.
The PickMaster software increases productivity by dramatically shortening commissioning and changeover times.

FlexPacker is also designed to work with PickMaster Twin, ABB’s market leading robotic software for vision-guided random flow picking and packing applications. The PickMaster Twin features digital twin technology and allows for the building of simulated packing stations to optimise the picking process.

According to ABB, the software increases productivity by dramatically shortening commissioning times from days to hours, and changeover times from hours to minutes, while maximising overall line efficiency.

The software also features a powerful colour vision system that can support up to 10 cameras for accurate position guidance and feature inspection.

The IRB 390 FlexPacker robot is now available as a four- and five-axis variant delta robot.

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