New Zealand manufacturer Scott PHS has helped the Melbourne operations of food giant Heinz-Golden Circle rationalise its PET bottle palletising operations in a bid to provide a more compact footprint for its packing operations.
The installation, completed in September last year, involved finding a solution to depalletise a range of empty PET bottles from two different sized pallets simultaneously and provide bottles in single file to two separate filling lines.
Based in Auckland, Scott PHS designs, manufactures and supports an extensive range of package handling equipment including palletisers, depalletisers, conveyors, pallet handling and other associated equipment.
Founded as CBS Engineering in 1955, Scott has specialised for more than half a century in providing packaging lines primarily to the beverage industry.
Its customers include industries such as food processing, dairy, wine and beverage, handling a wide range of products including bottles, cans, cases, trays, shrink-wrapped collations, pails and bags.
“Robotics plays a large part of what Scott PHS can offer the industry today, and we are dedicated to innovation and tailored solutions for our customers,” the company’s sales engineer, Paul Ashurst, says.
“The Heinz installation highlights our innovative approach.”
Under conventional practice, Ashurst says the solution for Heinz would have involved having two independent layer-style depalletisers, each dedicated to its own filling line.
The Scott PHS solution, however, made use of a single ABB660 180kg robot, picking layers from two pallet stations and delivering each of the layers to separate mass flow conveyors.
“Each product was then singularised on a pressureless single filler directly into each filling line,” Ashurst says.
“The robot also stacks layer boards, top frames and empty pallets automatically.”
