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Robots a perfect fit for packaged solution

Robots handle primary and secondary packaging on a customized turnkey line that collates, cases, labels, and palletizes industrial filters.

GRIPPING PERFORMER. The four-axis case-packing robot's custom end effector lifts and places industrial filters as a group into t
GRIPPING PERFORMER. The four-axis case-packing robot's custom end effector lifts and places industrial filters as a group into t

It was out with the old, in with the new when New Year’s 2006 rang in with a robotic assist at Cummins Filtration, formerly known as Fleetguard. At its manufacturing operations in Cookeville, TN, a packaging cell employing two robots in a compact, U-shaped line replaced a 30-year old, four-worker operation.

Before, a case erector provided cases that were manually filled and placed on to a takeaway conveyor. Now, two operators man the cell, monitor the system, and replenish the corrugated cases and other supplies as needed.

The first robot packs shrink-wrapped industrial filters into corrugated cases. A second robot then palletizes the cases. Skids are removed from the line by forklift. The robot’s flexibility also permits packaging filters into trays or returnable plastic bins. Operating at least five days weekly over two shifts, the robots are the most tireless of the plant’s 800 workers.

“This is a very important line for the company,” says Phillip Bryant, Cummins’ lead engineer on the project. “It meets our current and future rate requirements.” The line currently packs four to five six-count cases per minute and is capable of doubling that rate. Bryant says the line can handle up to 50 filters per minute.

“The most pleasant surprise has been having very few issues with operation or maintenance, even though this system is complex and completely different from anything else in our plant.”

Nearly all the equipment on the line was provided by Pro Mach (www.promachinc.com), which did the line integration. Its Brenton Engineering Corp. division provided and integrated the two robots from Fanuc Robotics America (www.fanucrobotics.com). Other Pro Mach divisions involved were Wexxar, Belcorp, and ID Technology.

Packaging World reported on this line before, but it was at Pack Expo Las Vegas last fall when the line was set up at Pro Mach’s booth (see packworld.com/go/c162). We wanted to see it in operation in the real world. During the day of our visit, six-count cases were packed, a format that Bryant says is run about 90% of the time.

This line is referred to as a “spin on” line because the threaded filters are spun on by users to install them. It handles 14 different filter heights running from 7.66 inches to 14 inches high and varying in diameter. The filters, which weigh up to about 5 lb each, are shipped globally. About 180 product variations were originally programmed into the system, though the company has reduced the count to 140, Bryant says.

Thus, changeovers are a way of life on the line, Bryant says, and are made primarily during the middle of the week. This is where the robots shine. The menu-driven operator interface that controls most line equipment, including both robots, permits a simple and fast changeover. Typically, the line is changed over in 10 minutes or less, which is about one-half or one-third the time needed on the previous operation.

The line is controlled from an Allen Bradley PanelView Plus 1000 human-machine interface from Rockwell Automation (www.rockwellautomation.com) running Rockwell’s RSLogix 5000 software.

“There’s always that ‘shock and awe’ feeling at the beginning that this thing will never work, but then people adjust and learn the system.”

All the operator must do for a case size change is manually dial in a number using digital wheels on the case conveyor flights; everything else is set through the HMI panel. The plant conducts as many as four or five changeovers a day. “The main interface between the robots and the rest of the cell is easy to understand, and we have been quite happy with it,” says Bryant.

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