Condiments meet robots

Swiss food manufacturer Hero has installed three Fanuc six-axis robots fitted with customised grippers to handle the heavy and labour intensive task of palletising the company’s jams and preserves.

Operating around the clock, the closed cell provides a fast, reliable and accident proof alternative to manually stacking boxes of jam as they leave the assembly line.

Loading the jam pallets was a task previously undertaken by five employees at the manufacturer’s headquarters in Lenzburg. Now, three Fanuc M-710iC robots are taking the load in order to increase productivity; the robots pick up two boxes already packed with jam simultaneously, turning towards the pallet and setting down the boxes within millimetre precision on the pallet according to the programmed stacking scheme.

Because the jam is packed in various containers, from individual portions in aluminium pots to heavier glass jars, the gripper design had to be customised to accommodate different box weights.