Automation Supplement
Case Study – Minatech Inc.: Automated Solution for Stacking Problem
Michael Mravyan, president of Woodbridge, Ont.-based blow mold automation
supplier Minatech Inc., came to the assistance of a Midwestern US bottler
when he and his staff created a cell automation system designed to maximize
shipping space while maintaining a fast rate of palletizing.
THE PROBLEM:
Mravyan’s customer was blow molding jars of identical diameter but different
heights, and wanted to be able to palletize the bottles efficiently, without
wasting space on transport trucks. “The difficulty for the customer was
that if they shipped seven pallets with seven layers of jars they were underutilizing
the trucks, while if they tried to ship eight pallets it wouldn’t fit,"
Mravyan explained.
THE SOLUTION:
Using a Fanuc robot and Siemens automation, Mravyan and his staff spent
four months developing a cell automation system designed to handle a combination
of seven layers and eight layers of jars, which would allow for full utilization
of truck space. “The combination of seven layers and eight layers maximizes
the full skid and also the amount of truck space, so the customer is not
shipping air.”
A second issue that the customer wanted Minatech to address was maintaining
a production rate of 40 jars a minute. “The design that we came up with
can actually handle around 50 jars a minute, which is good because the palletizing
cell will never become a bottleneck,“ Mravyan said. “And the robotic cell
can go faster if necessary.” According to Mravyan, the cell has an incoming
conveyor, primary and secondary bins that accumulate the cardboard slip-sheets,
and then an automatic turntable to take the full pallet out of the robot
and the empty skid back to the robot. As an additional benefit to the customer,
the Minatech staff was also able to program the cell to run virtually unattended.
“Previously, the customer had two operators per shift attending the line,”
Mravyan explained. “That’s six operators every 24 hours, and six salaries
as well, which can add up to between $150,000 and $180,000 per year. We
have now freed those operators to do other jobs.”
Although this cell automation system was designed for the needs of this
particular customer, it is generic enough to be used in a wide variety of
other blow molding operations, Mravyan said. “The success of the implementation
of this project was a direct result of high quality components from Fanuc,
Siemens and SMC Pneumatics (Canada) Ltd., multiplied by the engineering
integrity of Minatech design,” he said. “Everything is designed to give
the forklift operator the freedom to attend to the cell at his convenience
while the cell runs without attendants.”
Minatech Inc. (Woodbridge, Ont.)
www.minatech.ca; 905-264-0411
BACK