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We regularly put the duties of palletizing and depalletizing collectively once we discuss automation. However, there are some key variations between these two logistical duties.
Do you must deal with palletizing and palletizing duties otherwise?
Is one process tougher to attain with a robotic than the opposite?
May the identical robotic carry out each duties?
Whenever you perceive the precise necessities of palletizing and depalletizing, you can also make higher selections about including automation to your manufacturing workflow. It’s going to enable you to to arrange your facility for robotic palletizing and get probably the most out of your new funding.
Let’s take a look at the similarities and variations between these two robotic duties…
The that means of palletizing
Palletizing means inserting or stacking objects onto a picket, plastic, or metallic pallet for delivery or storage. It’s a important process for logistics because it helps to keep away from injury or lack of merchandise throughout transportation. Billions of pallets are used worldwide day by day.
The standard solution to carry out palletizing is to do it manually. A employee takes bins or different types of packaged merchandise from the manufacturing line and stacks them onto the empty pallet.
Extra lately, collaborative robots have turn into a well-liked solution to obtain palletizing. Robots are extra constant than human employees and assist to cut back the variety of accidents which might be widespread for palletizing employees.
The that means of depalletizing
Depalletizing means systematically eradicating bins, luggage, or different packaged objects from a loaded pallet. It’s usually the primary stage in a producing course of, the place uncooked supplies have arrived right into a facility loaded onto a pallet.
In comparison with palletizing, depalletizing is commonly a extra complicated process. Nonetheless, robotic techniques can nonetheless carry out depalletizing with the precise setup.
A associated process is “repalletizing.” Right here, objects are faraway from one loaded pallet and positioned onto a second pallet for additional cargo.
The similarities between palletizing and depalletizing
Earlier than we take a look at the variations between these two duties, it is value reminding ourselves of the similarities. Palletizing and depalletizing are clearly very related duties.
Some clear similarities between the 2 duties are:
- They’re usually achievable with the identical robotic. The Robotiq Palletizing Answer, for instance, works equally properly for both process.
- They each contain transferring bins, luggage, or different objects between a set level (e.g. the top of a conveyor) and a often organized sample on a pallet.
- They’re each repetitive, boring jobs that individuals do not prefer to carry out manually.
- They’re usually a bottleneck to manufacturing in services, particularly when palletizing operators carry out a number of roles.
These similarities are necessary if you find yourself deploying a robotic. They imply that you may usually deal with palletizing and depalletizing collectively. The deployment and integration work that you just do for, say, palletizing will apply on to the deployment of a depalletizing process, and vice versa.
5 Key variations between palletizing and depalletizing
There are additionally some necessary variations between palletizing and depalletizing. Though the duties look related, you’ll seemingly encounter distinctive challenges with one that may not come up — or would come up in a distinct kind — with the opposite.
Some key variations between the 2 duties are:
1. Unloading challenges
With a palletizing process, you management the whole lot concerning the objects on the pallet. The robotic picks up the field from a conveyor, for instance, and locations it in a exact location on the pallet.
With depalletizing, you might be unloading objects from a pallet that anyone else loaded. There’s all the time a chance that objects shall be in surprising positions on the pallet or the distribution of things is inconsistent.
2. Gadgets moved in transit
Pallets transfer quite a bit throughout transit. Securing the load with insufficient shrinkwrap is without doubt one of the commonest errors in palletizing.
If you end up depalletizing, it’s not unusual for objects to have moved in transit. Your depalletizing robotic should be capable of account for such motion or it’s going to make errors.
3. Robotic imaginative and prescient
A standard solution to deal with the uncertainty of unloading pallets is to add robotic imaginative and prescient to depalletizing functions.
Imaginative and prescient sensing provides to the complexity of your robotic utility, but it surely improves the system’s flexibility to adjustments. With palletizing, you possibly can usually get away with out including any imaginative and prescient sensing to your robotic.
4. Totally different upstream and downstream processes
A transparent distinction between palletizing and depalletizing is that they work together with totally different processes in your manufacturing workflow.
Palletizing duties normally come after upstream packaging duties, comparable to sealing, labeling, and case erecting.
Depalletizing duties normally come at the beginning of your workflow and can work together with duties like selecting, sorting, and unpacking.
5. Location in your facility
Doubtless, a palletizing and depalletizing robotic will sit in several places in your facility. It would be best to find the robotic near whichever upstream or downstream processes come earlier than or after it in your workflow.
In case your manufacturing portions are low, you would possibly be capable of use the identical robotic for each palletizing and depalletizing. If that’s the case, you’ll need to take this into consideration while you design your robotic cell and determine the way it will match into the format of your facility.
Methods to determine if you happen to want a palletizing or depalletizing robotic
Do you want a palletizing or depalletizing robotic in your individual facility? Perhaps you want each?
There are some questions you possibly can ask your self that will help you discover the perfect palletizing resolution to your distinctive state of affairs.
Ask your self questions like:
- Do we have now most bottlenecks in the beginning or on the finish of our workflow?
- The place within the facility will we need to place the robotic?
- Will we need to attempt to carry out each duties with the identical robotic or have a number of robots?
- What could be our throughput of product for both of the duties?
Take a look at our options web page to see case research of firms which have succeeded with robotic palletizing.
Would palletizing or depalletizing take advantage of sense for you proper now? Inform us within the feedback beneath or be a part of the dialogue on LinkedIn, Twitter, Fb, or the DoF skilled robotics group.
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