Bottle palletising solution from Apex Automation and Robotics

APEX Automation and Robotics has just installed and commissioned an Automatic Palletiser for a major plastic manufacturer.

The Automatic Palletiser included conveyors for marshalling and orientating polyethylene bottles produced by a blow-moulding machine, then merging them into
a single lane before they are collated for palletising.

A cardboard slip sheet is loaded between layers and the bottles are collated and stacked on the top of the sheet.

When a layer is complete, a pallet lifter drops one bottle height for the next sheet to be loaded and the next layer of bottles to be stacked and so on.

This custom-designed pallet lifter drops the finished pallet all the way down to floor level so that it can be handled by a pallet jack without the need of a fork truck in the production area.

The system was controlled by a PLC with a HMI (Human Machine Interface) and has undergone a risk assessment in accordance to the requirements of AS4024-2006 Safety of Machinery.
Safeguarding included a set of Cat 4 light curtains for easy access to the pallet for loading and unloading, and interlocked safety doors for access to the machine.

APEX Automation and Robotics provides factory automation systems for the plastic industry and   other industry sectors. These projects are complete turnkey systems, developed from concept to mechanical and electrical design, programming, then built, tested, installed and commissioned by our team of engineers and technicians.