To keep pace with their growing business, one major UK bakery was looking to improve their end of line packing facility in South Yorkshire. The challenge was to automate the picking & packing process and increase production speed to 750 pies/min. Another objective was to reduce product damage and offer a high level of flexibility to handle a variety of future products and packing configurations.

The Industrial Automation Solution:

We took on this challenge and used our expertise to design a ATS packing system that reduces labour costs by 90% and is capable of running at a 20% higher speed than specified (900 pies/min) to cater for future production increases.

A reduction in product damage and waste was achieved by the ATS walking beam transfer, which gently handles the pies in one smooth continuous motion on a flighted conveyor.

The system’s programmable servo drives ensure that the machine is flexible to handle different products and varying container layouts. To make the system more efficient and avoid empty containers, the picking speed is continuously adjusted to that of the oven cooling conveyor.

To find out more, or to discuss how Industrial Automation can provide Pick & Place solutions for your company, feel free to contact us.