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Carton quality

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The quality of products, barcodes and load carriers plays a critical role in the performance and efficiency of automation solutions. Poor-quality cartons and barcodes can lead to equipment standstills, inefficiencies and increased operational costs.

Robotic trailer unloaders, most cobot palletizers and some palletizing robots use vacuum technology to handle the cartons. For this to work properly, it is extremely important that the quality of the carton is sufficient. Here are a few realistic examples of cartons that are hard to handle:

  • Poorly glued / taped → cartons drop out during flight
  • Compressed height → Incorrect palletizing pickup coordinates
  • Bulged sides → Incorrect palletizing put-away coordinates
  • Humid/wet cardboard → Cartons tear open during pickup
  • Porous cardboard → Insufficient under-pressure
  • Straps → Can cause leakage with suction cups
  • Display boxes → Robot pulls off the perforated lid
  • Finger / hand holes → Often unable to build vacuum

Barcode Quality

Barcodes play a key role in many warehouse operations. Inbound palletisers / sorters are often equipped with identification systems that depend on good barcodes. Poor barcode quality causes scanning errors, leading to process delays, rework, incorrect stock levels etc. Here are some recommendations for the barcodes:

  • Printed on four sides of the carton
  • Orientated with vertical lines
  • At least 6cm long
  • Use larger barcode dimensions when printed on uncoated carton
  • Avoid red ink (as most scanners use red light)
  • Prevent tape, straps or wrapping over the barcodes
  • Prevent multiple barcodes (with checkboxes)

Conclusion

When implementing automatic/robotic unloading or palletizing, companies must recognize that the success of the technology largely depends on the quality of the products being handled

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