Robot Palletizers

Robot palletizers use industrial robots to pick up cartons from a conveyor and place them on the pallet. They are often equipped with vacuum, support gripper and/or clamping end-of-arm tools. Robot palletizers operate at higher speeds and with much greater load capacity than cobots. However, they are not allowed to operate in the presence of humans, so safety measures like fencing, light barriers or Lidar scanners are required.

Advantages

Speed: Due to the abundance of people, these robots can operate at high speeds. Depending on the application, they can achieve rates of 600 – 800 cartons per hour per robot.
Robustness: Factory robots are very reliable industrial machines that can operate for thousands of hours without maintenance.
24/7 operation: These robots can work around the clock, increasing productivity and throughput. Robotic palletizing stations can operate continuously and consistently at steady speeds, without the need for breaks.

Disadvantages

High Initial Investment: The upfront costs for purchasing, installing and programming robot palletizers can be significant. Prices range from 200 – 300k euro per palletizer cell.
Capacity to handle deviating products: Robots are very good in performing repetitive tasks in highly controlled environments like production facilities. However, they may struggle with disturbances like deformed or unstable products that are more common in logistics.
Complexity: Setting up and programming robots requires specialized knowledge and time. In case the process changes often, it is important that the robot comes with an intuitive user interface allowing workers to easily change the robot program.
Footprint: Robot palletizing cells have a rather large footprint. This typically holds for multi-SKU palletizing setups, where an array of robots is required. See the image below.

Robot palletizing cells are typically useful for high volume operations in a controlled environment. They offer high speed and robust palletizing, but are less resistant to deviating products.

Advantages

Disadvantages

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