The global volume of goods transported is exceptionally high: it is estimated that around 100 million containers are transported around the world. Because customers want their goods delivered faster and faster or just in time, the transport and logistics industry is facing major challenges. Time pressure has been constantly increasing for years, and now there is also a growing shortage of skilled workers. According to a newspaper report from May 2019, there was a shortage of around 10,000 drivers at haulage companies alone. Many shy away from physical strain such as heavy lifting and long and irregular working hours. The existing workforce is over-aged and will retire in the coming years. An alternative to manual unloading of containers would also make sense for reasons of accident prevention.

The Dutch town of 's-Heerenberg (Gelderland province), right on the border with Emmerich on the Lower Rhine, is home to Copal Handling Systems. It manufactures such alternatives: robot systems that achieve top logistical performance in confined spaces. The Dutch company sees a huge gap in the market here. The company began with the development and construction of systems for unloading bagged goods. In future, Copal will focus more on cartons and the technical possibilities for smoothly unloading, sorting and stacking them.

Copal's first unloading system was originally an ergonomic lifting tool - an operator-controlled hydraulic balancer, which has since been optimized to a point-to-point control without hydraulics. Jan Grasmeijer, Technical Director at Copal, says: "Wim Bosman was a shareholder and CEO of the Wim Bosman Group, a global logistics company. In 2011, he immediately recognized the potential of the Copal C1 container unloader and palletizer prototype and saw opportunities for further development. He wanted to change the way people had to lift and transport such heavy loads when unloading containers." Benedikt Geib, Project Engineer at SEW-Eurodrive, explains: "There are increasingly strict regulations for lifting loads. With its systems, Copal wants to contribute to the sustainability and social responsibility of its customers worldwide - to healthier working conditions, fewer injuries and better process quality."

Ready for use in 15 minutes

A new application from Copal is the C2 unloader, a mobile handling solution. The unloaders are ready for use within 15 minutes and can be set up to unload bags both indoors and outdoors at several locations. Only one operator monitors the operation with cameras and makes small adjustments from his cabin using a touchscreen and joystick.

With the so-called Spider Gripper, jute sacks containing nuts, coffee or cocoa weighing up to 100 kilograms can be lifted and rotated 360 degrees. A motion controller automatically positions the gripper. The software is used to scan the sacks and determine the unloading sequence. The gripper is equipped with a flexible mechanism with several pivot and tilt points. It grips the bags with needles and moves them in a fluid motion. Thanks to these smooth machine movements, the work can be completed more quickly. This increases productivity without any physical effort on the part of the operator. Bags that lie diagonally on top of each other, for example, can also be picked up and placed straight onto a conveyor belt. A robot palletizer then stacks the bags in various patterns up to a height of two meters. Optionally, the moisture level of the bags can be checked by sensors and random samples can be taken.