In 2020, Heinrich Eggersmann expanded his animal feed production to include tit dumplings.

The company started in Extertal-Bösingfeld, where Eggersmann bought three halls in the industrial area, with just a few machines and a lot of manual labor. A location advantage for the planned 24/7 production.

With the plan to produce one million tit dumplings per day, Heinrich Eggersmann quickly realized that this quantity could not be produced, packaged and palletized by hand. The starting point was actually the intention to produce muesli bars, for which Eggersmann was looking for a machine. In this context, he visited a contract manufacturer who had parts of an old machine for producing fat balls. Eggersmann bought an oversized refrigerator and quickly built a machine to go with it. The first target: 50,000 fat balls in two shifts. While he was setting up and completing the system together with plant manager Michael Landmann and the "bird food team", the question quickly arose as to how this quantity should be packaged and palletized at the end of the line. Although the company trains everyone from millers to IT specialists, the need for personnel is greater than the number of applications. Eggersmann: "If we want to produce and deliver on time and with consistently high quality, we have to get involved in automation."

Entry into robotics

Eggersmann found the right partner in the company Coboworx from the small Moselle town of Osann-Monze. He was assisted by Olaf Gehrels, while Matheus Industrie-Automation, also from Osann-Monzel, was responsible for planning, implementation and gripper construction.

In a very short space of time, a system was created on which fat balls packed in trays or plastic buckets are palletized. The system, an investment in the high six-figure range, went into operation in September 2020. Two ABB flexpalletizers work in the system, an IRB460, called "Tom", with a reach of 2.4 m at station 1 and an IRB 660 called "Jerry" with a reach of 3.15 m at station 2. The wrapped trays, each with six tit dumplings inserted, run on a conveyor belt into the palletizing cell, while buckets of tit dumplings run on a second belt - so far in smaller quantities. One robot only places the trays in prepared boxes, while the other robot prepares pallets and palletizes buckets.

Smaller cartons are prepared by a carton erector and are fed to the robot cell via a roller conveyor. During commissioning, it was learned that the dimensional accuracy of the cartons is crucial. The automation system registers deviations immediately. The largest pack sizes are display cartons, for example, in which 150 trays of 6 are packed. Such a carton is around 80 cm deep - the robot must be able to dip this far in order to place the bottom layer. The film-wrapped trays are gripped with a suction gripper that Matheus designed and built especially for the Eggersmann application. It is a double gripper with 4 x 4 suction cups each. This means that either eight or 16 trays can be gripped at once. The gripper is changed for gripping buckets. All format changes are made via a PLC and the corresponding program is simply called up on the control panel.

Workers are still needed at two points: when the fat balls are placed on the trays and at the end of the line, when the finished pallets are picked up by forklift truck and taken to the warehouse. Eggersmann wants to automate both stations. "We are automating the loading process with a 'feeder' and can thus relieve staff." In addition, the cycle can be increased from 35 to 40 trays per minute to around 50 to 55 trays."

The dumpling production itself may then become the clock-determining station. There is still potential in mixing the ingredients and in the cooling line. This consists of a paternoster belt with a total length of 160 m in the used, oversized refrigerator, which could certainly run faster. Mixing and shaping is done with heated material. The dumplings must be cooled and dimensionally stable before they can be packaged, especially in individual nets. The aim is to run at full capacity at all points. "There are still a few question marks," says Eggersmann, "but they will soon become exclamation marks."

Michael Landmann believes that he and his team have been well trained and prepared: "Matheus has given us excellent preparation. What's more, the guys are always on hand to answer questions, so we've overcome all the initial hurdles so far." Company boss Heinrich Eggersmann also thinks he has made a good choice: "The performance of the robots blows me away every time. Everything works perfectly. A good integrator."

Further automation planned with mobile platforms

Because Heinrich Eggersmann is reluctant to start twice when expanding or modernizing production, plans are currently underway to automate the removal of loaded pallets and transport to the warehouse. Also on board: Idealworks, Munich, with mobile platforms. Eggersmann's goal: "I don't want to see any more forklifts driving around." If you want to produce in three shifts, you don't need a big piece of paper to work out the ROI of automation.

The company boss sees collaborative robots in the area of e-commerce. His daughter Elisabeth Eggersmann is responsible for this in the company. Up to now, bags weighing up to 25 kg have been prepared for dispatch by hand for hundreds of parcels. However, because certain flyers or sample packs are added to the parcels depending on the season and marketing measures, there is no substitute for manual labor at this point. However, a cobot could take over the task of weighing bags around. Coboworx will certainly know what to do.