Fast and reliable automated loading and unloading of products from load carriers for the assembly of components plays a major role in many companies in the automotive, pharmaceutical, electronics and medical technology industries. This enables companies to work economically - especially in the series production of large quantities. With high-performance palletizing solutions, users can achieve a high level of efficiency in their processes. They also ensure the provision of components, as no manual errors can occur.

IEF-Werner offers palletizing systems and attaches great importance to short cycle times and high reliability. "We have developed an extremely economical solution for a customer that consists of a loading and unloading system," reports Stefan Deck, Managing Director at IEF-Werner. In this specific application, plate-shaped products measuring 310 by 410 millimetres and 0.1 to 1.5 millimetres thick were to be removed from trays and fed to a conveyor system for further processing. The plates are made of aluminum or copper alloys and have different structures. This means they also vary in weight. "We therefore have different products that have to be handled and recognized reliably by the system depending on the order," explains Deck.

Safety is the top priority
Up to ten plates of the same shape, material and weight are each contained in a plastic tray. To prevent the products from sticking together, there are intermediate layers of non-stick coated plastic between them. "The task was to separate the products, remove them from the trays and the process in the correct position, check them for correctness and feed them for further processing," explains Deck.

The operator takes a trolley on which several loaded plastic trays are stacked and pushes it into the loading system. When loaded, the trolleys weigh up to 150 kilograms. Each tray is fitted with an RFID tag to ensure that the right products are fed into production. Each load carrier should only contain single-variety products - "but you can't be completely sure," says Deck. That's why a barcode is printed on the top and/or bottom of each tray, which is scanned after removal from the tray.

The lifting axis uses its adapted pallet gripper to remove the top tray from the trolley and moves it to a transponder that reads the RFID tag. If the data is correct, the handling unit removes the top product from the tray. A scanner reads the barcode and sensors also measure the thickness. The system compares the data with the order in the operator's Manufacturing Execution System (MES). The handling unit then places the panel on the conveyor belt. If necessary, this is rotated in the process.

But what happens if the information on the barcode does not match the data in the system? "In this case, a signal and a warning message are sent to the operating personnel, prompting them to intervene and check manually. To prevent the layer pads from sticking to the product, an air pulse from a blow-off pipe is emitted at the same time as they are removed from the tray. The gripper then transports these intermediate trays to the storage unit provided for this purpose and the empty trays to its buffer storage unit.

"The advantages of this concept are particularly evident in interlinked systems and process steps," says Deck. "This is precisely where the right components need to be provided quickly and precisely so that they can then be fed to and removed from the subsequent processing steps in the specified position." as