“The choice of Zenon and the collaboration with Zenon team was proved to be a great success. From the very beginning, great standards of collaboration were in place and your team was acting in a very professional manner and proactively as well. All phases of the project were executed according agreed time plan and standards (from ideation to design, installation and commissioning / start up). Needless to point out the safety culture your team demonstrated and the certain level of desired flexibility. An excellent project was handled to operations free of defects. Moreover, taking all these into consideration, we further assessed you and nominated you as preferred supplier for whole Nestle Europe Zone (>100 factories).”
Konstantinos Monastiriotis
Project Manager, Nestle Hellas SA
ZENON AUTOMATION SAICT successfully completed the installation of a fully automated handling and palletizing system for three carton packaging lines. NESTLE HELLAS SA is the largest food company in the world operating in more than 80 countries. It offers a wide range of products including brands such as Nescafe, Loumidis, Nesquik, Korpi, Μaggi, Crunch, Friskies, Perrier, etc.
The Need
NESTLE HELLAS SA was seeking a complete and fully automated solution for the central palletizing of carton boxes coming from three discrete packaging lines. The challenges of the project were the following:
- One central line to connect the distanced production and palletizing areas
- Overhead conveyance to leave the operation of the production floor undisturbed
- Central palletizing for cost savings and optimal space utilization
- Full traceability of cartons from packaging to palletizing
- Perfect cooperation with existing systems
Furthermore the solution met NESTLE’s very strict safety requirements and tight time schedule in order to ensure the undisrupted operation of the plant during the project implementation.
The Solution
ZENON designed and offered an integrated and fully automated solution that meets the exact needs of NESTLE HELLAS SA. The installed system performs the following operations:
- Receipt of cartons from the outlets of the three packaging lines
- Lifting of cartons from the exit level of each packaging line to the transport level of the central conveyance line (approximately 3m above the ground)
- Merging of all cartons into one central conveyance line
- Overhead transportation of cartons from packaging to palletizing area
- Down lifting of cartons from overhead conveyance level to the level of palletizer infeed
- Identification of cartons according to their line of origin via an industrial camera
- Robotic palletizing of cartons according to the agreed palletizing patterns
- Placement of carton interlayers to ameliorate pallet stability
- Merging of palletizing lines via a pallet shuttle
- Infeed of finished pallets to the existing stretch wrapping line
- Full satisfaction of the strict safety requirements
The provided system features a PLC control system, an easy to use operator panel with touch screen and SCADA software, a complete safety system divided in separate zones, as well as the necessary equipment to enable remote technical support by ZENON’s after sales department.
The Benefits
- Reliability and flexibility
- Optimal utilization of existing space and resources
- Connection with the existing IT systems
- Expandability thanks to modular design (e.g. the system can be enhanced to handle four production lines)
- Excellent construction quality
- Traceability
- Satisfaction of special requirements (operation mode, materials used, security etc.)
- Personnel and existing equipment security
ZENON AUTOMATION SAICT
Since 1987, ZENON designs, constructs and supports integrated robotic and automation solutions for the end-of-line and logistics, providing case packing, palletizing, automated warehousing, handling and sorting solutions.
ZENON is a member of the Theodorou Group of Companies and cooperates with leading global packaging equipment manufacturers. It has successfully completed more than 150 applications in Europe and the Middle East. ZENON’s solutions deliver real value by combining technology innovations with reliability in the long-term.
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