Success Story: Study of a collaborative palletising system for the end of line in the food sector

Train the Trainer course on Thursday 20 March 2025 (14:00-15:00 CET).

Part 1 of this course provided by EDIH4Marche will provide a comprehensive overview of collaborative robots and their role in palletising systems, exploring its markets, types and application sectors.

Part 2 will present the success story of Altesia, a logistics solution provider for food companies. This section of the course will illustrate their journey in assessing the feasibility of process automation using robotic palletizing systems.

The case study focuses on the end-of-line process of a food sector company specializing in poultry distribution. Currently, operators manually palletize boxes by picking them from a roller conveyor and placing them onto four pallets arranged in a rectangular matrix downstream of the conveyor. As a result, efficiency, productivity, workplace safety, and product quality were not optimized to the highest standards.

To address these challenges, Altesia partnered with EDIH4Marche to design and prototype a fully automated palletizing station. The results of preliminary simulations, along with the effectiveness of the gripping system developed for this case study, were experimentally validated through tests conducted on a prototype of the robotic station. The entire automation process was recreated in the i-Labs Industry laboratory, replicating the layout studied in the simulation, including the arrangement of pallets and the roller conveyor.

The tests allowed for the optimization of the gripping force while confirming the simulation results in terms of reachability and the number of boxes palletized per hour.

During this part of the course, participants will have the opportunity to explore the feasibility of process automation, particularly in food sector companies.

Additionally, at the end of the session, the trainer will share valuable insights to empower others looking to work alongside EDIH4Marche.

Course agenda:

• Overview: Collaborative Robots in palletising systems
• Success story: Altesia
  
  • Customer needs
  • Customer solution
  • Results and impact with examples
  • Lessons learned
  • Key takeaways
• Questions & answers (participant discussion)

To enrol in and access this course and materials, please visit the eLearning Platform.

Course provider: EDIH4Marche