At this year’s interpack, Trapo, the system integrator from Gescher-Hochmoor in Westphalia, will demonstrate crate and carton handling and recommend itself as a high-performance, service-oriented automation partner with an extensive in-house product portfolio for the packaging industry.
At its 195 square meters exhibition stand in Düsseldorf, the company is focusing on the handling of reusable crates and cartons weighing up to 35 kg. The system is particularly impressive due to the synchronous interaction of two articulated-arm robots, which harmonize with the conveyor technology and autonomous robot (AMR) for pallet handling.
The two articulated robots are specifically a cobot from the TCP series and a high-speed robot system from Trapo. Whilst the cobot is equipped with a low-maintenance suction gripper, the actor from the powerful HRS series operates with a fork gripper. The two systems alternately palletize and depalletize the crates and boxes fed onto longitudinal and transverse pallets – a challenging task that requires the highest precision when stacking the crates precisely into one another. In the live application, the switching between full and empty pallets is handled by a flexible robot, which also acts autonomously and in the smallest of spaces.
Trapo’s successful automation concepts are based not only on high-performance, consistently reliable and at the same time low-maintenance system components, but also in particular on excellent gripper technology. Trapo grippers are always precisely tailored to corresponding robots, specific characteristics of the objects, and desired performance of the entire line.
From conveyor technology right through to AMR and robots, all line modules are connected via Trapo Intelligent Management. Acting as the ‘digital backbone’, this smart software tool coordinates processes, supports monitoring and records process data in real time. This makes key performance indicators for plant availability (OEE) visible, process statuses transparent and optimization potential systematically accessible. Sophisticated sensors and control logic ensure a regulated, efficient, economical and, above all, safe process.
In addition to the stationary conveyor technology in the live application, the team is also presenting mobile alternatives at the show, ensuring that space can still be used flexibly even where work area is limited. One standout option from this product range is, for example, the Trapo Cobot Palletizer, a performance model offering an easy entry into automated palletizing. Delivered on just two pallets, this mobile robot colleague from the TCP series can be used wherever its palletizing performance is required.