Bag palletising for animal food

Customer benefits:

• Implementation into existing processes
• Significant reduction in physical strain on employees, fewer absences
• Space optimisation without structural changes
• Significant increase in production throughout the entire production process
• Elimination of stretch film

Initial situation:

Gefu Produktions AG is experiencing steadily growing demand in animal food production, necessitating an expansion of its production capacity. At the same time, space in the production hall is limited, making the implementation of new systems difficult. Manual palletising poses a significant challenge, as it places considerable physical strain on employees and leads to increased absenteeism.

Challenges/objectives:

• Increasing production capacity
• Limited space in the production hall
• Reducing workload for employees
• Considering the company's internal pallet flow
• Integration with the existing filling line

The goal was to find an efficient automation solution that would integrate seamlessly into the existing structures, connect to the new filling line, increase production capacity, and simultaneously reduce workload for employees. Despite the limited space, the solution had to be implemented without structural changes and optimally support the internal material flow. Furthermore, each individual animal food bag had to be labelled with a specific label. Furthermore, an alternative to stretch wrapping the finished pallet had to be found without compromising transport safety.

The solution

• Fully automatic palletising of animal food bags
• Application of product-specific labels
• Automatic feeding of empty pallets
• Applying cardboard layers to pallets
• Spraying of special adhesive for optimal positioning during transport
• Pressing of the finished stacked pallets from the sides and top

To meet all requirements, a fully automatic palletising system with a robot was integrated. This system handles the palletising of animal food bags, the automatic feeding of empty pallets, and the application of product-specific labels. To protect the bags from damage, a cardboard layer is placed between the pallet and the first layer. A special adhesive provides additional stability by securing the bags before the finished pallet is pressed from the top and sides to form a compact transport unit.

This system ensures safe and efficient stacking, optimising both internal material flow and transport. Automation not only significantly increases production capacity but also enables space-saving integration into existing processes and sustainably reduces physical strain on employees.