Zenon Automation Projects

The robotic system we designed for Cosmos Lac, automated the palletizing procedure of carton cases with colour spray containers. A Fanuc robotic arm takes the carton cases and places them, according to a predetermined pattern, on a pallet rested on a palletizing roller conveyor.

During palletizing, each time two layers are completed, the robotic arm takes a carton sheet from a stack and places it on the pallet using the same gripper. When the pallet is full, the palletizing roller conveyor is activated to convey the pallet from the pallet loading station to the waiting station, to be removed by a pallet fork. When the pallet loading station is free, the robotic arm, using the same gripper, takes a new pallet from the stack and places it on the station to continue with the procedure.

The solution we implemented at Cosmos Lac covered the need for automated and faster case packing of spray containers. The system includes a carton case forming machine, a case packer and a case sealer. The completed carton cases are lead to a robotic palletizing system.

Case packing of the colour containers is carried out by a machine especially designed by Zenon. This machine is a Cartesian, servo-controlled mechanism. It initially groups the products according to a predetermined pattern, and then places them, with the help of a pneumatically activated gripper, inside the empty carton case. Particular attention has been paid to speed, safety (flammable product), and ease of changeover regarding containers and carton cases.

We have designed and installed an automated system for the conveyance of sliced bread from the slicing machine initially to two overwrapping machines, and then to a machine that inserts the bread in a plastic bag. The system includes a SCARA robotic arm by Adept, which takes the sliced bread from the slicing machine and feeds it in the overwrapping machines. Then, a pneumatically controlled ΧΖ mechanism (designed by ZENON) feeds the wrapped bread, one-by-one or in pairs, to a machine that inserts them in a plastic bag. The system is very fast (60 loafs/minute) and reliable. It is also an excellent application sample of a robotic arm serving pre-existing, semi-automatic machines in a factory. The system was taken out of production, when Chipita discontinued the production of sliced bread.

The integrated solution we designed for Astir Vitogiannis Bros SA automated the secondary and tertiary packaging procedures and includes: Carton case forming, packaging, conveyance, sorting and sealing line and robotic palletizing for cases, using packaging materials, and stretch wrapping.

With the system we designed and installed at ASPIS Dedes S.A., the company fully automated the palletizing process of the factory in Argos, thus significantly reducing production costs.

Through roller conveyors, the system receives carton cases with juice from the out-feed of two packaging machines and conveys them to the robotic system. The cases are then grouped appropriately. An especially designed gripper of the FANUC robotic arm, facilitates the correct layering of the carton cases on pallets, according to a predetermined pattern, at two loading stations located on the palletizing roller conveyors. As the system takes the empty pallets from stacks of 12, the operator is only required to insert stacks of empty pallets and remove the full pallets.