In short

Epirus S.A., one of Greece’s leading cheese producers, has deployed its first lightweight robot in production: a Kassow Robots cobot. Positioned at the end of the line, the KR1410 cobot is tasked with palletizing feta cheese: eleven layers per Euro pallet, 33 boxes per layer. Greek systems integrator Netelco S.A. designed and implemented the integration of the Kassow Robots lightweight robot into Epirus’s existing production process.

Challenge

Epirus S.A. is a successful SME that continues to grow. It was becoming increasingly difficult to find people to do the work of palletizing, a physically and ergonomically challenging job that is critical to the production process. Tight spaces were yet another challenge to be overcome. The company therefore sought a solution on the basis of a single robot. The robot had to fulfill three key criteria: it had to be able to handle the entire palletizing process, share workspace with human employees, and of course improve cost-efficiency.

Solution

Netelco S.A. is a sales partner of both Kassow Robots and its majority owner Bosch Rexroth. The solution designed by the Greek systems integrator includes a KR1410 lightweight robot and a Bosch Rexroth Varioflow Line conveyor system. The conveyor system feeds the cheese boxes to the cobot, which places them on the Euro pallets. The KR1410 has a range of 1,400 millimeters and a load capacity of ten kilograms.

The 7th axis makes the robot highly agile, even enabling it to reach around corners. It allows Epirus the benefits of an automation solution which requires just a single cobot. If the company had opted for a conventional six-axis model from another manufacturer, it would have needed two robots to perform the same task.

The KR1410 uses a Netelco-developed aluminum gripper to grasp the open-top boxes of cheese from the side. The cobot places eleven layers of 33 boxes each on every Euro pallet, along with a sheet of cardboard on top of each layer.

Benefits

The cobot helps make production processes more cost-efficient. A key benefit for Epirus is the agility of the lightweight robot from Kassow Robots. This not only eliminates the need for a second robot, but also allows the solution to achieve much greater speed and efficiency. A further benefit: employees previously tasked with palletizing can now be assigned other, more engaging responsibilities. And since Kassow Robots cobots are simple to program and operate, they can also be quickly and easily transferred to other activities.

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