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Frozen Food Palletizing

The Client & Objective

Like many frozen food processors, our client (one of the largest meat processing companies in the country) wanted to eliminate human exposure to the freezing temperatures of the palletizing area while increasing productivity.

Frozen Food Robotic Palletizing Cell
  • Operate in an extremely low-temperature environment
  • Fit within a very limited space in the facility
  • Be delivered and installed with minimal disruption to the operation
  • Run for 16 hours/day, 365 days/year

The Solution

After carefully inspecting the client’s facility, environment and existing equipment, MMCI’s engineers concluded that a FANUC M-410iB/140H robotic palletizer with a ROBOSUITS protective enclosure and EOAT featuring eight pneumatic gripping heads would be the optimal solution for this application.

Protective Robot Suit

MMCI specified a highly flexible robot and outfitted it with a protective robot suit enclosure that featured an integrated heating system to keep the robot and its servo axes at an ambient temperature. The heating system supplies warm air into the suit when the temperature inside drops below the robot's minimum operating temperature and eliminates problems associated with frozen and blocked air lines.

Automated Pallet Dispenser

To further limit human exposure to the area, MMCI's engineers integrated a custom-designed MMCI FD-1500 Automated Pallet Dispenser into the robotic cell. With a pallet capacity of 15 pallets, the FD-1500 allows the robot to palletize for extended periods of time with little to no operator oversight.

Small Footprint Cell Design

MMCI designed a compact cell layout that would fit into the tight area. The solution was to integrate an automated pallet rotating turntable that would allow for the direct palletization of the cases - effectively streamlining and automating what was originally an entirely manual operation.

The Results

The robotic palletizing system has been running 16 hours a day, 365 days a year for three years without any downtime other than routine, scheduled maintenance.

How Can We Help?

At any stage of your automation project, we can help. Call us at 314-438-3300 or fill out the form below.