MU May / June 2015

22 MACHINERY UPDATE MAY/JUNE 2015 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
Installation News
Collaborative robots meet the
case packing demands of teas
Frontline Packaging has
designed and built a case
packer that includes a
collaborative robot as part of
a complete line for Fairtrade
tea producer Clipper Teas.
Known more as a distributor
of end of line equipment, this
new machine is the first the
company has designed and
built from scratch and is the
result of the company’s move
to new premises last July and
its ability to therefore ramp up
its engineering offer.
RE-ENGINEERING
As managing director of
Frontline Tony Hacker
tells Machinery Update,
“We have always used our
re-engineering skills on
machinery we customise for
our customers, but this is the
first time we have designed
and built a machine from the
ground up.
“And the use of Universal
Robots supplied to us by RA
Rodriguez has been the key to
the success of the machine,”
he says.
Hacker first saw these
robots in action at the PPMA
Show a couple of years ago
and was impressed with
their small footprint. “These
robots are compact as well
Tony Hacker set up Frontline in
2012 and now represents several
companies in the UK
Robots allow carton collations to be tilted to avoid any clash with top flaps
as versatile and we can now
offer this combination for case
packing,” he says.
He believes that as a small
company, it recognises the
need to be flexible and is open
minded to changing customer
demands. It is currently
working on new robotic case
packing options, for instance.
“It’s a first for Frontline
Packaging in many ways,”
says Hacker. “We’re very happy
with the way it went as we
handled the whole Clipper Tea
project in-house, including
machinery supplied by other
companies and it has worked
extremely well since the day it
was commissioned on site.”
Due to an increase in
business, particularly from
the export market, Clipper
needed to increase its
production capacity for string
& tag tea. This led to the
purchase of an additional tea
machine to manufacture the
tea bags which in turn created
the need for a whole new
packaging line to pack the
tea cartons into perforated
shelf-ready cases.
The line needed to produce
and pack a wide selection
of case collations including
cartons containing many
different flavour variants.
COMPLEX PROJECT
Hacker believes Clipper chose
Frontline for this complex
project because it displayed
a clear understanding of the
brief and had performed well
when it previously supplied
and installed four automatic
shrink-wrapping systems
and a pallet stretch wrapper.
Frontline initially surveyed
the application and proposed
a complete solution for
packing the tea cartons from
the point where they exit from
the tea bag making machine.
The final line includes
the Frontline designed and
manufactured case packer
and conveyor as well as a
carton closer, case erector,
case sealer and print &
apply labeller. The company
installed and commissioned
the complete system through
in-house project management.
It also worked closely with
Clipper to ensure the design
of the cases worked efficiently
within the new system.
This is the first time that we
have designed and built a case
packing machine from scratch