Estee Lauder besųg 9 - Soco Systems

SOCO SYSTEM A/S
Press release, November 2010
Robot-In-A-Box at Arla Foods solved “the impossible job”
- Compact “plug & play” concept made it all come together
Experience from Sara Lee provides new inspiration for Castello cheeses at Arla Foods
Probably only a few know that the popular Castello cheeses from Arla Foods come from a village
called Gjesing in Denmark and that they date back more than 100 years. Even fewer people know
that the world renowned crescent-shaped cheeses are stacked at full speed and with great precision
by means of Robot-In-A-Box from the Danish company Soco System.
At the beginning of 2010, packaging manager at Arla Foods, Benny Henriksen, read about the
compact Robot-In-A-Box in operation at Sara Lee and was stunned. At that time, the plan for
automatic palletising of Castello cheeses had actually been shelved. Previous analyses based on
traditional solutions such as free arm robots and pallet loaders were unable to ensure profitability in
eliminating the heavy, repetitive work and making the packaging of Castello cheeses more efficient.
The space available at the dairy in Gjesing was so limited that the free arm robots with their long
arms would have to be placed in an adjacent room. This would, furthermore, have required an over
head conveyor system from production to the robot room. This definitely did not make the project
more realistic.
Limited space could not stop Robot-In-A-Box
However, this solution at Sara Lee that had proved to be both ultra compact and quite profitable
made Benny Henriksen call Soco System. He was well prepared from previous contacts and quickly
explained the limited measures. However, this was no problem at all for the system supplier in
“end-of-line” automation as the unique solution from this company is based on an ultra compact
gantry robot. In contrast to the traditional free arm robots, the gantry robot has a much smaller
working area without compromising with the speed. At Arla Foods, up to 20 cartons per minute are
handled. A few days after Soco System had informed that the robot measures were merely
2800 mm x 1800 mm x 2285 mm, Benny Henriksen’s team came up with a simple cardboard model
illustrating how the Robot-In-A-Box could be placed in the compact dairy.
Precise cooling required unique multifunctional gripper
Another demand on Soco System was a gripper being able, in one operation, to lift accumulated
cartons from the belt, separate them with only a few centimetres between the pillars and place them
precisely according to instructions from Arla Foods. These demands are vital to ensure that the
finished pallets to be cooled have a uniform temperature in all 571 cartons on the pallet. This
required a special multifunctional gripper.
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“Plug & play” rather than engineer solutions!!
Another element from the Sara Lee project that Benny Henriksen noticed was the simplicity.
“I was even more surprised to learn that this was a standard “plug & play” product. Until then, I
only knew robot projects as heavy and complex demanding considerable resources. We are not quite
looking for an “engineer project” at a dairy focusing on ensuring efficient production and logistics.
A visit to Sara Lee confirmed to us that we were not to be guinea pigs but were facing a tested
technology.
It was yet another benefit to us that the Robot-In-A-Box handles both UK- and EU-pallets”.
“We were so impressed that we just went for it”
The curiosity at Arla Foods was not to be mistaken. When Benny Henriksen had clicked a few times
on the Soco System web and saw the Robot-In-A-Box in action he was all smiles. Benny Henriksen
tells: “We were so impressed with what we saw that we just went for it”. In the following days, the
video clip was seen by curious employees and management wanting to see themselves how the future
could look like. One of the cornerstones in the project was the importance of involving the
employees from the start to ensure back-up for and understanding of the new project. Operator, Søs
Nielsen, tells: “We were all very anxious to see which changes the robot could bring to our
workplace and how it could eliminate the repetitive heavy lifts of cartons high on the pallets. With
700 cartons per hour of approximately 1 kg, quite many lifts and twists are made daily. We definitely
would not mind getting rid of that”.
Payback in just 1½ years and good ergonomics easily transformed the idea into action!
In spite of the good intentions, Arla Foods could not ignore finances.
After visiting the Internet, calculations were made showing that the payback on Robot-In-A-Box was
1½ years. Such short investment horizon eliminated the known budget rounds and the robot was
ordered at the beginning of March 2010. It was delivered at the end of June. The following Monday
morning, Arla Foods had cleared the floor and the entire system was operating on Wednesday. This
did not make packaging manager, Benny Henriksen, get into a sweat. “It was more or less just
“unpack - connect - operate”. The installation work was limited to 4 bolts to the floor and
connection of the Soco System flexi conveyor to our packaging machine. The days after the
commissioning, we made minor adjustments of the pallet patterns and of the pallet height, however,
it was insignificant compared to the other robot projects I have been involved in. With
Robot-In-A-Box, the cheeses are even placed with such precision which would have been difficult to
achieve with manual palletising. In this way, we have an even bigger guarantee for precise cooling”.
24/7 operation with up to 20 cartons per minute provides experience in record time
The popular Castello cheeses are now in their peak season which means 24 hour operation, 7 days a
week in 3 shifts. Benny Henriksen tells with great satisfaction: “We have had very few stops on the
system. Robot-In-A-Box is so simple that we can handle it ourselves. We can type in new pallet
patterns in the robot direct from the control panel and have them operational within 10-15 minutes.
The “Cape”programme also from Soco System has been used in Arla Foods for several years to
create new pallet patterns, both for manual and automatic systems. Also in our daily operation, we
are self-propelled. And when the robot stops we can usually get it started within very short time.
With a consecutive flow of pallets with 571 cartons, this does make a difference to us! The simple
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operation is quite unique compared to the free arm robots we have. They are so complex that we
typically have to call in specialists from the manufacturer”.
Operator, Søs Nielsen, tells: “It is now much more fun going to work. It is, of course, much better to
monitor the “work-horse” than having to lift cartons yourself and you are not so tired at the end of
the working day”. Benny Henriksen supplements: “Previously, we spent quite some time on planning
of rotations due to the heavy lifts. We can now spend this time on planning and optimising. We are
even able to come up with ideas for Soco System for further improvement of Robot-In-A-Box which
means that the cooperation goes both ways”.
Annual saving of DKK 400,000 and elimination of the red Ega zone
Not only ergonomics and operation have been improved. An annual saving of DKK 400,000 is a fact
that speaks for itself. Even though the dairy is not one of the biggest dairies there is more than
1 packaging line. A second robot has, therefore, now been put on the budget for 2011. And there is
virtually no chance that the project will be forgotten because the employees on the adjacent
packaging line have already started asking when they too will get a “work-horse” to simplify the
daily routines at the famous dairy.
On Arla Foods, Castello dairy:
The dairy was founded in 1895 and is situated in the village Gjesing in Denmark - the place where the
Castello cheese was “invented”. They are manufactured in 3 variants: Blue Castello, Black Castello, and an
organic variant. They are packed in 6 or 10 unit display cartons. The Arla Foods dairy employs 120 employees
today, of which 35 employees are in the packaging division. The dairy primarily manufactures Castello
cheeses for most European countries and for distant markets such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South
America, South Africa, and Singapore. For more information, see:
www.arlafoods.com
On Soco System:
Soco System is a Danish supplier of equipment for automatic packaging and handling - with subsidiaries in
Europe and in the US and with more than 50 international dealers. The company has a complete “end-of-line”
concept including carton erecting, carton sealing, robot palletising, film wrapping, and automatic conveyor
systems. Soco System employs approximately 170 employees and has an annual turnover of more than
DKK 170 mill. For more information, see:
www.socosystem.com
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FOTOS
(SOCO_System_Arla_ Foods_10.jpg):
Packaging manager, Benny Henriksen, at Arla Foods in front of the robot solution from
Soco System: “With Robot-In-A-Box, we found the simple solution to the difficult job”.
(SOCO_System_Arla_ Foods_20.jpg):
Robot-In-A-Box - a “plug & play” solution: “Unpack - connect - operate”, and does not take up
much more space than a pallet.
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(SOCO_System_Arla_ Foods_30.jpg):
Operator, Søs Nielsen, is pleased with the user friendly touch screen and the
speedy activation of new pallet patterns.
(SOCO_System_Arla_ Foods_40.jpg):
The special multifunctional gripper collects up to 4 cartons at a time and places them on the pallet
with spacing to ensure correct cooling during storage.
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