One of our manufacturers recently designed and implemented an automated robotic depalletizer and bag dump station for a customer in the chemical industry. The system involves a robotic depalletizer that unstacks 50 lb. bags of chemical powders from a shipping pallet located to the left and right side of the robot. The bags are picked up 3 at a time and placed 1 at a time on a conveyor that transports them to an inclined belt conveyor that discharges them into automatic bag dump station. In this article, we’ll provide an overview of the system, explain how the automated system works using a vision system, and outline the features and benefits of the system.
Automating the stacking, or palletizing, of bags at the end of a packaging line with a used robot bag stacker can provide a fast return on investment. Palletizing robots can be oriented in any direction to accept bag inflow from a new or existing bagging system. They minimize the risk of repetitive injuries caused by stacking heavy bags on shipping pallets, while simultaneously reducing labor and staffing requirements.
This valve bag filling system is used to fill 50 Lb. paper valve bags with different types of high-quality silica sand. After filling, bags are conveyed to a robotic palletizer that automatically stacks the bags on pallet.
This type of silica sand is a high-quality round and sub-round silica sand with mesh sizes ranging between 8×16 and 100. It has many uses including:
turf sand used for infill to protect artificial turf and increase its life expectancy
roofing sand for specialty roofing tiles, flooring titles, and colored grout
building and industrial sands as an ideal base for construction, concrete, bricks, foundry, and flooring
water filtration sand used in wells, filters, and other water fixtures
This packaging and robotic palletizer system fills craft paper bags with 25, 40, or 50 Lbs. of livestock minerals and supplements. It includes a hopper, net weigh bag filling machine, high-speed sewing system, and robotic palletizer with 2 bag stack zones. It replaced an existing bag filling and packaging line at the feed service company that has been in business since 1946.
An Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC) System is used to prepare a homogeneous dry blend of base polymers and additives before the extrusion phase in a plastic compounding process. Plastic compounding and toll processing companies first use an IBC system to create a lab formulation or test to confirm final product characteristics before creating a masterbatch. Once a final product has been confirmed, the same IBC system is used to create a larger batch or production run.
IBC is easily transported by forklift to other discharge stations
This type of set up using an Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC) System is also known as a decoupled system because ingredients can be moved, mixed, and blended independently inside the IBCs.
The Grain and Corn Bagging System combines product storage, filling, and bag closing into one system. Efficiently fill and close 30-50 lb. paper and poly-woven open mouth style bags.
The system has been engineered for bagging deer corn (whole corn), feed, seed, and other grains. The manual, or mechanical, bagging option includes automatic weighing. The system is upgradeable to a higher packaging speed with the addition of a high-speed bag sewing system to quickly close the bags. Additional options are available including hand held bag sewing machines, bag flattening conveyors, and bag stacking systems.
The video below shows a bag palletizing robot stacking 50 lb. paper valve bags onto a pallet located on the floor per the programmed bag placement design. This robot was added to an existing bag filling system to reduce labor costs and increase automation.
This system is used for bagging salt into 40 Lb. poly bags. It includes a hopper, net weigh bagging machine, band sealer, and manual bag stacking station with pallet wrapper machine.
A co-op in Iowa replaced their existing bagging machine with a high-speed net-weigher used to fill 50Lb craft paper bags with cracked corn and pelleted feeds.
High-speed bagging machine added to existing packaging system
This cooperative grinds approximately 50,000+ bushels of corn per day at all of their feed mills. They primarily supply swine feed, but also produce cattle feed and dairy feed.
The automatic bag placer machine picks up, hangs, and clamps an empty open mouth bag onto a bagger before product is discharged into a bag. Up to 20 bags per minute are possible and it works with both new / existing net weigh and gross weigh bagging scales. With this type of automation, one full-time operator can be removed from the bagging system.
The bagging system shown in the video below allows one operator to use 3 valve bag filling machines, or air pressure packers, to fill 50 lb. bags of fertilizer at a rate of 15-18 bags per minute.
