PACKAGING FOR SHELF-LIFE
Giannone Poultry vice-president and general manager Bruno Giannone proudly holding up a corrugated carton, converted by Norampac, denoting the poultry processor’s proud technological prowess in producing high-end air-chilled chicken products.
such as cases, totes, trays, bundles, drums and more.” The wide range of machinery available includes: conveyors, robotic case-packers, robotic palletizers, high-level palletizers, low-level palletizers, stretchwrappers, stretch hooders and other innovative equipment for small-, medium- and largescale production environment.
A Premier Tech Systems RPZ-900 central palletizing unit preparing to move corrugated cartons, filled with freshly packed chicken, onto the signature-blue CHEP shipping pallets at robust speeds of up to 13 cases per minute.
Already packed in totes or corrugated cartons, the processed chickens arrives at one of a pair of Premier Tech RPZ-900 central palletizing cells, each featuring 13 pallet stations. The RPZ-900 palletizing systems allows for simultaneous palletizing of multiple SKU’s (stockkeeping units) on multiple pallets.
“The RPZ-900 palletizing robotic systems used by Giannone Poultry are a fantastic system,” enthuses Corriveau. “It’s an integrated system that comes with stainlesssteel conveyors and barcode scanners and robots.” According to Corriveau, the palletizers also come fully-equipped with: • custom robot risers; • no set-up, servo-lateral fork robot gripper; • on-the-f loor pallet build stations, with no pallet conveyor or lift truck required; • an Allen-Bradley Compactlogix L43S Safety PLC (programmable logic controller) from Rockwell Automation; • an ISO 10218 safety enclosure and safety light barriers; • cables and cable trays; • central control cabinet; • all related system integration, commissioning and production assistance.
Pleasure Principle
A pallet load of reusable plastic totes containing bags of freshly-slaughtered air-chilled chicken is swiftly packed and securely stacked by one of the two Premier Tech Systems RPZ-900 central palletizing units employed at the busy facility.
22 • WWW.CANADIANPACKAGING.COM
02PAC-PFS-TAB.indd 22
“We are very pleased with the robotic palletizing systems we purchased from Premier Tech,” says Giannone. “Even aside from the precise work it performs, we also like that it comes in such a compact footprint.” For Premier Tech, outfitting the plant was a formidable design challenge. “Not only did we have to provide an automated solution to simultaneously palletize up to 13 different products, including cases and totes, but we had to do it in an existing 49-feet long by 12-feet high cooler while guaranteeing a palletizing load up to 6-feet high, while also ensuring there was proper clearance for lift-truck operators,” says Corriveau. “Plus they wanted to ensure there was still adequate storage in the 4°C or less in the refrigerated area.” “Speed, size, safety and had to work in a cold environment—all in a day’s work for Premier Tech,” Corriveau chuckles. The solution that Corriveau and Premier Tech conceived was to place the two RPZ-900 palletizers within a footprint of 23-foot 10-inches x 40-foot 3-inches, which also included an optimized robotic ceiling clearance of a half-inch. The key element of the Premier Tech palletizing cell is the M-410iB/140 H robot, manufactured by FANUC Robotics, which is a five-axis, servodriven robotic system that has a dedicated design
CANADIAN PACKAGING • MARCH 2014
14-03-10 3:07 PM