Okura E-Newsletter August 2007

August 2007

Robot Palletizer Steps Into Flour Industry

Flour - one of the most commonly-produced food ingredients in the world. Commonly made from wheat, it is a key ingredient for bread, a staple food for many countries. Global production for wheat in 2007 was projected at 594.5 million tons.

As part of this dynamic global industry, the FFM Group, a dominant group of companies in the Malaysian wheat flour industry had grown exponentially since its commencement of operations in the mid 1960s. One of its subsidiaries, Johor Bahru Flour Mill Sdn Bhd (JBFM) located at Pasir Gudang, Johor Darul Takzim, which commenced operations in the mid 1970s, started with a single flour mill. Today, it has expanded to 3 flour mills with a land area of approximately 10 acres.

A key contributing factor for this strong growth is their corporate emphasize in constantly upgrading its facilities & technologies. The advancement of palletizing technologies prompted a major change & improvement in the backend of their production facilities. JBFM holds the prestigious record of being the first flour mill in South-East Asia to utilize a robot palletizer.

Manual Labour

In the past, JBFM relied on manual labour to place filled flour bags from the production line onto pallets for delivery & shipment. The manual palletizing process required 2 staff per palletizing station per shift & caused fatigue at a fast rate.

Palletizing staff had to be trained & supervised on the carrying & loading of the 25 kg bags of flour to ensure that correct carrying postures are adopted. Incorrect postures can result in injuries to the neck & back, subsequently leading to high medical costs & loss of man-hours. The above factors would reduce overall operation efficiency & palletizing capacity, resulting in lower productivity.

Besides the workforce, the JBFM management also had concerns on the level of hygiene of the end product due to the amount of body contact.

Evaluation & Considerations

The JBFM management launched a detailed research & evaluation of various solutions to address the above issues. With rising labour costs, an automated solution with minimal maintenance is required to reduce the cost of the labour-intensive process drastically. The palletizing equipment must operate at high capacity & in dusty environment. A robust & reliable equipment is needed to reduce the rate of maintenance, repairs & subsequently, downtime & efficiency loss. Expandability of palletizing capacity is another crucial requirement for the long-term plans of the forward-thinking organization.

The company adopted the solution proposed by Okura Flexible Automation Systems Pte Ltd (OFAS), Singapore subsidiary of Okura Yusoki Co., Ltd.

The Solution

OFAS proposed an automated palletizing system. A conveyor transports filled flour bags from the production line to the palletizing station, while the Okura A1600 robot palletizer does the rigorous work of palletizing filled flour bags accurately onto automatically-deployed pallets.

This system works at a palletizing capacity of 900 bags/hour & does not require staff for its operation. With a potential capacity of 1,200 bags/hour, the potential increment of 33% can be effected as & when JBFM requires it. The JBFM management recognized that the potential capacity increase & reduction in manpower ensures a fast ROI for this investment.

Filled bags are securely gripped by the dust-proof robot palletizer end effector, eliminating contact with humans in the palletizing process. All the equipment in the system meets HACCP (international food safety standard) specifications. Custom-made seals for the end effector prevent flour & dust from entering its internal parts.

A key area which differentiated OFAS from other solution providers was their specialty in the area of bag palletizing. The bags are quite fluid & soft in nature. Palletizing without consideration on shaping of the bags may result in deformed & unstable pallets. OFAS´s solution consists of a bag flattener & "pressers" on the end effector to form & maintain the bags in a flat & stable shape.

Installation of the entire system in JBFM took 2 weeks. Production was not interrupted during the installation period as it was meticulously planned & executed in phases. Programming of the robot palletizer was done off-site via OXPA, the Okura proprietary software. This user-friendly application allows the user to program the robot palletizer for all functions.

The Okura robot palletizer has the advantage of being deployable in a small area, compared to conventional palletizers. The floor space utilized by the entire system was about the same as previously used for manual palletizing.

The JBFM management commented that the key strength of the Okura robot palletizer is the low maintenance requirement. A major factor for its 2 years of trouble-free operation is the low number of moving parts in the Okura robot palletizer. The company was also impressed by OFAS´s fast & efficient after-sales service.

With a second robot palletizer already installed in another of JBFM´s palletizing areas, the FFM Group is satisfied with its ace performance & is now looking forward to implement this palletizing method into every one of its plants in South-East Asia.

Robot Palletizer Web Content Launch

The OFAS website feature on the Okura robot palletizer had been updated to provide concise information on all aspects of the high-performance product and its featues. Go to webpage >>>

Product Specifications
Full product specifications had been included for both the A700 & A1600 Okura robot palletizers. A700 >>> A1600 >>>

Applicability
This section shows the various industries for which Okura robot palletizers had been reliably & efficiently utilized in, as well as some of the product types that can be handled. Read more >>>

End Effectors
The end effector is the portion of the robot palletizer that "handles" the products to be palletized. Okura designs & maunfactures end effectors with security, safety & effectiveness in mind. It is also a prime requirement that handled products are not damaged by the end effector. Read more >>>

Peripheral Equipment
Peripheral equipment such as pallet dispensers, conveyors & others are vital in their roles to provide products & pallets for the robot palletizer system. This also includes important safety features such as safety fence & warning lights. Read more >>>

Software
The Okura robot palletizer utilizes the OXPA Qm-2 software for full-functionality online & offline programming. OXPA PLC software is also available for programming of the built-in soft PLC. Read more >>>

Regional Centre of Excellence for Robot Palletizer
The Regional Centre of Excellence for Robot Palletizer is the pioneer centre outside of Japan for the research & development of the Okura robot palletizer. Managed by Okura Corporate University's Singapore Campus, the centre also provides training in operation & maintenance for all engineers. Read more >>>

® Okura Flexible Automation Systems Pte Ltd (OFAS)

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