Industry 4.0: how do robots facilitate palletizing?
The world may be in the digital age; many areas still escape Industry 4.0. Palletizing is one of them. Like many manufacturers, do you still palletize by hand? Find out how robotics can allow you to automate these tasks to reduce your operators’ MSDs and save precious time!
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What is Industry 4.0?
Sometimes called “industry of the future” or “factory of the future,” Industry 4.0 describes the massive integration of new technologies in the industry. In short, it is a fourth industrial revolution that encompasses a multitude of tools and various concepts:
- Artificial intelligence, Big data, Cloud Computing
- Augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality
- Industrial connected objects
- Production (CAPM) and enterprise (ERP) management software
- Simulation tools
- Communication infrastructure
- Robotics, robotics, exoskeletons
- And many others!
Do you use some of these tools daily? Well done! This means that you already have a foothold in Industry 4.0.
What is the place of robots in Industry 4.0?
Robots arrived in our production sites at the end of the 20th century. They have never ceased to be redesigned, reworked, improved, and perfected to be today a flagship and essential element of Industry 4.0. Industrial robots are a great way to automate certain tasks to increase business performance and reduce operator TMS issues.
- However, Industry 4.0 robots are different because they can give you a lot more:
- Flexibility, flexibility, and customization: thanks to simplified programming tools
- Interactivity: cobots allow close collaboration between the robot and the operator
Efficiency: through reduced programming times and thanks to new tools (Big Data, Cloud Computing, connected sensors);
How does Industry 4.0 make it possible to robotize palletizing?
It may sound surprising, but in the industry, most palletizing operations are still carried out manually. If this is your case, you are certainly aware of the problems of MSD caused by palletizing, mainly in the lower back.
- Robotic palletizing: it’s possible!
- Lucky for you, robotic palletizing is now possible, and it can bring you a lot of benefits:
- Elimination of the problem of TMS
- Falling objects no longer pose a risk of injury.
- Time-saving
- Less staff needed for palletizing
How does robotic palletizing work?
Robotic palletizing is not just telling a robot, “take a package and put it on a pallet.” No, it’s more subtle than that. Palletizing is “taking an object, placing it in a particular direction, in a specific place to create layers.”
Clearly, we speak of polarization when there is a notion of storage and organization. Therefore, if your task is to move an object from point A to point B, it is not palletizing but Picks and places.
It may seem trivial, but for a robot, it makes a huge difference because robotic palletizing requires:
- Objects of the same size and stackable
- The creation of a palletization plan
Robot configuration and palletization plan
The implementation of robotic palletizing implies a configuration that is not always easy to carry out but necessary. Indeed, before the robot can operate on your channel, you will have to provide it with a certain amount of information:
- The weight and inertia of the tool
- The weight of the boxes
- The coordinates of each element: pallet, tools, the position of each box
Colmac – one of the best Automatic Robotic Palletizing Machine suppliers in India.
