Palletizing candy orders and never squeezing the chocolates

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on the innovative system developed to automatically palletize orders of cartons of candy for shipment to distribution centers.

Design/methodology/approach

Designers study the manual system employed by the customer and focused on dividing the workload across robotic and traditional palletizing equipment.

Findings

As many as 15 workers could be redistributed to other areas of the plant, as well as helping to prevent injuries, without increasing floor space needed.

Practical implications

Robotics can be very useful but are not always the correct answer for all aspects of every application.

Originality/value

Knowing what others have accomplished can be very useful in structuring an approach to a new automated assembly requirement.

Citation

Bloss, R. (2010), "Palletizing candy orders and never squeezing the chocolates", Assembly Automation, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 32-35. https://doi.org/10.1108/01445151011016037