Bag Case Loading System

This system case-packs bagged frozen and refrigerated food across three production lines. Bags come off the customer’s line onto our pick conveyor, a 3D vision camera locates them, and two dual-head robotic cells pick each bag and place it into a case traveling the opposite direction through the cell. The customer needed more than thirty SKUs handled, each with its own bag size, case size, and pack pattern. As Systems Engineer, I defined the scope and fault logic, configured the cells and vision systems, and coordinated the mechanical and controls work through commissioning.

Product sits in a spiral freezer before it reaches our cells, so a stoppage on our system could leave product sitting and cause frost damage. We added a timer that tracks how long the system has been stopped. If it runs past the limit, it forces the freezer’s conveyor to keep running and raises an alarm. Most case-loading cells don’t have to reach back into upstream equipment like that.

We also found that oversized product could tear a case as the robot placed it, and we added a warning to the scope after commissioning.

• Site verification: The floor sloped a little over a degree across the length of the system, which made lining up infeed and discharge elevations harder. A floor slope measurement during the pre-installation visit would have caught it.
• Vision: The camera had more trouble finding orientation on square bags than on taller or more distinctly shaped ones, which is worth planning for when a recipe includes square product.
• What worked: Using curved instead of rectangular motion limits extended the robots’ reach near the case conveyor, and it’s now a technique I reach for on other cells.
• Base design: A recurring pneumatic pressure issue kept coming back on service visits, and a check valve fixed it each time. That valve belongs in the base design.