One of the UK’s leading suppliers of material handling solutions has this month completed its 75th Kawasaki robot installation.
Haith Group installed the robot as part of a complete packing solution at Peakdale Quarry Products in Derbyshire, part of the Border Aggregates Group.
Established over 30 years ago, Border Aggregates supplies natural aggregates and stone products to the landscaping and construction industry throughout the UK.
The new line replaces an existing semi-automated system and allows Border Aggregates to fulfil increased demand from builders’ merchants for bagged products.
The material is loaded into a ground hopper and is then elevated into the factory where it is deposited into a weigher. With the desired weight achieved, the product drops into a GIC5100 vertical form fill and seal packing machine which creates the 20kg and 25kg bags. As the bag drops vertically, there is some air at the top of the bag above the product, this is levelled as it passes over a series of square rollers helping the material inside to move into the void. As the bag’s contents are uniformly distributed within the bag, they can be palletised evenly by the robot.
Finally the palletised pack pass through a light barrier out of the perimeter guarding and accumulates on an outfeed conveyor ready for removal by forklift.
“We are very pleased with our new robotic palletising line,” says Stephen Pelter, Director and General Manager at Border Aggregates. “Before this new line went in, we were using a combination of manual labour and ageing machinery, which was becoming unreliable and obsolete. We have Haith machinery at all of our sites and are impressed with their efficiency and reliability, so we had no hesitation in talking to them about how they could help us. Paul and his team came up with an excellent design which fits all of the components we need into a very tight space. The new line has only been running for a few weeks, but we can already see that it will allow us to deliver greater volumes and is much more efficient than our previous line.”
Haith’s relationship with Border Aggregates started 25 years ago with Haith Industrial introducing several innovative features to its bulk handling solutions at that time. In particular, Haith started working with Kawasaki in the mid-1990s, utilising 180kg robots to handle bags of up to 25kg, meaning there is little to no stress on the joints, ensuring longevity.
“We are delighted to have reached this milestone,” says Paul Ramplin, Technical Sales Manager at Haith. “The combination of Haith’s engineering expertise, GIC vertical form fill and seal machines and Kawasaki robots has resulted in a highly efficient, reliable and long-lasting bulk handling packing solution. “In my opinion, the Kawasaki robots we use are some of the most reliable robots that you can buy. I know of robots that have been working for 20 years and have not missed a beat. I am sure that the robot installed in the line for Border Aggregates will be equally as reliable and will serve them for many years to come as they continue to grow their business.”
