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Key Technology

• Computer-controlled 5 camera Cognex Vision System for product verification and quality control
• 2 Fanuc 410i robots complete with pallet destacking and perimeter guarding
• Zero pressure conveyor (Hytrol ABEZ), minimum pressure (Hytrol ACC) and Gapper belt conveyors
• Hytrol MRT bi-directional strand sorter
• Chain Driven Live Roller Pallet Conveyor

Business Challenges

• Fully automate the distribution and palletizing of full cases by installing multi-line palletizing with 10 inbound manufacturing lines
• Preserve the ergonomic health of employees through a reduction in long-term operator injury resulting from hours of hand palletization
• Increase Quality Control capabilities
• Provide Chelsea Milling with system flexibility for future growth

Results

• The design goal of 55 cartons per minute (CPM) was met, successfully positioning Chelsea Milling to meet future projected growth demands
• The new system reduced the number of operators needed for each shift
• The Cognex Vision System has increased quality control and case inspecting capabilities
• Overall, this state-of-the-art system helps Chelsea Milling meet the demand of their valued customers with greater accuracy, exceptional quality, and in a manner that protects their valued employees

Case Study Video- Script

The Michigan based Chelsea Milling Company is operated by a family whose roots in the flour milling business date back to the early 1800's. Their private business has been milling flour here in Chelsea for over 120 years. For over a century the company has remained traditional in every sense.

Chelsea Milling is located in the small town of Chelsea Milling, hometown of actor and screenwriter Jeff Daniels.

Chelsea Milling is best know for their traditional favorites such as corn muffin or baking mix under the Jiffy name with the addition of recently added flavors

CM's staff is a key ingredient of their success. Many team members have decades of experience and take pride in their duties to make the company run smoothly. Many of the custom milling and packaging machines date as far back as the early 1950's and are still . However CM is slowly venturing into the modern era of technology to maintain market their share.

Howard "Howdy" Holmes is the grandson of founder Mabel Holmes. Howdy left the company as a salesman in the late 60's to chase his dream of professional racing for the next 20 years until finally returning to eventually become CEO and is still active in the daily management duties today.

Chelsea Milling has consistantly maintained their market share in good times and bad. Howdy has been know to say their company is "recession" food at less than a dollar per box.

Over the last 20years CM has made attempts to automate their distribution and palletizing of full cases. This includes the installation of two dedicated conventional palletizers. However a majority of the cases were still manually palletized. This is due to the wide variety product manufactured during a single shift. Until recently operators had to manually identify cases on the fly, pick them off the inbound gravity conveyor and hand stack these non-stop. During peak holiday seasons this could prove to be very labor intensive with numerous line operators required.

The palletizing system handles three styles of cases. The largest of the three are the 40oz sized 12 pack. These weigh 33lbs. The 6 pack case style encompassed 80% of the product volume.Open trays are typically for shelf ready display and could either be loose boxes or shrink wrapped. These are palletized using conventional or manual palletizers.

The engineering team at CM, with the assistance of BMH, attempted to convince upper management that it was time to reconsider their conventional ways of unitizing full cases. It was clear that the two existing and dated palletizers could only handle a single product type at a time. Staffing of the palletizing line required numerous rotational breaks to relieve fatigued operators.

Upon approval for funding on the palletizer project the plant engineering team rolled out an aggressive project scope. This came with the usual cost and floor space constraints. Our team finally was able to agree on a best design within the very limited floor space. The plant insisted on staying within the boundaries of the previous manual palletizing area which drastically limited such factors as sorter options, product accumulation, robot cell size and fork truck access. All of this had to fit in a confined space.

BMH was able to meet all of Chelsea Millings requirements and allow for future growth. The system required that we install a temporary manual palletizing line to allow the new system to be installed. This required that we re-use some of the existing conveyor that would eventually be part of the main system. This proved to be a challenge in itself but we were able to successfully reuse many of the existing gravity and belt conveyors

This initial phase of the cut in was at one of two existing overhead conveyor trunks. This complete rework and installation had to be performed at the close of plant on a Friday and be back up and operational by Sunday evening of the same week including testing and debug. These two trunks are the main conveyors that deliver finished product from manufacturing located approximately 1,500 feed upstream.

The North conveyor feeds corn muffin mix to an existing dedicated Von Gol conventional palletizer. Our new system is fed from the South conveyor trunk and handles 10 manufacturing lines producing consistently 44 cartons per minute, 3 shifts for 6 days per week. Based on the previous design if either of these lines jam or shut down the plant needs to halt production or hand stack at the case packing machines. New concepts are currently being considered to improve flexibility on these lines.

Part of the new overhead ABEZ and LRC conveyors were installed during straight time up to the area of the cut in. We then were able to install the critical components during the weekend shutdown. During the weekend shutdown we were able to relocate the manual palletizing equipment and install it outside the construction area which gave us a clear area to install the sortation and robotic system over the next several weeks. We were able convince management to leave the temporary line in place after start up. It would be used as a secondary palletizing back up should a complete sorter shutdown be required. We included a roll away powered curve that could switch cases from the main line onto the temporary gravity line, shown in this slide, in a matter of minutes.

The Hytrol MRT proved to be a great choice. The base system as sold used a standard side scanner for the sorter induction. One challenge was the limited accumulation per lane feeding the robots which occasionally sent cases to the recirculation loop. We were limited to approximately 15 cases on each ABEZ lane. With the bar code induction scanner labels would need to be applied to the cases back in manufacturing for product identification at induction. This would require the plant to upgrade label printers on all 11 lines. BMH proposed a change order for a side vision system that would recognize the line number printed on the case. This would be translated by the PLC sort routine as what product was being produced and what sort lane to send the case for palletizing. This system saved the plant from having to purchase printers on all lines and they could keep the case design without costly carton changes.

Shortly after we received a change order to upgrade to the Cognex induction vision scanner, management requested us to propose a quality check at the same time we scanned each case for induction. The system ended up evolving to a computer controlled, 5 camera vision system to not only determine sorter destination but to detect case flaws such as torn sides, printer flaws and missing boxes. In the past this required an operator to sit line side and pull cases off the line. This was the first vision system implemented in the plant.

The existing Alvey palletizer remained as part of the system and could palletize any of the products. However it was primarily used to palletize trays which the robots were not configured to handle at this time. The MRT sorter as shown has bi-directional capabilities while maintaining rate.

With the change order to incorporate the vision quality inspection system this also allowed us to propose an expanded hand stack and reject by-pass spur. This was due to an increase of reject volume that would be detected with the quality check system.

This sort destination offered flexibility to allow manual palletizing during exceptional peak periods or when additional special products were run that either the robot or Alvey palletizers were not configured to handle. It also allowed technicians to perform work on either the Alvey or Robot palletizers.

The two Fanuc 410i robots were used to palletize the large and small case sizes. ABEZ infeed accumulation lanes and full pallet CDLR discharge conveyors were utilized. The robots were configured to pick two cases for each cycle. There was only one pallet pattern per case size which made lane assignments simple. The HMI input only had to indicate whether the lane was to be set up for large or small cases. We were able to send up to 5 lines to any of the 6 robot holding lanes for added flexibility. EOAT included pallet clamps to pick wood pallets from static stands and place them directly on the CDLR conveyors. Finished pallets are powered out of the cell onto gravity conveyor for fork truck pick up.

The two Fanuc 410i robots were used to palletize the large and small case sizes. ABEZ infeed accumulation lanes and full pallet CDLR discharge conveyors were utilized. The robots were configured to pick two cases for each cycle. There was only one pallet pattern per case size which made lane assignments simple. The HMI input only had to indicate whether the lane was to be set up for large or small cases. We were able to send up to 5 lines to any of the 6 robot holding lanes for added flexibility. EOAT included pallet clamps to pick wood pallets from static stands and place them directly on the CDLR conveyors. Finished pallets are powered out of the cell onto gravity conveyor for fork truck pick up.

Chelsea Milling indicated at the initial project line up meeting that local support was important. This proved to be even more important considering the extended project timeline due to the added change orders. Travel was limited and local trades were within an hour from the plant with the exception of Jim Kendall who traveled from St. Louis to assist with the sortation programming. This project proved to be very successful and we look forward to several opportunities to come. They are known for their plant tours over the years including segments shown on the Food Network. The palletizing system has been added as a highlight to their plant tour.