Krones Material Handling Case Study

Key Technologies
Business Challenges
Results
Case Study Video- Script

Key Technologies

BMH Robotics Pallet Conveyor, Lifts, Shuttle Car, Stackers, and Centering Devices
BMH and Hytrol Case Conveyor
Blue Arc Engineering Vertical Sortation and Puller
Intralox Descrambler
Warehouse Management System and conveyor controls
12 vision identification systems
2 Krones Robobox's, 1 Kuka full layer depalletizing robot, 3 Krones Multidividers (Stewart Switches.)

Business Challenges

Work with Krones to develop a new generation of Mixed Pallet Building System.
Reduce operational labor requirements
Provide flexibility to build mixed pallets from an ever changing beverage market

Results

BMH leveraged 24V conveyor technologies in a cost efficient manner throughout the case conveyor system
A turnkey integrated material handling system was implemented t hat will meet the design goals set forth by Pepsi
The provided material handling system will be straightforward to operate and train new employees on
Pepsi will have the capability to execute the distribution process with a high degree of accuracy, safety and reliability
The system exceeds the specified throughput requirements

Case Study Video- Script

Krones is an equipment manufacturer and integrator that employs approximately 10,000 people world wide, with consolidated sales in 08 that totaled 2.381 billion Euros. They operate predominately on the medium, high and ultra-high output segments, Krones' strengths are in the Beer, non-alcoholic beverages, milk, wine, food, chemical industry, health care, and industrial systems.

The organizational chart displayed here shows the relationship between the 4 main companies. Pepsi engaged Krones for a turn key solution and krones contracted BMH and BMH Robotics to engineer and supply conveyor hardware.

This project is located in Twinsburg, Oh about 30 miles SE of Cleveland. This map shows the key project participants and their regional location.

Krones supported the project from multiple locations including Wisconsin and internationally from Germany.

Mark Gaskill and Matt Kohler began working with Krones in June 08. The system has not achieved Final Acceptance yet, but it is in production and after a recent throughput test Krones determined that the system exceeds the specified throughput requirements.

This system handles a variety of cases including plastic trays, heavy corrugated boxes, thin cardboard retail cases, shrink wrapped cases with cardboad inserts, and film only plastic water bottles.

Our goal was to provide a RELIABLE, streamlined, cost effective, material handling system that will reduce operational labor requirements while maintaining accuracy. We Leveraged low voltage technologies in a cost efficient manner throughout the case conveyor system. Implemented a turnkey integrated material handling system that will meet the design goals set forth by Krones. Provided an material handling system that will be easy to operate and train new employees on, while having the desired complexity to execute Krones' distribution process with a high degree of accuracy, safety and reliability. Notes taken from pg 6 of 080612 BMH – Krones Red Rabbit Case Conveyor Proposal.pdf.

The project scope break down is that BMH Robotics provided pallet lifts, shuttle cars, stackers, conveyor, and installation of the pallet conveyor and BMH provided the steel support structure, case conveyor, and installation for the Krones system.

Krones supplied and integrated a variety of critical system components including all WMS and conveyor controls, 12 vision identification systems, 2 Krones Robobox's, 1 Kuka full layer depalitizing robots, 3 Krones Multidividers more commonly known as Stewart Switches, and finally the DLS storage structure.

The BMHR inbound area consists of 4 pallet stackers, 3 centering devices, 2 pallet lifts, a 40' shuttle car, and approximately 240' of 3 strand drag chain. Operators load full homogeneous pallets prior to the Kuka depalitizer or either of the manual depalitization lifts. Based on current order requirements the whole pallet may not be inducted into the case conveyor system. Partial pallets are then transferred to the west line by the shuttle car for discharge from the system. Empty pallets are acculumated in one of the four pallet stackers until the stacker is full and then the full stack of empties are discharged from the system.

Operators load full homogeneous pallets prior to the Kuka depalitizer or either of the manual depalitization lifts. Based on current order requirements the whole pallet may not be inducted into the case conveyor system. Partial pallets are then transferred to the west line by the shuttle car for discharge from the system. Empty pallets are acculumated in one of the four pallet stackers until the stacker is full and then the full stack of empties are discharged from the system.

The BMHR centering devices properly center pallets prior to the manual palletizing and depaletizing lifts and the Kuka robot prior to the Intralox Descrambler. Guardrails throughout pallet conveyor system are set only ½" wider than the pallet on each side and keep the pallets fairly centered throughout the system.

We recently discussed how Pallets are delivered to either of the 2 manual depalitization stations or Kuka robot. The Kuka delivers full pallet layers to the Intralox Descrambler, which uses 10 unique conveyor sections to singulate cases narrow side leading prior to a Krones 3:2 Multidivider, which merges all three lanes

Product streams leaving the MD are sorted using the custom BAE switches from 1:2 vertical levels and then again from 2:4 vertical levels. Cases leaving the switches are accumulated on E24 EZB in preparation for camera inspection on all 8 levels prior to entering the DLS.

Hytrol developed 2 styles of accumulating belt conveyors. Both use Gen 3 EzLogic to control accumulation. 24 volt motors were used on horizontal conveyors and 230v ac motors were used on inclines and areas that require consistent acceleration and deceleration regardless of product weight. An example of this application would be prior to the spirals.

High value low volume cases are released from the Slow Mover Storage Racks where operations personnel manually place cases from storage racks onto a Hytrol SB. These cases are accumulated in one of six DLS storage lanes using BAE Pullers before being merged and transported through the main DLS

Each of the 8 outbound levels are sorted to the East or West spiral using Hytrol ACC Horizontal lane selectors. Each spiral merges their respective 8 levels into one product stream which are visually inspected prior to the Krones 1:3 multidivider, and each Krones multidivider has three discharge lanes that lead to either Manual Palletization, emergency palletization, or a Krones Robobox with camera inspection.

The Hytrol ACC 1:2 Diverts are located on all eight levels prior to the Ambaflex spirals. Each of the 7 belts are independently adjustable vertically to accommodate the Ambaflex spirals' slope. Using the spurs to feed a spiral – packages should be justified in the direction of the sprials' flow to prevent turning as they feed in.

Stacks of empty pallets and pallets with full homogenous layers from the claw pick area are loaded into the Pallet Conveyor outbound system using the Tyguard pallet conveyors. The 80' shuttle car transfers these pallets in sequence to one of the 2 robobox's or either of the manual palletizing stations. From there mixed case pallets go out for delivery or to the stretch wrapper.

There are two high speed transfer cars in this system. One collects empty pallets from the three pallet conveyor inbound lanes and transports them to the pallet stackers, which all accommodate 4 varieties of pallets. This same transfer car also removes partial pallets from the inbound system. The second shuttle car feeds empty pallets into the outbound system. These transfer cars were designed for operation Up to 600 feet/min with a 3000# load.

On this project we successfully delivered the customer requested small footprint and developed several custom pieces of equipment including the blue arc vertical switches and pullers, and the Hytrol ACC 2:1 Diverts, E24 EZB, 230v AC EZB, and Narrow Belt Spurs.