[Case study] Complete end of packaging line for sealed meat trays

Context

Our customer is a manufacturer who transforms butchery products. He was planning to extand its production unit and therefore wanted to install a new complete end of packaging line for sealed meat trays including:

• 2 case packers
• 2 cardboard palletizers or 1 double palletizer
• 1 manual picking and order preparation line

Technical features of products to handle:

• Product type: sealed trays (9 different formats)
• Case type: cases with ledges (3 different formats)
• Pallet type: European pallets – 1200x800 mm (1 single format)

To carry out the project successfully, MG Tech should consider some constraints, such as:

• The implementation of a new packaging line in an existing and reduced area
• The products to be handled with some particularities: the product swells after packaging and the product has difficulties to be accumulated
• Production rates to be respected
• The respect of the case packing timing
• The respect of work stations ergonomy

Solution designed and provided by MG Tech

To meet customer needs, MG Tech provided a complete end of packaging line for sealed meat trays including different functions:

2 wrap case packing

They allow the shaping of cases with ledges, the packing of sealed trays by Pick & Place Delta robots into cases and the gluing and closing of ledges on the top of the cases. They integrate peripheral equipment for case weight control and labelling, as well as an elevator system to provide full cases to overhead conveyors.

1 palletizer

This two-lane automatic palletizer enables the creation of pallets for large production series. This equipment is equipped with a case grouping station and a gripper capable of handling up to 8 cases.

1 area for manual picking and order preparation

This line is made up of many conveying lines including 34 lanes divided into 2 levels for sorting cases by references. A bar code scanning system allow to control and differentiate the cases and then to distribute them in the right lane.. A transversal conveying line allows an operator to collect the cases and to send them to a manual palletizing platform equipped with a lifting table for more ergonomic movements for operators.

The advantages of the MG Tech solution

All the machines provided by MG Tech include a lot of advantages:

• Robust equipment, totally designed and manufactured in our production sites in France
• Compact implementation: different functions gathered in one single machine
• Great flexibility for filling and packing thanks to the Delta robots (no batching or product accumulation upstream)
• Easy and ergonomic format changeovers, without tool
• The case conformation system ensuring a perfect geometry and squaring of the cases and enabling an automatic palletization without any default
• A line designed with ergonomic workstations which can be perfectly adapted to operator’s manual tasks

Why did the customer choose MG Tech?

“We chose MG Tech for its organization and technical capabilities which allow to work on the entire project and to offer us a complete end of packaging line. In addition, MG Tech showed us that the company has a good expertise in handling sealed trays, which reassured us in our final choice.”