Column Palletizing

1.Overview

①Early cargo palletizing

1. Manual Palletizing

Before automation, palletizing was almost entirely done manually. Workers would physically lift, carry, and stack goods layer by layer on pallets or designated areas. While flexible, this method was highly inefficient, particularly for handling large quantities or heavy goods, making it physically demanding.

• Advantages: Flexible, could handle various shapes, sizes, and weights of goods, no need for complex equipment.
• Disadvantages: Low efficiency, physically demanding, high risk of fatigue and injury, and the stacking process was prone to instability.

2. Hand Trucks or Dollies

To ease the physical burden, simple mechanical aids like hand trucks or dollies were introduced. Workers used these tools to transport heavy loads to the palletizing area, reducing the need for long-distance manual lifting. However, the actual stacking was still done manually.

• Advantages: Reduced some of the physical strain, suitable for small to medium-sized loads.
• Disadvantages: Still labor-intensive and not much improvement in palletizing speed or efficiency.

3. Forklift Palletizing

By the early 20th century, forklifts became widely used in warehousing and logistics. Forklifts made it easier to transport heavy goods and stack them at higher positions. Although forklifts improved handling efficiency, the palletizing process still depended on workers’ skill and experience.

• Advantages: Increased efficiency, reduced the need for manual handling of heavy items, and allowed goods to be stacked at greater heights.
• Disadvantages: Although transport was mechanized, stacking still required manual control, and improper operation could lead to unstable stacks.

4. Basic Mechanical Palletizers

Before fully automated solutions, some companies started using basic mechanical palletizing equipment. These machines were typically powered by electricity or hydraulics to assist in lifting and stacking goods, reducing the physical burden of manual palletizing. However, these machines required significant human oversight and intervention, limiting overall efficiency.

• Advantages: Improved palletizing efficiency and reduced the manual workload.
• Disadvantages: Low degree of automation, large machines that took up space, and still required human assistance.

5. Gravity Conveyor Palletizing

This method involved the use of gravity conveyors or inclined surfaces to move goods automatically into a designated stacking area. Workers would then make minor adjustments to stack the goods properly. It was commonly used for small or lightweight items, offering a low-effort, low-cost solution.

• Advantages: Reduced the need for long-distance carrying, suitable for lightweight goods.
• Disadvantages: Limited to specific types and weights of goods, still required manual intervention.

②Modern cargo palletizing and handling

1. Robotic Palletizing

Robotic palletizing is one of the most advanced methods available today. Using industrial robots, these systems can automatically grab, move, and stack goods according to pre-programmed instructions. Equipped with precise servo systems and sensors, robotic palletizers can adjust for the shape, weight, and size of goods, making the process fast and accurate.

• Advantages:
  • High Efficiency: Can handle hundreds or even thousands of items per hour, ideal for large-scale production and warehousing.
  • Precision: Achieves complex palletizing patterns, ensuring stability and safety.
  • Flexibility: Can adapt to different types and sizes of goods, offering versatility.
• Applications: Widely used in industries like food and beverage, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and logistics.

2. Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are autonomous transport systems that move goods around a warehouse or production floor. Using sensors and navigation systems, AGVs follow pre-programmed paths and avoid obstacles, transporting goods from one location to another efficiently.

• Advantages:
  • Automation: Operate without human intervention, reducing labor demands.
  • Flexibility: Can be reprogrammed to follow new routes, adapting to different warehouse layouts.
  • Safety: Equipped with sensors to prevent collisions, ensuring a safe working environment.
• Applications: Used in large distribution centers, logistics companies, and manufacturing for material transport.

3. Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS)

AS/RS is a highly automated warehousing system that uses machines to store and retrieve goods. Controlled by computers, AS/RS can locate items in high-density storage and quickly move them to desired locations via automated equipment.

• Advantages:
  • High-Density Storage: Maximizes space utilization for better storage capacity.
  • Fast and Efficient: Quickly stores and retrieves goods, improving overall warehouse efficiency.
  • Reduced Errors: Minimizes human errors, ensuring accurate inventory management.
• Applications: Ideal for large warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities requiring efficient material management.

4. Collaborative Robots (Cobots)

Collaborative robots, or Cobots, are designed to work alongside human workers in palletizing and material handling tasks. These robots are highly flexible and can assist with lifting, moving, and stacking items, reducing human labor.

• Advantages:
  • Flexibility: Can be easily reprogrammed for different tasks, adapting to various production needs.
  • Safety: Equipped with intelligent sensors, Cobots can safely stop when interacting with humans.
  • Reduced Labor Intensity: Helps workers with heavy lifting, reducing physical strain and repetitive tasks.
• Applications: Used in small to medium production lines and industries requiring a high degree of flexibility.

5. Automated Palletizing Systems

Automated palletizing systems combine conveyors, robotic arms, vision recognition systems, and sensors to fully automate the process of moving and stacking goods. These systems can detect the size, weight, and shape of items and organize them into optimal pallet patterns.

• Advantages:
  • High Efficiency: Fully automated, drastically increasing the speed of handling and palletizing.
  • Integration: Works seamlessly with other automated equipment like AGVs and AS/RS, ensuring smooth operations.
  • Labor Reduction: Requires little to no manual intervention, reducing labor costs.
• Applications: Suited for large-scale production and warehouse operations, especially in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries.

6. Automated Conveyor Systems

Automated conveyor systems use belts, rollers, or slides to transport goods within a production line or warehouse. These systems can continuously move items without the need for manual handling, making them ideal for repetitive transport tasks.

• Advantages:
  • Continuous Operation: Can run for extended periods, ideal for large-scale production.
  • Space Optimization: Conveyor systems can be layered to maximize space usage.
  • Reduced Labor: Significantly reduces the need for manual transport.
• Applications: Commonly used in manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and even airport baggage handling.

2.What are the automatic palletizers in today’s society?

Automatic Palletizers in Contemporary Culture
Automation technology has advanced to the point that many kinds of automated palletizers are now necessary in sectors including manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics:

1. Palletizers with robots
Multi-axis industrial robots are used by robotic palletizers to autonomously pick up, move, and arrange items in accordance with pre-programmed instructions. These systems are perfect for a broad variety of applications since they are adaptable and can handle goods of different sizes and forms.

Important Brands:
Fanuc: Well-known for its highly accurate robots, Fanuc provides palletizing systems that are extensively used in the beverage, food, and pharmaceutical sectors.
ABB: Adaptable and effective, ABB’s robotic palletizers can handle a range of pallet layouts and product sizes.
KUKA: KUKA palletizers can handle tiny products and large loads, and they are designed for intricate manufacturing lines.
2. Palletizers with gantry
Large-scale devices called gantry palletizers are usually used for palletizing big or heavy materials. The gantry system is used to select and arrange items into pallets by moving both vertically and horizontally.

Important Brands:
Schneider Electric: Offers high-precision, high-load gantry palletizers to the chemical and building materials sectors.
Columbia Machine: Their gantry palletizers, which are perfect for high-volume manufacturing lines, are renowned for their stability and efficiency.
3. Palletizers in columns
Column palletizers are small devices that move the grippers that handle items using a central column. Small to medium-sized manufacturing lines and warehouse settings are ideal for them.

Important Brands: MeltVista: MeltVista’s column palletizers are effective automation instruments with a 160 kg load capacity and 400–550 package per hour rates. For handling cartons, soft bags, and other types of packaging in a variety of sectors, they are perfect.
Yaskawa Motoman: Provides high productivity, compact column palletizers that work well in confined places.
4. Cobots, or collaborative robots
Cobots, or collaborative robots, aid human operators with palletizing jobs by working side by side. They are simple to operate and program, adaptable, and suited for smaller manufacturing lines.

Important Brands:
Universal Robots: Ideal for small to medium-sized palletizing tasks, UR’s Cobots are renowned for being simple to train and operating securely near human workers.
Reevaluate Robotics Collaborative robots from them, like as Sawyer and Baxter, are designed to operate securely alongside human operators in a variety of flexible industrial scenarios.
5. AS/RS Integrated Automated Palletizing Systems
Fully automated palletizing and storage is made possible by automated palletizing systems that are coupled with automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS). Large warehouses and logistical hubs often employ these technologies to optimize efficiency and space usage.

Important Brands:
Daifuku: Well-known for its automated palletizing and storage solutions, Daifuku systems are often used in logistics hubs to manage high product quantities.
Dematic: Dematic supports intricate supply chain management and effective logistics operations with a variety of automated palletizing and storage systems.
6. Traditional Palletizers for Layers
Palletizers that stack things in layers arrange them on a pallet. Simpler palletizing jobs are often completed using these devices, particularly when working with delicate or oddly shaped goods.

Important Brands:
Hamer-Fischbein: Provides dependable layer palletizing systems that are extensively used in the agriculture and food sectors.

3.Why do we need Column Palletizing?

Column palletizing, or using a column palletizer, is a useful tool for automating the palletizing process since it provides a number of advantages. Column palletizers are used by companies and sectors for the following reasons:

1. Space Effectiveness

Column palletizers are perfect for spaces with limited floor area because of their small footprint design. Column palletizers are very effective at making the most use of available space since they can fit into smaller production lines without compromising performance, unlike bigger gantry or robotic palletizers.

2. Economy of Cost

Column palletizers are often less expensive, both initially and over time, than more intricate robotic or gantry systems. They are thus a desirable choice for small and medium-sized companies wishing to automate without having to make large financial investments.

3. Large Capacity Loading

Column palletizers, like the MeltVista model, can handle high loads up to 160 kg every cycle despite their small size. Because of this, they can handle a wide range of items, including cartons and soft bags, which lowers the need for human labor and boosts throughput overall.

4. Reliable and Precise Piling

Palletizers with columns provide accurate stacking control. Pallet loads are steady and consistent because of their ability to handle a variety of package shapes and sizes with efficiency. By lowering the possibility of product damage during handling and transportation, this enhances quality assurance and safety.

5. Adaptability

Carton, soft bag, and other packaging materials are among the materials that column palletizers can handle. Their adaptability makes them appropriate for a multitude of sectors, such as food, chemicals, medicines, and consumer goods, where a wide range of products are often offered.

6. Enhanced Output

Column palletizers considerably speed up palletizing in comparison to manual techniques, processing 400–550 items each hour. Businesses are able to satisfy production needs more quickly and effectively because to this greater throughput, which results in shorter lead times and more operating capacity.

7. Enhanced Security for Employees

Using a column palletizer to automate the palletizing process minimizes the need for hand lifting, which may result in accidents, particularly when performing strenuous, repeated jobs. The transition from manual to automated palletizing reduces health hazards for employees and improves overall workplace security.

8. Simple Customization and Integration

Column palletizers are designed to work with current manufacturing lines. They may easily be customized to meet different palletizing needs without requiring significant reconfiguration since they often include flexible programming choices that make it simple to change stacking patterns and configurations.