Do you know that old dusty thing tucked
away in your plant’s warehouse that no
one ever thinks about but is likely one of
the most critical assets you own? It’s the dreaded
palletizing system. Because most don’t understand
its unique complexity, as it often has an aura of
“don’t disturb the sleeping giant.” As a result of
this stigma, palletizing machines are frequently
poorly maintained, seldom upgraded, and often
are not afforded a good preventative maintenance
program. Moreover, it receives this neglect
despite being one of the hardest running pieces of
equipment in your plant; the palletizing machine
handles all of your production 24/7/365 no matter
what you throw at it.
When things go wrong with the palletizer
there are two possible solutions: shut down
production or hand stack. While shutting down
production is a doomsday scenario, hand stacking
is still a significant challenge because of
the lack of people available to dedicate to the
task, as well as other difficulties. For instance,
imagine what would happen if a palletizer broke
down and the repair required a number of
obsolete parts that you can’t find, support, or
replace. Replacing an entire palletizing system
is a large undertaking from a logistics, financial
and time sink standpoint. However, like other
equipment, it can be treated as a targeted riskbased
obsolescence upgrade that considers the
relevant mechanical and electrical issues. As
an example of this risk-based approach, Avanceon
recently upgraded a 25-year-old Linuxbased
palletizing system with numerous obsolete
servo motors for positioning. The system
included one main full pallet trunk, three individual
robotic stacking cells, 18 infeed lanes for
various product paths, and more than 50 different
pallet stacking patterns. On the positive
side, the palletizer system had a solid mechanical
frame and rails and, as a result, we worked
with the customer to define an approach to the
upgrade that addressed the substantial electrical
issues and closed the gap on some well
needed minor mechanical upgrades. From that
1990s era technology, we took the old, unsupportable
system, and morphed it into a system
that an average, modern maintenance technician
could support and modify. The renovated
system included a solid foundation of Rockwell
CLX, new Rockwell servos, and an Aveva HMI
(human machine interface) and historian platform
for visualization and connection to the
production and warehouse management systems.
The technology selections aligned with
the customers standards both from a model
and software methodology perspective as well
as integrating with the Aveva SCADA (supervisory
control and data acquisition) software. The
system as a whole provided complete visibility
into the palletizing and case management operation,
upgraded and compliant safety measures,
and the ability to expand the system.
A key take away from the project was that,
while the initial assessment predicted that the
mechanical systems were stable, we uncovered
that was not the case after undertaking the
upgrade. While the equipment could deliver
based on the old configurations and “delicate
balance” tuned over 20 years of operations and
concessions, it could not handle the variability
and pace of the new electrical components.
In this case it wasn’t just the controller that
needed an upgrade—many of the critical sensors,
and roller start-stop mechanics needed to
be upgraded as well. A parallel to this would be
putting a brand new engine into a car with old
shocks, brakes, and tires. Without those ancillary
mechanical upgrades, it will still perform
like the original car.
With a new engine, key mechanical upgrades
and a new dashboard on the system, the operators
and plant leadership can rely upon the
palletizer to continue to be the lifeblood of the
plant, ensuring production and pallets will flow
for the next 20 years. So, don’t forget about
that dirty old clanking thing in the warehouse.
It is an important part of your production system,
and it likely deserves attention and an
automation upgrade.
