While staying on top of all the technology trends is crucial to the company’s success, its pick-and-place technology is still underpinned by the RP Series rotary feeding system first devised by Dlugosh-Ostap a decade ago as a means to tip and insert three-dimensional products such as CDs, cosmetic and pharmaceutical samples, and edible product samples into consumer packaging, while ensuring precise product spacing on the conveyance systems.
“Over the years we’ve tweaked it here and there,” he elaborates, “but essentially the rotary applicator revolves like a Ferris wheel with suction-cupped arms that can rotate 360 degrees—thereby ensuring the suctions pads are best positioned to pick up product no matter the shape.”
A BETTER VIEW
While similar systems did exist at the time, he acknowledges, what made Pack-Smart’s machine stand out was its innovative use and integration of optical sensors that could recognize the leading edge of the carrier on the transport systems.
Dlugosh-Ostap explains: “When the optics see the edge, the servo controller calculates the arrival time of the carrier under one of the rotary carrying arms and positions the placement station to arrive exactly when the carrier is in the proper position to receive it.”
Part of the allure of the RP Series of equipment is its modularity, points out Dlugosh-Ostap, which enables the carriers to be randomly spaced anywhere on the conveyance system.
“It’s very modular and can be utilized in any production line, easily fitting in with most webs, folder-gluers and converting lines,” says Dlugosh-Ostap, adding that the current versions of the original rotary-feeder design are capable of reaching throughput rates of up to 700 pieces per minute.
Dlugosh-Ostap explains that the company aims to incorporate sustainability principles in a comprehensive manner, which also means reducing energy consumption through the use of low-mass components that require less power to function.
Using adhesive systems from the Swiss-based Robatech AG, for example, is one of several ways of making Pack-Smart machines more energy-efficient.
“We found Robatech adhesive systems to come with better heat insulation on its tanks, and they now offer the world’s firs
t fully-insulated application head, which is 40-percent more energy-efficient by requiring less energy to maintain the specified application temperatures,” he reveals.
“In addition, this new application head improves workplace safety, as the outside temperature of the application head reaches only 80 degrees Fahrenheit.”
Advertisement
