News

25.06.2008 - RS 500: new high-speed robotic palletizer

Increasing run lengths with decreasing delivery window is a trend that has already established itself in printing industry. Therefore, a fast and efficient Post Press system is critical to deliver the finished product on time.

Despite mass distribution and deadline pressure, the finishing of printed material is still often characterized by labor-intensive manual processes that clearly underperform automated solutions. Palletizing in particular frequently remains a manual process which cannot keep up with the speed of prior production processes. In addition, the quality of manually built pallets is negatively influenced by time pressure.

RIMA-SYSTEM, with an expertise in providing automated Post Press solutions, meets the demands of decreasing cycle times and is proud to present the RS 500, a new robotic palletizer with up to 2000 cycles per hour.* The RS 500 is based on the proven Fanuc four-axis-robot (as is the industry-tested RIMA-SYSTEM RS 400). The four-axis-robot features RIMA-SYSTEM's reliable gripper technology and low operating costs.

The RS 500 robotic  palletizer picks up loose or strapped bundles from an accumulation conveyor and puts them smoothly and accurately onto the pallet according to customer specified packing patterns. In contrast to the RS 400, not only one or two bundles but a complete row of bundles is picked up and put onto the pallet with each cycle. Therefore, a row of multiple bundles is built on an accumulation conveyor and is then picked up by the gripper and placed onto the top layer of the pallet. During the pick-up process, another row of bundles is built on a second accumulation conveyor which is set at a right angle to the first accumulation conveyor.

The delivered bundles can be rotated at 90° on a reversing station to ensure that the bundles are picked up in the proper orientation. In addition, the reversing station enables the building of mixed rows by reversing single bundles to optimize packing patterns and to stabilize the pallet. Thanks to palletizing with two accumulation conveyors, more bundles can be processed and up to 2000 cycles per hour can be reached.* Like the RS 400, the RS 500 can be equipped with an automated slip sheet feeder and an automated pallet dispenser. For optional log palletizing, the gripper of the robot arm can be changed in minutes. The RS 500 is operated via a touch screen panel and PALETTI, the graphical, user-friendly control interface.

Thanks to RIMA-SYSTEM's innovative palletizing technology, a much higher number of cycles can be realized to meet the growing demands of prior production processes. So, palletizing will not become the bottleneck of modern Post Press production. Due to proven technology and an intelligent software solution, pallets can now be built precisely and safely even at the highest speeds.

* depending on products