Our Collating Tables - payback in significantly less than 12 months
The automation equipment we have supplied ranges from our basic ’flat bed’ tables up to fully automated bottle tray/palletizers. In every application the equipment has given paybacks of significantly less than 12 months, and has frequently made the moulding area look better organized. Once upon a time labour was cheap, competition was not too fierce, and virtually all bottles were hand-packed. Then a few enlightened blow moulders figured out that with some simple automation a 'packing person' could look after more than one machine. It was deceptively simple - just extend our leak tester conveyor a few more metres and push the bottles onto a collating table. Better still, put the tray over the top, flip the pack over and 10 seconds later you have a tray on the pallet.
Popular with PET bottle producers.
This type of packing is OK for 1/2 pallet trays, but humanly very difficult for full pallet trays. For this size we produced a system that became popular with PET bottle producers. Automatic packing requires that the bottles emerge from the machine standing upright, fully deflashed, if not we can supply a pick-and-place take-out device. Our PET Bottle palletizer / Depalletizer can be seen by clicking here
Ergonomic considerations to avoid RSI
From day one it was obvious that automation equipment would be a disaster if operators were constantly having to un-jam or manually stand bottles back up. For this reason we paid special attention to smooth bottle transfer, and the controlled acceleration and deceleration of all movements. It was equally obvious that the equipment should be easy to use if it was to overcome initial operator reluctance. Ergonomic considerations such as awkward height tables, reaching over the table and RSI problems that can lead to user unfriendliness is considered on every system we supply.
Painless
Troubleshooting
Realizing that even the most advanced ‘star wars’ technology is wasted if it is not user friendly gave us the motivation to produce a system that was easy to use but powerful enough to outperform all our applications. This purpose built unit integrates the processor, I/O, key-pad and screen in a stainless steel enclosure. Settings can be password protected and the diagnostic software makes troubleshooting painless.
UN container traceability
All the process results are stored for data download
which is particularly useful for UN container traceability. Our well proven
‘recipe’ system allows you to recall all settings with a name of your choice
‘P&G5lt’,‘2.5ltstock’ A23637 etc….
The standard unit is always supplied with spare I/O so extra features (like
automatic check weighing) can easily be added in the future.
Consider the following when choosing a collating table
- The tables position should allow access for opening guards, mould
changing, general maintenance, and be well
clear of fork truck pathways. - Large tables minimize the time the operator has to attend the machine, so try and make space for the largest possible table.
- Most machine layouts were done to win the prize for “how many machines can be crammed into the available space” - consider reducing the number of machines to improve profitability by making space for collating tables!
Our standard features and options
- Table ‘nearly full’ and ‘very full’ visual and audible alarm.
- Fixed table height is standard, optional electrical or manual table height adjustment.
- Recipe of stored settings (bottles in row, number of rows) with AQS models.
- Table sizes to suit application and space available
- Bottle nesting for round containers (a.k.a. ‘stagger packing’)
- Optional static electricity eliminators (sometimes necessary for PET)
- Special bottle packing patterns as standard (start and finish on a full row)
- Optional Integrated leak tester, check weigher, .
- Tray inverter
- Can operate with customers own conveyor, or we can supply conveyors to your requirements.
Some of our Bottle Collating Models
Bottle collating systems for virtually any container size
We can provide bottle collating systems for virtually any size of container,
tray or box size to work with single cavity/single station to high speed wheel
machines. The following examples are a small selection of our range, but
they represent the most popular types we have produced.
FLAT BED COLLATING TABLE - SIMPLE, RELIABLE, COST EFFECTIVE
Despite the obvious simplicity of basic collating tables, even these can make a dramatic
improvement to bottle packing efficiency. Like all our systems the model shown can
be sized to pack quarter, half, and full pallet sized trays. The tray inverter enables
operators to pack a full tray of bottles in less than 20 seconds. Although some degree
of visual inspection is always lost with the introduction of automation, the unique human
ability to ‘spot the difference’ tends to highlight neck and base defects because all
the bottles are oriented, unlike the random view of a scrambled pile of bottles.
INDEXING BELT TABLE WITH BOTTLE SUPPORT PUSHER
Similar in operation to the “Flat Bed” this system has the advantage that the table is a
wide conveyor that indexes forward after each row is pushed. This enables a wider
range of bottle shapes to be packed reliably. Bottles are separated into ‘tray sized’
groups which helps the operator quickly place the tray in the correct position. Tall unstable
bottles are handled more reliably as they are fully supported during the push
transfer. Depending on bottle and tray type this system can be supplied to pack ‘neck
up’.
Click here to download the collating table PDF sales brochure - note content is similar to this web page