Complete end-of-line automation

The project saw Brillopak install two PAKStations, four UniPAKer robotic crate packing systems, four Crate DESTAKers, two bale arm closers, four vertical accumulation units and three robotic palletisers. Thanks to this investment, Adrian Scripps has tripled productivity from 2.5-5 packs to 15 packs per person per min. This has enabled the packing hall to align its capacity with increased production that has come about as a result of replanting orchards, introducing new varieties and adopting new farming methods. 

Top of the tree

In a sector that has historically shied away from automation, Adrian Scripps has become something of a trailblazer. Whilst every single apple is still hand-picked, the company’s sorting operation has been automated for over 30 years. It is the packaging process that has been the company’s focus for automation in the last eight years, initially with the aim of reducing handling through a linear automated process.

Historically, apples were sold either loose in moulded fibre trays or in plastic bags with a neck tie. Both packing operations were entirely manual, and packing staff worked at a rate of 2.5-5 packs per minute (ppm) on average.

Then, in 2013, Adrian Scripps took the decision to invest in automated flow wrapping equipment, accelerating the speed of the packaging operation.

“That left us with lots of packs coming off the flow wrapper at speed, creating a very repetitive task – that was when we engaged Brillopak, who we knew had experience in automation in FMCGs for the grocery trade,” explains James Simpson, managing director of Adrian Scripps.

On visiting Adrian Scripps, Brillopak quickly got the measure of the situation: Up to three people were trying to manually pack flow wrapped apples into retail crates at a rate of up to 60 per minute per line. The packing operatives couldn’t consistently keep up with the pace, which meant upstream efficiency improvements from their grading and flow-wrap investments were impacted.

Ergonomic PAKStation replaces rotating table

Brillopak’s engineers designed a semi-automated version of the traditional ‘Lazy Susan’ style packing station, which, later branded the PAKStation, was to go on to become one of its best-selling packaging solutions. The ergonomic system, which helps manual staff load packs of fresh produce into retail crates, has significantly enhanced productivity at more than twelve UK fresh produce packhouses to date.

The PAKStation gave Adrian Scripps a flexible semi-automated solution on two of its four lines. However, with the vast majority of the company’s production in one single format, and volumes increasing year on year, it wasn’t long before Adrian Scripps was ready for the next automation chapter – upgrading its other two lines to a fully automated workflow and installing two completely new packing and palletising lines.

The company considered other packing systems, but it was the inherent flexibility of the award-winning UniPAKer robotic crate packing solution that once again convinced Adrian Scripps to partner Brillopak on this project.

Each of the four UniPAKer crate loading cells at Adrian Scripps houses two delta type robots, each performing a single pick. The benefit of a single pick is that it eliminates the need for accumulation. To maximise packing speed, the crate is dynamically loaded as it is moving;  working alongside each other, the robots take it in turn to partially fill the crate, picking individual packs off the infeed conveyor and positioning them deftly and precisely in the crate at the programmed orientation. The robots perform this task with a degree of dexterity and rotation that would not be feasible with a layer-based automated handling system.

Many robotics suppliers shy away from applications involving delicate fruit such as apples, as they bruise very easily. The speeds required to achieve target paybacks cannot be met without unacceptable levels of product damage, rendering some automation projects unfeasible. Brillopak overcomes these challenges through innovative end-effector design, combined with in-depth knowledge of motion control and robotics.

Each UniPAKer is fed by a Brillopak Crate DESTAKer, an automated crate destacking solution that works on a unique operating principle; rather than picking up the entire stack and relying on gravity to despatch the bottom crate, the Crate DESTAKer clamps the bottom crate down, lifts the rest of the stack up and then despatches the bottom crate. This prevents two crates from being despatched simultaneously in error if they get stuck together.

When reducing the amount of labour on a line, additional controls are often needed at certain locations. At Adrian Scripps, after the packed crates leave the UniPAKer, they converge onto a single conveyor and pass through a bale arm closer.

Vertical accumulation

Each line also incorporates a vertical accumulation unit just before the entrance to the palletiser. When there is a pallet changeover, instead of crates passing straight from the UniPAKer to the palletiser, the accumulation system lifts them vertically upwards. When the palletising robot is ready to accept its next load, it lowers the crates back down onto the track.

The final element of the project was the palletising operation. Brillopak supplied three compact robotic cell palletisers capable of operating at a rate of up to 30 crates per minute.

Besides its smaller-than-average footprint, the beauty of Brillopak’s palletising system is that the whole operation can be managed with a handtruck rather than a forklift. To maximise efficiency, all the machines in the workflow communicate with one another via sensors and a common control platform. For example, the Crate DESTAKer will only release another crate when it receives a signal from the UniPAKer.

Adrian Scripps now has a fully automated crate packing operation with six packing lines each capable of running at up to 75 ppm, giving the company the capacity uplift it needed.

Unlike many automation projects in the produce industry, this isn’t about reducing manual labour – it is about reducing cost per head.

“Reduction of labour is a consideration, but it is productivity per person that we are really interested in,” says Simpson. “Thanks to our investment in automation, this is considerably higher than it was. In 2013, we were working at 2.5-5 packs per person per minute. Now we are working at 15 packs per person per minute. That is a threefold increase.”

The packing facility employs 55-60 staff – and even though throughput has tripled this figure hasn’t changed in many years, which clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach.

Other metrics underline the success of the project too: whilst labour is 35% more than it was five years ago, Simpson says that cost per pack has come down. Whilst he concedes that other factors, such as reduced pack rates, have contributed to this, improved economics are a direct result of the company’s investment in automation.

David Jahn is director of Brillopak

www.brillopak.co.uk