CAMotion to Offer Commercial Units of Automatic Casepacker to the Poultry Industry

Poultry plants across the United States will soon have an automated alternative to their materials-handling tasks as Georgia Tech’s automatic casepacker readies for commercial availability. CAMotion, Inc., an

CAMotion is currently making modifications to the prototype casepacker to enable it to pack trays at a sustained rate of 60 trays per minute and even higher burst rates.

Atlanta-based technology firm specializing in supplying high-speed, cost-effective automation for the manufacturing and service sectors, plans to market the prototype under the name ProductPacker. The affordable, high-speed, overhead machine for assembly of food trays into cases is expected to be available in late May.

CAMotion joined the Georgia Tech design team last year with the insertion of its proprietary control technology into the system to streamline the robot’s movements and dampen any vibrations created by high-speed movements. During that same time, Cryovac, Inc. (a subsidiary of Sealed Air Corporation and worldwide leader in perishable food packaging technologies) designed and built a box-feeding conveyor system for the robot, which is capable of moving a new empty box into loading position in less than 1 second. This redesigned

. ProductPacker System Highlights . A typical installed machine costs $80,000 and includes: • Core robot • Touch screen or push button control panel • Vacuum system and suction cup pick-up head • Custom support structure to allow near zero additional floor space • “Simple” modification of box and tray-feeding mechanisms to allow automatic operation (More complex integration extra) • Integration of controller with existing line controller (e.g., PLC) • Multiple I/O signals, including analog • Serial communications to factory systems • Easy programming of packing patterns • Two days of training, maintenance, and programming • Hundreds of patterns can be stored • 10-second changeover of packing patterns • Safety per RIA standards • Automatic park and resume so that operator can enter work area . . . Options: • Easy head change feature • Machine vision to verify product and box delivery • Standard replacement parts kit • Maintenance contract

casepacker was field tested last December at ConAgra’s poultry processing plant in Gainesville, Ga. During the tests, the casepacker operated in an actual production environment for seven days and achieved packing speeds over 50 trays per minute.

The ConAgra field tests demonstrated that the casepacker is capable of competitive feed rates, for example, 20,000 trays per eight-hour shift. The tests also identified the need to improve the ease of programming and its ability to handle long-term cycling. CAMotion has since refined the controls software and developed new user-interface software. These enhancements permit quicker, easier generation of the motion trajectories and provide a simple interface for the machine operator. Working with Georgia Tech researchers, CAMotion has also designed new modular structural components that are lighter in weight, which should address long-term cycling concerns. The components are also less expensive, which should further decrease fabrication costs.

These modifications have made way for the soon-to-be-released ProductPacker, which will ultimately be faster, more robust, and less expensive than the design tested. The robot will be able to pack trays at a sustained rate of 60 trays per minute and will be able to handle even higher burst rates, according to

Steve Dickerson, chairman of CAMotion. This additional capability is intended to ensure that the machine can handle any sudden surges in production. The machine’s lightweight linear robotic actuators and proprietary adaptive control system also allow it to place trays in any combination of packing patterns.

Dickerson says a typical installed system will cost $80,000 (see side- bar), providing a payback period in the one- to two-year range. The core robot will cost about $40,000. In addition to reducing production costs, the casepacker is expected to help plants better control the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders by removing line workers from a highly repetitive and stressful task. Dickerson says a demonstration of the current casepacker design drew considerable interest at the International Poultry Exposition held in Atlanta this past January. He says such enthusiasm makes him hopeful that this will be the first of many applications for robotic automation in the food processing industry.

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