Intro
A top 5 global food processor has an established line of sausage biscuits. Already a long-standing EnSight partner, they turned to us to design, develop and integrate a robotics and automation-driven solution to reinvent their biscuit production processes.
The Problem
The food processor wanted to improve their efficiency and move their workers from doing the simple, repetitive job of assembling sausage biscuits to a position that would add more value to the company. They also only wanted to work with one company through the entire project, rather than buying robots from one company, buying a conveyor system from another and then hiring a different company to install everything.
The Proven Results
The EnSight team designed and developed an automated sausage biscuit assembly line comprising a hygienic conveyer, lug chain system and Stäubli robots with vacuum-powered end-of-arm tooling. The entire system is washdown capable.
The new process is performed in three phases:
- Phase 1 – Robot suctions up top & bottom biscuit halves from the conveyor & places them in separate sections on the chain – Rate = 150 picks per minute (2 biscuits per cycle)
- Phase 2 – Robot picks up sausage patties & places them on bottom biscuit half – Rate = 150 picks per minute (2 patties per cycle)
- Phase 3 – Robot places top of biscuit onto sausage patties – Rate = 300 picks per minute (2 biscuits per cycle)
Interested in enhancing and automating your own processes? Contact us at sales@ensightsolutions.us to learn how we can help!