RML Machinery partnered with SMC Corporation New Zealand on the design and build of a fully integrated packing line for ice creams.
The packing line was produced for a long-standing customer of RML, and one of New Zealand’s most popular ice cream brands, Tip Top.
“Tip Top has purchased four machine systems from us in the past, and due to the success of our past collaborations, we were selected to work on their latest project,” said Jon Marden, sales and marketing manager for RML.
“We were in search of custom vacuum head solution for the high-speed pick and place robots, and looked to SMC because of our long-established relationship and their customer-centric approach backed by quality innovations.”
As is the case for all of its projects, the team from SMC were involved from the design process right through to testing and commissioning.
“We were thrilled to be part of this exciting project. In this instance, RML required a high number of outputs for the machine, so SMC’s EC600 fieldbus system was selected for the job,” said Laurie Hamilton, national field sales manager at SMC Corporation NZ.
“This partnership further solidifies SMC’s NZ brand’s position as a strong world-class contender in innovation and custom-built machinery.
“What sets SMC apart is our strong customer focus and our innovations. Our engineering department in NZ literally designed a new part based on the sketch shared by RML.
“All parts were engineered locally and the team was on call throughout. Our on-the-ground support team made sure that we provided comprehensive support and communicated throughout the process. This made all the difference.”
Speaking to the application at hand, Marden explained that the brief was to design a system that could erect, load and close four carton sizes; and the be able to feed these into a case packer with the ability to pack the cartons into five shipper SKU’s – 300 ice creams per minute to be exact.
Unique to RML is the use of Codian robots and Gocator 3D vision systems. The Codian robots hit linear speeds of 5000mm/s and can go up to 7000mm/s, while the Gocator 3D vision systems are a progression for RML.
“Typically, we will use a 2D system for applications like this, but found the 3D system gave us better results across the range of ice creams,” explained Marden.
“Project challenges included the range and speed of the carton erecting and closing. In addition, everything needed to fit into a small footprint, and the team was up against delivery challenges due to global supply chain issues.
“Adding to this was the concurrent building, testing and commissioning of four complex machines.
“Finally, ice cream is challenging to work with in the testing phase. For example, the delicate nature of the chocolate skin on the bars meant we had to be as gentle as possible, despite needing to process 300 ice cream bars per minute.”
Marden explained that it is also critical that the ice creams are only held in the machine very briefly, as they degrade quickly if they are not packed and sent to the blast freezers within a set time period.
“Logic has been written into the systems code to ensure we balance out the delivery of cartons from the loader through to the case packer and into the freezers to ensure the product quality is maintained.”
Detailing the components used, Hamilton shared that the flexi-picker, designed with a custom robotic vacuum head, made use of the ZP3P series of blue vacuum cups from SMC, which are FDA-compliant and can operate at a temperature range from -30°C to 90°C.
SMC also made use of the ZCUK series of free-mount vacuum cylinders for this application.
Every station is also equipped with SMC’s SY control solenoid valves, which is EtherCAT compatible; TU series of polyurethane two core tubing to assist in the easy identification extension and retraction of air lines during fault finding and maintenance; and D-M9 series of solid state autoswitches with a pre-wired M8 connector.
“Other components include the ZP3E series of vacuum cups, the MGPM guide cylinder, the CP96 cylinder, the CQ2 range of compact cylinders, safety rated air service units and more,” Hamilton added.
“Our biggest challenge on any new project is to get to grips with what the customer wants, and understand the brief so that we can narrow down the correct solutions.
“We want to reduce the testing time for the customer and try to nail it as close to right as possible, the first time round.”
