Epson VT6L robot as a key element of a production line

Thanks to a robotic packaging station using an Epson VT6L robot, the production line for packaging its shoe care products has become significantly more efficient.

Kaps sp. z o.o., based in Rzezawa, near Kracow, Poland, was founded about 25 years ago. Since then, the company has been supplying its shoe-cleaning and shoe-protection products, 90% of which are manufactured at its main plant in Rzezawa, to customers from all over Europe.

Due to the diversity of shapes and sizes of the products, the packaging process has been time-consuming and complicated so far – and until recently was even carried out by hand. The company decided to automate to liberate employees from the extremely monotonous work and to improve the efficiency of this manufacturing step. One of the requirements for the new system was that the entire packaging line should be operated by just one person.

The automated packaging station uses an Epson VT6L six-axis robot, which works in conjunction with a cardboard box hopper, box forming station, feed conveyor and conveyor belt to hold the full cardboard boxes.

The complete solution was developed and built by Nandor from Bochnia in cooperation with the engineering firm, ASTOR. The robot was also designed with a dedicated multi-functional gripper to complete all five tasks at this station.

The individual steps of the packaging process at Kaps are as follows:
• The robot removes a folded box from the hopper. 
• It opens it, gives it the desired shape and glues the bottom flap. 
• The as yet empty box is then placed in a docking position where it is filled with the respective products, which are in turn fed via a conveyor belt. 
• The robot removes the number of products required for a row of boxes from the conveyor belt and places them in the box. It then repeats this operation until all rows of the box have been filled with the product. 
• The finished filled product box is finally placed on a conveyor belt and transported to the warehouse. 

In one work shift, the Epson robot handles between 17,000 and 18,000 boxes in this way at Kaps over a month. Thanks to the new system, the company managed to increase its production by around 50% and to free up many of its employees from extremely monotonous work. After the successful automation, Kaps can now adapt more quickly and easily to changing market requirements, e.g. varying box sizes.

In addition to its reliability, Kaps also appreciates the flexibility of the Epson robot, which makes it an excellent alternative to simple, internally-constructed manipulators or axle systems. The company also chose Epson due to its low purchase price and operating costs. Kaps was also highly pleased with how easy and uncomplicated it was to integrate the system into the existing production lines. In practice, fears that a robot is very complex to handle and that its operation requires specially trained personnel dispersed very quickly. The complete packaging station with the Epson robot is highly reliable and easy to use for everyone.

Based on the good experience with Epson robotic systems, the company is also planning to use them for further automation plants.

A video of the system

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