Centralised palletisation system for the confectionery market

Clevertech North America subsidiary recently rolled out a centralised palletisation project for an American confectionery company.

The company, the third largest manufacturer in America in this sector, manufactures candies, cookies and chocolate in particular. Recently, the Chicago-based company was acquired by one of the biggest players on the world market, which has consolidated the company’s growth.

Simultaneous palletisation from multiple production lines

The palletisation project implemented by Clevertech involves a new plant in Illinois where the company is transferring many production lines. The centralised palletisation system is dedicated to products arriving from nine production lines. The company also required the ability to simultaneously palletise SKUs from at least eight of the production lines.

Service, flexibility, coverage

The requirement for system flexibility was given great importance in the design phase, since the products processed in the plant have unstable packaging. It was also already clear to the customer that it would be necessary in the near future to palletise smaller packages than those currently processed.

Clevertech’s experience in the Food sector, the presence of the Clevertech North America subsidiary with a consolidated team of over 20 technicians, alongside a fully-stocked spare parts warehouse on-site, contributed to the success of the project and the satisfaction of the customer. In particular, the company’s experience allowed the layouts to be presented very quickly when compared to the time normally required for the design of a project.

Single palletisation, the integrated solution

Clevertech proposed a single palletisation solution, composed of two Multibrand 424 palletisers. Each palletiser can process products arriving from four lines simultaneously, for a total of eight lines, with a total speed of 130-150 cases/minute.

The system comprises a high-speed centralised wrapper able to strap all pallets arriving from these eight lines. A shuttle transports the pallets to the wrapper, optimising the costs and the available site space, while keeping the layout compact.

The wrapper has provision for future installation of an automatic corner dispenser to protect the pallet’s vertical corners. It is also equipped with automatic film reel changeover. Completing the palletisation system are nine spiral elevators and a case conveyor with 24 volt technology for case transportation, in accordance with the company’s complete integration philosophy.

The fully assembled system underwent testing at the company’s premises in Cadelbosco di Sotto near Reggio Emilia, Italy.