■
END OF LINE SOLUTIONS
– FOOD & BEVERAGE
We are food industry experts
At Ferrum Group, we have delivered a wide range of fully automated and customized End of Line projects to the food industry resulting in deep specialist knowledge of food handling and food safety. Our project approach is to take ownership and responsibility throughout the process. We aim to have thorough understanding and insight into our customers’ business and needs in order to create the optimal conditions for the project, e.g. custom machinery, major automation solutions or optimization of existing End of Line solutions.
Your turnkey/full-service robotics and automation partner
Our specialized team of development engineers, machine designers and project managers ensure professionalism from end to end. Most parts and components are manufactured in Ferrum Group’s modern production facilities at the Fredericia site, guaranteeing high quality and delivery reliability throughout the project – as well as a competitive market price. With our team and production set-up, we are not bound by standard solutions, but develop tailor-made End of Line solutions that solve specific customer tasks – with focus on capacity, performance (OEE), quality and short equipment turnaround times. As a full-service partner, we are independent of subcontractors – from initial concept development to service set-up.
Value creation through innovation and supplier independence
We approach tasks with an innovative and positive mindset. Over the years, we have accumulated knowledge and experience from our customers and our network of high-tech suppliers – with a focus on creating maximum value in each project. We are independent and work with all common robotic and equipment suppliers enabling us to choose the technology platform that creates the most value and best solves the task for each customer.
CUSTOMISED PALLETISING SOLUTIONS
Palletising of all types of food products
At Ferrum Group we have developed a wide range of customised palletising solutions for the food industry. An End of Line palletising solution consists of an industrial robot with a robot tool combined with conveyor and logistics systems to support the solution. The success of a palletising solution depends largely on the quality and performance of the robot tool. Therefore, we custom design and manufacture the specific robotic tools that handle our customers’ products. This gives us the flexibility to develop high-performance palletising solutions that can handle most product types in the food industry.
Automated palletising adapted to your factory layout
Our solutions are adapted to your current factory layout and product flow requirements and may integrate existing or new periphery equipment, such as film wrappers or label applicators.
We develop and adapt stand-alone robotic palletising cells or turn-key solutions, always focusing on:
- Full flexibility
- High capacity
- Minimisation of product waste
- Modularity and scalability of the solution
- High level of availability for operation, cleaning and service
- Hygiene
- Choice of materials
- Safety
Custom robot tools make the difference
We have extensive experience within the field of development and production of robot tools for the food & beverage industry, including:
- Vacuum suction/vacuum gripper/vacuum tool – for handling of cardboard boxes of all kinds, WA cartons, foiled products, vacuum-packed products, closed boxes and sacks
- Spading gripper/spading tool/sliding hand – for handling of cardboard boxes, trays and plastic boxes
- Bag gripper – for handling of paper and plastic sack
- Box gripper – suitable for trays, plastic boxes, internal storage media, SRS boxes
We offer three main types of palletising solutions for simple as well as complex End of Line palletising solutions: palletising, depalletising and mix palletising:
Palletising of products
Palletising consists of a process where an industrial robot with a customized robot tool picks up an item on a conveyor and places it on a pallet in a specific pattern.
Depalletising
Depalletising is a process in which an industrial robot picks up products on a pallet and feeds them into a processing system. In the food industry, the robot mainly picks products packed in their primary packaging, such as foils and bags or empty plastic boxes.
Mix palletizing and mix packaging
Mix packaging is a process where several product variants are packed in the same box/packaging.
Mix packaging can be supplied as a stand-alone facility or as an integral part of a packing line, where products from the production line are packed and one or more additional products are added, e.g. from a pallet or conveyor belt.
Mix palletizing is a process where different boxes/products are automatically palletised on the same pallet specified for delivery to e.g. retail customers.
INNOVATIVE ROBOTIC TOOLS
– LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR OPTIONS
Download our whitepaper reviewing selected robot tools we’ve developed for customers in the food industry. The development of effective robotic tools is a necessity for a successful robotics and automation project. Learn how we approach the task of designing customized robot tools for the food industry.
AUTOMATED PACKAGING OF FOOD
Primary packaging – solutions for unpackaged food
In Ferrum Group we develop custom solutions for primary packaging of foods. We provide solutions that comply with design guides, traceability and certificates, and are generally compliant with EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group) requirements. We have experience in primary packing of finished goods in the final end-customer packaging as well as foiling and packaging of products for further internal or external processing.
We supply thermoformers for packaging as part of a turnkey solution and offer integration to packaging solutions supplied by other suppliers.
Case Primary packaging – Handling and loading of mozzarella blocks in GEA PowerPak
- GEA, CMT Plant for mozzerella production. GEA is the turnkey supplier of the process line.
- Ferrum Group is supplier of robotic systems for handling and loading of mozzarella blocks in GEA’s PowerPak.
- Capacity 4-8 tons of mozzarella cheese per hour.
- Products 2,5 kg mozzarella blocks.
- In addition to hardware, Ferrum’s supply includes:
- Idea generation, Solution and layout design, Development and construction of equipment according to EHEDH (1) principles (European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group), Software for PLC, HMI and Robots, as well as communication with higher level systems.
Secondary packaging solutions for packaged food
Secondary packaging is a packaging process where products in their primary packaging are packed in e.g. cardboard or plastic boxes all of which are finally palletised. We have extensive experience in developing secondary packaging solutions for all types of food products. Integration of control mechanisms, such as leak tests, may be applied in between packing and palletising.
Periphery equipment for secondary packaging
Foil wrappers and pallet labellers are typically the final part of a turnkey solution. However, we also supply equipment for foiling, Bag labeling, inkjet printers, metal detectors, checkweighers, label inspection/visual control, banding machine etc. on pallets as integrator/standalone solutions.
Case Secondary packaging and palletizing in Danish dairy
Solution
End-of-line turnkey solution
Assignments
- Idea generation
- Preparation of solution and layout
- Development and construction of machines
- Integration of 3rd party equipment
- Relocation and integration of existing equipment
- Software for vision, PLC (PackML), HMI and Robots as well as communication with higher level systems
- Project management
- Documentation and CE marking
Case Vision systems for Aqua d’Or in Brande
For Aqua d’Or (DK) we have delivered a vision system for detection of oval capsules applied to plastic bottles. Oval capsules cause many stops in production, as the caps get stuck in the transportation channels towards the bottling machine. Aqua d’Or needed a solution where the oval capsules are sorted out, thus avoiding production stops with lost production.
The solution is a vision system that is placed immediately before the capsules reach the conveyor channels. A camera detects the oval capsules and a discharge system ensures that they are rejected.
Speed: 670 capsules per minute.
THE FERRUM GROUP PROJECT MODEL:
FOCUS ON QUALITY AND PROCESS MOMENTUM
Our role as a turnkey supplier of robotics and automation solutions calls for emphasis on project management. Based on the principles of the stage-gate model, we have developed a project model that ensure the quality of the solution as well as progress and adherence to the schedule:
- Our project managers ensure tight project management for schedule adherence
- We ensure a continuous flow of information between all project participants, internally and externally
- Clearly defined specifications ensure transparency
- Project management focusing on critical milestones, which are approved by the steering committee once the project layout is complete
DOCUMENTATION AND CE MARKING
Learn more about our three types of documentation and which standards the CE marking follows.
WANT TO EXPLORE END OF LINE OPPORTUNITIES IN YOUR BUSINESS?
Carsten Jørgensen and Kim Poulsen are Ferrum Group’s robotics and automation experts. Over the years, Carsten and Kim have successfully completed projects for Danish and foreign food companies. Let’s discuss the optimization opportunities for your company within End of Line.
Besøg Ferrum Groups LinkedIn company page
by phone: +45 5125 5158 or
by email: caj@ferrum-group.dk
See Carsten’s LinkedIn profile
by phone: +45 2544 2902 or
by email: kpo@ferrum-group.dk
See Kim’s LinkedIn profile
Fill out the form and we will give you a call
