Keep your end-of-line packaging, distribution and fulfillment operations moving at industry-leading speed — over 200 cases per minute or more — with Honeywell Intelligrated’s Alvey ® palletizers and depalletizers. Whether you’re a food, beverage or consumer packaged goods manufacturer, or an omnichannel retailer, you’ll get the flexibility and dependability you need to stay at peak efficiency 24/7. Honeywell Intelligrated engineers can install single machines at your site, or set up complete systems fully integrated with your existing conveyor and other material handling equipment. Additional pallet-handling products are available as stand-alone equipment or as part of a fully integrated pallet handling system. Pallet load stackers: Eliminate manual pallet load stacking with this automatic in-line stacker of heavy loads.

• Alvey 880 Palletizer Manual

These offer small footprints and minimal maintenance and are pre-wired and tested prior to shipment. Pallet stackers: Fully automatic stackers designed to stack pallets to a defined height.

ALVEY PALLETIZER SOLUTIONS ® • M ost popular machine in the in-line market with over 600 sold • Gentle product handling • P roven performance from the company that invented in-line palletizing • Two. And more complex patterns are perfect for the Alvey 950.Alvey 950 Series Hybrid in-line palletizers Alvey 900 Series Very high-speed palletizers Alvey 880 Series High-speed case p. High level palletizers pick up the product at a level above the height of a full pallet and form the pattern on a bed. The pallet is raised to bed level and the product is then transferred to the pallet. Alvey 880 Series. High-speed case palletizers Main Features. Providing a high-speed solution for flexible, in-line palletizing, the Alvey 950 uses one. Those looking to convert from manual palletizing. The Alvey GS100 Series includes three models for a complete range of pallet-handling options. • Modular design with multiple standard.

Pallet dispensers: Fully automatic dispensers designed to release one pallet from the bottom of the stack. Sheet dispensers: Fully automatic dispensers that separate one sheet from the bottom of the stack. Pallet conveyor: A low-maintenance conveyor designed to economically transport palletized loads of different product types. Pallet conveyors can be integrated into any palletizing or depalletizing solution. Turns and transfers: Multiple options for redirecting pallets to a different flow path are available, including:. Turntables: Provide smooth, stable and reliable rotation to ensure proper load orientation.

Pivoting chain transfers: A cost-effective way to merge loads from multiple lanes into a common trunk line. Right-angle transfers: Facilitate 90-degree changes in direction of pallet flow. Additional pallet-handling products are available as stand-alone equipment or as part of a fully integrated pallet handling system. Pallet load stackers: Eliminate manual pallet load stacking with this automatic in-line stacker of heavy loads. These offer small footprints and minimal maintenance and are pre-wired and tested prior to shipment. Pallet stackers: Fully automatic stackers designed to stack pallets to a defined height.

Pallet dispensers: Fully automatic dispensers designed to release one pallet from the bottom of the stack. Sheet dispensers: Fully automatic dispensers that separate one sheet from the bottom of the stack. Pallet conveyor: A low-maintenance conveyor designed to economically transport palletized loads of different product types. Pallet conveyors can be integrated into any palletizing or depalletizing solution. Turns and transfers: Multiple options for redirecting pallets to a different flow path are available, including:. Turntables: Provide smooth, stable and reliable rotation to ensure proper load orientation.

Pivoting chain transfers: A cost-effective way to merge loads from multiple lanes into a common trunk line. Right-angle transfers: Facilitate 90-degree changes in direction of pallet flow.

Cases of Bil Mar and Sara Lee brand meats convey at a rate of 180-plus cases per minute to six palletizers in a unique arrangement with print-and-apply labeling; label scanning; case orienting; case and pallet tracking; and first-of-a-kind interlayer freezer sheet insertion.reported by Senior Editor Rick Lingle. With diverse compo-nents hundreds of feet apart, a compre-hensive plant setup at Bil Mar Foods, Zeeland, MI, automates the palletizing operations for this purveyor of processed packaged beef, poultry and pork products.

Part of Sara Lee Corp., Chicago, Bil Mar packages for deli retail and foodservice markets under the Bil Mar®, Sara Lee® and Mr. Turkey® brand names as well as for private label customers. After sealing and labeling, cases of vacuum-bagged products convey to a room containing six palletizers from Alvey, which provided Bil Mar with most of the setup as a turnkey system along with project management, engineering and data control functions. Two banks of three Alvey Model 880 palletizers are at the heart of the upgrade, which replaces a manual operation. Five of the six palletizers are customized with novel gantry-style dispensers that place interlayer freezer sheets on loads destined for blast freezing.

Pallet loads merge to convey to a print-and-apply system that affixes two pallet-identifying labels before the pallets reach the end of the line where hand-held scanners assist inventory control. Also contributing on the installation is America's Leading Edge Systems, which provided case print-and-apply labeling, data recording and scanning equipment along with the custom pallet labeler. Individual component control as well as central control is via Allen-Bradley SLC 5/04 programmable logic controllers along with communication using A-B's Data Highway®. At each palletizer, case labels are scanned and cases are oriented so that all labels face outward on the pallet. Additionally, bar code scanners and hand-held radio-frequency scanners are also part of the impressive, highly efficient setup.

The system handles an average of 30 cases per minute per palletizer, or about 180 cases per minute total. Generally, all six palletizers are in operation.

Alvey 880 Palletizer Manual

Automated change 'We went from a manual to a more efficient mechanical operation,' sums process engineer Marv Bradford, an 11-year company employee who handled the project; Bil Mar credits a lot of employee involvement for the project's success. With factors including western Michigan's miniscule 2.7 percent unemployment rate and the chilled plant environment, of several options available, Bil Mar chose full automation of the palletizing operations. Payback is projected at two years.

With installation stretching over the course of a year, the entire system-with minor exception-was fully operational in June '97. Things are set into motion once the cases are sealed, done on six separate production lines, each dedicated to a particular palletizer downstream. Essentially, each line handles a particular type of product, whether it be turkey, beef or pork, Bradford says.

The cases, RSC or wraparound in natural kraft or white color from various suppliers, contain vacuum-bagged loaves of product usually packed two per case. With netweights typically ranging from 15 to 25 pounds, cases are shipped to foodservice and retail deli outlets or the ready-to-serve refrigerated shelf. On each of the six lines, sealed cases cross a Bil Mar-built in-line digital scale; this weight data, along with product and production data in UCC EAN Code 128 bar code format, appears on a 21/234-inch pressure-sensitive label printed-and-applied by equipment from America's Leading Edge Systems including a Willett Labeljet® Model 2600 thermal transfer printer. That's followed by a check of label presence and code viability by a Model 30/9000 scanner from Accu-Sort Systems. On five of the lines, the label is applied to the case's trailing edge, and to the leading edge on the other line.

This is notable because the cases are later palletized with all labels facing outward per customer requirements. Conveying for 80 to as much as 250 feet at a height of nine feet above floor level to the palletizers, cases travel on Alvey Accuglide® 'zero pressure' conveyor sections that mechanically regulate case flow. To prevent case jams, the conveyors automatically go into accumulation mode when there's a machinery stoppage or backlog of cases. This was one of the reasons Bil Mar selected Alvey, Bradford says: 'We liked their Accuglide conveyors as well as the palletizers.'

The individual conveyor segments, part of more than 800 new feet of conveyoring from Alvey, are networked electronically. Cases head into the 55375-foot room, kept at 45 deg F, where the palletizers are arranged in two banks of three. Each bank has an outfeed conveyor that merges downstream at a right angle to the main flow conveyor. The strategy to the layout is that one bank of three palletizers tends to handle high-volume, low-changeover products, while the opposite bank is geared toward frequent changeovers, Bradford says.

The space between the two banks allows forklifts to replenish the machines with pallets, freezer sheets, slipsheets and tiersheets. Although the machinery uses a number of proximity and photo-sensors, Bradford chose to use as few photoeyes on conveyors as possible. 'Photoeyes could fog up in the chilled room or otherwise get blocked,' he notes, which was another reason they selected the Alvey Accuglide conveyors as well as the A-B Data Highway control. An Allen-Bradley bar code scanner, located on the main production infeed of each palletizer right before the first right-angle turn, scans the UCC EAN Code 128 bar code on the case label to detect a new code corresponding to a different stock-keeping unit (sku). If so, the case halts, and the previous product cases are cleared out of the palletizer, which is sent into stand-by mode before the operator manually restarts the palletizer for the new sku. Bradford expects within a year to conduct these changeovers automatically, including setting new pallet patterns.

Bil Mar cases a prodigious amount of skus, so that changeovers occur frequently. Collectively, changovers are continuous, Bradford says, with from 10 to 25 changes per machine per shift. 'We may run 1000 cases of one item, then 250 of another, then 100 of a third in rapid succession,' he says. 'The pallet pattern may change or stay the same.' Spray cuts stretch film Ahead of each palletizer, cases destined for certain layers receive adhesive from a system from Fastbreak Corp. It provides a unitizing alternative that eliminated stretch film-and its disposal-for work in process. Depending on the pattern, Bradford says three to four layers of cases per skid are top-coated with the substance.

For instance, on a 10-layer-high skid, layers one, six and nine receive the spray. The applicator is prompted by a signal from the palletizer PLC in conjunction with a photo sensor to detect the front of the case; the palletizer's A-B SLC 5/04 PLC, preprogrammed with case length information for the scanned sku, establishes a timed spray. 'The Fastbreak method has worked excellently,' Bradford reports. 'It reduced our costs and rid us of a lot of film waste.' He says pallet loads were manually stretchwrapped immediately following manual palletizing before the load would be destacked and restacked for outgoing shipment. 'There's no film disposal, and personnel can pull skids apart for order selection without difficulty,' he says.

Designed with right-angle infeeds, all six Alvey Model 880 palletizers have color touchscreens and (optional) pneumatic turners that orient the cases so that all case labels face outward on the skid. Bradford calls the palletizers 'quiet, solid-running machines.

We've been happy with them.' Although the palletizers are programmed to run 12 different patterns, the majority of the pallet patterns comprises a 6-foot-high, 100-count skid of 10 cases per layer, 10 layers high. All pallet patterns are stacked atop slipsheeted 40348-inch GMA wooden pallets. Case orientation To orient the cases with labels facing outward, at the right angle turn into the pallet infeed conveyor, cases are pulled by the 28-in.-wide roller infeed conveyor nose first, turned 90 degrees, with the label still on the case's trailing edge.

Alternately, a chain transfer mechanism that pops up between the rollers at this same point catches and then releases the case, thus preventing it from being turned 90 degrees so that it travels sideways down the infeed rollers. A few feet downstream and prior to entering the palletizer, bump-turners on the right and left sides of the infeed conveyor can activate to reorient the case another 90 degrees in either direction. Altogether, a case can be turned 0, 90, 180 or 270 degrees from its original orientation. Cases are formed into rows that are subsequently pushed atop the forming apron by one of two recirculating row pusher/former bars; the apron's sliding doors open once a layer is complete. Standard with the Model 880s palletizers is up-leveling. By using what Bradford terms oversized direct-drive motors that raise the pallet from beneath, the drop-placement of pallet layers is minimal and consistent.

Located at the opposite end of the machine, the pallet supply holds up to 12 pallets. The bottom pallet is chain conveyed once the others are raised up; pallets convey from one end of the palletizer to the other, staged into an initial position under the row forming area where a slipsheet can be placed atop it. The 1/8-inch thick, 40348 in. Corrugated slipsheets, sourced from various suppliers, are stored in a 12-inch-high capacity magazine. A row of suction cups lowers to grasp the slipsheet's leading edge and pull it atop the pallet before the pallet advances. Bubble challenge Required for blast-freezer destined loads that comprise 20 percent of production volumes, 'bubble' or freezer sheets need to be inserted automatically between case layers during palletizing.

With an uneven surface resembling a large, flat inverted egg carton, the 40348-inch, 2-inch thick high-density polyethylene sheets are used as spacers between layers to allow the chilling air flow to penetrate better into the load to freeze the cases quickly. The sheets are supplied by EMH Systems. Bradford says freezer sheet dispensing was one of the project's biggest challenges.

Alvey sales engineer Bill Allen, who played a key role in the project, calls their solution a first-of-its-kind development. Alvey adapted a gantry-style tiersheet dispenser for freezer sheet dispensing. The motor-driven gantry-horizontal movement is pneumatically actuated-is mounted atop the end of the machine over the forming apron; the supply magazine is above the pallet discharge conveyor. Controlled by an A-B 5/04 PLC, gantry movement is up-and-down and side-to-side. Pickup and placement locations are coordinat-ed by proximity sensors and timers, Bradford says.

The trick was to find a hold on the sheets' highly uneven surface for the vacuum cups. Viewed from above, the sheets' convex dimples have holes to maximize air flow in the freezer.

This means the spring-mounted vacuum-cups must reach down into a small area between the tennis ball-sized dimples. For success, Bradford says six of the eight vacuum cups must engage.

Part of the solution was consistency of pickup that helps ensure placement accuracy: The bottom sheet in the dispenser is bolted in place, allowing the neatly nesting sheets atop to align perfectly. 'This ensures each sheet is in the same place for pickup,' notes Bradford. The 12-inch-high supply bin holds up to 50 nested sheets. When the freezer sheets are used, the cases are stacked eight layers high, rather than the typical 10, to accommodate the added sheets and keep the overall height of the pallet around six feet. The sheets are placed between all layers. 'The bubble sheet dispensing is quite flexible,' says Bradford, noting they can substitute corrugated tiersheets for patterns that don't use the HDPE freezer sheets.

The only change needed is to adjustment the vacuum level, he adds. 'Although Alvey machinery has placed corrugated sheets between pallet layers, there's been nothing like this before,' Bradford continues.

'It's worked very well.' Bil Mar has used the plastic freezer sheets for about 15 years. To meet production demands, five of the six palletizers are equipped with freezer sheet insertion capabil-ity; the other machine is dedicated to 'fresh' product, Bradford says, destined for chilled storage. Skids convey to a common takeaway conveyor for each bank of three palletizers; these merge on a common conveyor that will take them the 125 foot distance to the warehouse. The sole bow to the previous manual arrangement is a hand-packing conveyor loop, located near the second bank of palletizers, where supplemental or small volume runs can be manually palletized. A nearby station allows entering a manually stacked load into the full pallet transportation conveyor. Another plus, evident at this point, is the reduction in forklift traffic, as the pallet loads now convey from the area, Bradford notes, rather than leaving the room on forklifts.

Forklifts are now limited to replenishing packaging supplies. Production flexibility has also increased, Bradford says. If weekend work is needed, one operator can run a palletizer.

'Before, we'd need a forklift driver and a case stacker, so this makes us more flexible.' Two operators are now capable of running and replenishing the materials for the six palletizers and associated systems in the room. On-demand skid labeling Just past the conveyor merge of the second bank of palletizers, the skid halts. An operator uses a radio-frequency-based system to scan the case code into Bil Mar Foods' RF-based warehouse management system; this is used to create two identical pallet-identifying labels printed with what Bradford calls a 'generic' Interleaved 3 of 9 bar code. It comprises a consecutive number used internally for pallet inventory identification. By later entering that unique number into a computer, plant personnel can call up all pertinent data since it corresponds to the case label that actually contains all the sku and product information.

From America's Leading Edge Systems, the custom system prints-and-applies a 336 inch pressure-sensitive label to two sides of the pallet load. The proposition is more complicated than usual as all labels on palletized cases must always be visible. That means that no skid label could obscure any of the case labels. Furthermore, although all skids measure 40348 inches, the load dimensions may vary by half a foot depending on the pattern. The system, with its articulating applicator arm, answered these challenges. After it's created by an America's Leading Edge Systems' thermal transfer printer, a label is held with vacuum on the end of an articulated pneumatic arm that extends out parallel to the pallet load.

Via conforming tamp-on application, it affixes the label about a foot back from the stationary load's front edge. The arm retracts to retrieve a second label as the skid advances, applying it after the back edge is sensed by a photocell as the pallet is in motion. Without articulating, the arm reaches out behind the skid and applies the second label.

The applicator system, run by Allen-Bradley SLC 50/4 PLC, is called by Bradford a 'slick system.' He says it applies about 85 percent of the labels completely on a blank spot on a single case; for the remainder, it applies a label that overlaps two cases. Neither obscures a case label.

As the skid conveys, it passes a RVSI CiMatrix ScanStar 15 SR bar code scanner provided by America's Leading Edge Systems that confirms the presence and readability of the pallet's bar coded side label. At the end of the conveyor line, the pallet label is scanned by a forklift operator using a RF-hand-held bar code scanner from LXE; this prompts an on-screen display that includes product identification and number of cases. It also tells where the pallet load should go, whether rack freezer, chilled storage or the blast freezer located about 200 feet away. After blast freezing, the freezer sheets are removed; this is done using a pallet inverter that lays the load on its side so that the sheets can be removed and reused. The pallet load is uprighted and stretchwrapped for shipment. In touch with control Central control is via Allen-Bradley SLC 50/4 PLC with a color touchscreen interface that, in addition to status and alarming functions, offers manual override.

Bradford says the A-B Data Highway provides networking of the 'daisy chained' PLCs for all machines including conveyors and labelers. According to Bradford, the project's biggest challenge was fitting all palletizers and associated conveyors and components into the existing space. That was left to Alvey's Allen, who says major changes they made included relocating the pallet dispensers from where they are normally set back from the palletizer to where they now abut the end of Bil Mar's machines.

Also, the slipsheet dispenser, normally located between the pallet dispenser and the machine, was repositioned so as to place the sheet on the pallet while the pallet is queued awaiting to enter the hoist area, immediately below the row forming area. Allen says other changes were made to the electrical cabinets to reduce space. In fact, things got to the point where Allen was repeatedly shaving inches off Auto-CAD renderings of the layout. Thanks to a successful close shave-not to mention the efforts of a number of vendors and a team approach along with individual plant personnel-there's nobody that doesn't like this kind of setup.

Except an inefficiency expert. More information is available: Palletizers, conveyoring, integration- Alvey Inc., 9301 Olive Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63131. Print-and-apply systems, scanners- America's Leading Edge Systems, Box 19790, Kalamazoo, MI 49019. Freezer sheet- EMH Systems, 339 E.

16th St., Holland, MI 49423. Bar code scanner- Accu-Sort Systems Inc., 511 School House Rd., Telford, PA 18969. Pallet label scanner- RVSI CiMatrix, #5 Shawmut Rd., Canton, MA 02021. Controls, scanners- Allen-Bradley, 1201 So. 2nd St., Milwaukee, WI 53204.

Case print-and-apply- Willet Labeljet, 6314-A Airport Freeway, Fort Worth, TX 76117. Case unitizing- Fastbreak Corp., Box 1530, Carrollton, GA 30117. Hand-held RF scanner- LXE Inc., 125 Technology Pkwy., Norcross, GA 30092.