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Our robot solution triples an ice cube company's performance
GEI is an Asturian company dedicated to the design and manufacture of custom machinery for the industrial sector. Experts in product transport, lifting and handling equipment, this Asturian company has more than 15 years of experience. One of its most recent projects is the automation of the demoulding process for industrial ice cube trays with a Yaskawa robot, which has been a major challenge both in terms of improving the working environment and optimising space. Its main objective was to improve the end customer's performance and productivity. In this case, the customer is also an Asturian company that manufactures and distributes ice cubes that has been in the sector more than 20 years.
Challenge: automating a manual process
The huge challenge was to automate a process that, until then, had been carried out completely manually. This process was extracting the ice buckets from the trolley one by one, turning them 180° and placing them in the press. Due to the nature of the product, this job is carried out at low temperatures and involves handling heavy objects. In addition, it is highly repetitive and produces excessive noise from the impact of the ice cubes on the stainless steel ramps. Due to this harsh environment, performance decreases as the work progresses and frequent staff rotation is required.
The robotic cell designed by GEI focuses on the ice cube demoulding process and is composed, first of all, by mobile hanging carts, stainless steel structures to house 69 ice cubes (6,210 cubes) that move the product to the loading area, freezing area and unloading area. The solution also has a focuser, which is a device for centring the trolley and positioning at height to start automatic unloading. At the centre of the solution is Yaskawa's GP180 robot, a pneumatic gripper and a 180° turning system for removing the trays from the trolley and positioning them in the demoulding press for the cube trays. The latter has a hydraulic system. Finally, there are transport belts that remove the ice cubes and package them in a separate process.
The GP180 robot: a compact and high-speed handling robot
Our GP180 robot belongs to the wider Motoman GP family that includes compact handling robots that are characterised by their speed. In the case of this robotic cell, the GP180 provides a load capacity of up to 180 kg and a maximum reach of 2,702 mm. It is a robot that is easy to configure and maintain, with an environmentally resistant wrist structure. This improves efficiency in the equipment's installation, operation and maintenance.
The GP180 robot belongs to the extensive Motoman GP family of compact handling robots that are characterized by their speed. In the case of this robotic cell, the GP180 provides a payload capacity of up to 180 kg and a maximum reach of 2,702 mm. It is an easy to set up and maintain robot with an environmentally resistant wrist structure. This improves efficiency in the installation, operation and maintenance of the equipment.
Results: higher performance and productivity
As this process was completely manual in a hostile environment due to noise pollution and low temperatures, the new solution has tripled performance and the current equipment has increased shift productivity by 40%. Now, the demoulding capacity is approximately 25,000 ice cubes/hour, while with the manual process it was approximately 15,000 ice cubes/hour. Another challenge that arose was the integration of the solution into a small workspace that has an area of about 20m2 and a height of no more than 2.5 m. This made cell development difficult, but optimal integration has been achieved thanks to a very careful design and a millimetrically studied programming.
