Wittmann UK helps Rexam automate

Automation and materials handling expert Wittmann UK has been helping the Rexam canning site in Wakefield, part of the Rexam plc group, automate its waste management operations.

A Kawasaki-based 4 axis robot system has recently been commissioned and installed at the Rexam plant for the automatic lifting and palletising of a series of bales of pre-crushed aluminium cans. The robot was selected for its ease of programming, allowing numerous size and pallet configurations, flexibility and simple operations.
The new system offers:

• zero labour cost (freeing operators for more value-added tasks)
• a large reduction in health and safety risks
• a speedy payback on investment
• a reliable and 24 hour operation
• repeatability of pallet assembly

Wittmann UK sales manager Gary Fountain says that ‘we are delighted to show the versatility of our automation systems in areas outside our core plastics industry expertise, in sectors such as metals fabrication and waste management. We were pleased to be able to fulfil the detailed brief given us by Rexam and to design them a system with such a quick payback.’

The new system has now freed up Rexam’s existing operators to carry out other activities and to ensure a neater system of pallets when strapping the bales. The Wakefield site plant manager, Jason Ramskill says that ‘the automated solution provided by Wittmann UK is one of the smoothest solutions yet experienced by the factory from a supplier. Bearing in mind the complexity of the product and its handling the key asset in the project management has been the engineering skills and improvisation from the Wittmann UK team. The 100% efficiency of our Kawasaki robot has also impressed greatly.’

In operations at Wakefield, each bale is comprised of a number of crushed cans and ends which have been converted into a 20kg that measures approximately 12 inches along each side. These are sent down a driven roller to a relevant pick-up point for the Kawasaki robot arm.

At this point the bales are measured via some photo cells which are attached to the conveyor. This process helps decide whether the bales are the correct size for palletising. If the bale is above or below a certain set length the bales will be rejected for pick up and sent to the end of the conveyor for manual unloading.
Once a full pallet has been loaded the system is designed such that the forklift driver can enter the particular side of the robot cell and remove the full pallet while the robot itself continues the palletising process on the opposite side of the cell. The bales are then sent from Wakefield to a recycling plant in Warrington where they are recycled into aluminium ingots.

All of Wittmann UK’s supplied automation and materials handling systems are quality assured to the design standard of ISO 9001:2000.

Further details from Wittmann UK:Tel. 01933 275 777