How to Choose Between Robotic or Conventional Palletizing?

Conventional Palletizers

First, let’s look at conventional palletizers, which can be divided into two sub-categories: low-level and high-level palletizers.

Low-Level Palletizers

A low-level palletizer handles products carried by floor-level conveyors. The palletizer aligns and rotates each product to create a cohesive row according to the desired pallet configuration. Complete rows are then pushed against one another using specialized tools until a full layer is formed on the formation table.

The formation table, containing a complete layer, is adjusted to precisely align with the stripper plate for a smooth and gentle transfer of the products onto the pallet. Once the pallet is full, it is replaced with a new one and the process starts over.

High-Level Palletizers

High-level palletizers also operate with products carried by a conveyor. Unlike low-level palletizers, it is the pallet that is raised or lowered to meet the stationary product layers, allowing for increased palletizing speeds.

Another big difference is that the infeed conveyor generally has an elevation of 84” or higher. This type of palletizer achieves higher throughput and is particularly adept at handling compressible products, as the layers are compressed on all sides, including the top, resulting in a tight and stable pallet.

The Advantages of Choosing a Conventional Palletizer

Those differences aside, here are the main features and benefits of conventional palletizers:

Speed

Conventional palletizers have been developed to adapt to various production speeds. The speed capability of these machines varies depending on the model, ranging from 10 to 40 bags per minute.

In certain situations, such as when palletizing smaller units, these machines have the potential to reach even higher speeds, as many as 200 units per minute.

Maintenance

Conventional palletizers, though they require more attention than their robotic counterparts, are designed to be user-friendly and easy to maintain.

These machines are made up of traditional mechanical and pneumatic components, making maintenance simple for those with basic mechanical knowledge.

When purchased from a high-quality provider, these machines can achieve an impressive uptime of 99% and remain in service for several decades with proper upkeep.

Versatility

Conventional palletizers have been developed to palletize one product type at a time (bags, bales, cases, or other rigid containers for instance). However, the pallets produced are typically precisely aligned and extremely compact, since each layer can be compressed or squared. These features make conventional palletizers capable of producing very stable ang high-quality pallets.

Footprint

Generally, a conventional palletizer is a rather imposing piece of equipment that requires considerable space, both on the floor and with regards to height. However, there are also compact options available, as well as systems that can be configured to suit a plant’s current layout.

Price

Overall, the cost of a conventional palletizer is comparable to one that is robotic. It depends mostly on the required throughput speed but also on other features such as pallet magazines, sheet dispensers, conveyors, bag preparation systems, and more.