Robotic Case and Carton Palletizing

End-of-line palletizing is where most food and beverage plants meet their first robot. The case comes off the packer at a steady rate, the pattern is fixed, the pallet is standard — it is the most predictable job on the line, and the one where manual stacking most often becomes the bottleneck when a line speeds up.

The argument for a robot over a conventional layer palletizer is changeover. A layer palletizer is faster on one SKU and cheaper to run; a robot handles a plant with fifteen SKUs, three case sizes and two pallet formats without mechanical adjustment. Where the product mix changes weekly, the robot wins on availability rather than on speed.

What gets palletized

Corrugated cases, shrink-wrapped multipacks, trays, crates, plastic pails, bottles in shippers, and layer-picked bottles or cans with a full-layer head. Food, beverage, dairy, household chemicals, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and general packaging lines.

Choosing the robot

Cases are light — 5 to 20 kg is typical — so the head, not the case, sets the payload. A single-case vacuum or fork head is 10 to 25 kg; a two-case head or a full-layer head is considerably more. Rate it on the head plus the maximum simultaneous pick.

• RP18-25 — 25 kg, 1885 mm. The usual single-line case palletizer.
• RP15-15 — 15 kg, 1530 mm. Compact cells, light cartons, limited floor space.
• RP24-130 — 130 kg, 2485 mm. Multi-case and layer heads, or two pallet positions.
• RP32-180 — 180 kg, 3130 mm. Full-layer picking, tall stacks, several lines into one cell.

Reach again is measured to the top of the finished stack. A 2.0 m beverage pallet plus the head height is beyond what a 1.5 m arm will do, however light the case.

For small packs, trays and cartons at high rate over a short distance, a SCARA robot is faster and cheaper than a jointed arm — the RS12-60Z40H reaches 1200 mm at 60 kg and covers small-case palletizing where floor space rules out a palletizing robot.

What else the cell needs

Case gripper — vacuum, fork or clamp, chosen by case surface, weight and whether the flaps are sealed — plus a case turning and accumulation conveyor, pallet dispenser, slip-sheet placer where the stack requires it, stretch wrapper, and interlocked fencing with a pallet exit that does not stop the cell.

Cold-store and washdown environments change the specification of both robot and gripper. Say so early; it is not a detail that can be added afterwards.

Get a quotation

Send case dimensions and weight, cases per minute, the pallet pattern and stack height, and the number of SKUs. We will size the robot and the head and quote the cell.