The use of industrial robots is mostly justified, due to the repetitiveness of activities and the weight and shape of the elements that need to be moved. A palletizer click the link is a machine that provides automatic means for sorting, transferring and stacking cases of goods or products onto a pallet; usually at the end of a manufacturing line. Automatic pallet machine is good for convenient, high-volume shipping. Palletizers provide load stability, precision and operation speed. Mixed Case Palletizing is a more recent solution to several packing issues.
For instance, an inline palletizer may have a robotic arm next to it to take over when atypical products are being palletized. This enables the speedy handling of high volumes of goods as well as the efficient palletization of specialty loads.
Quite flexible, they can serve several lines of packaging at a time, and palletize several dimensions of pallets at the same time. To automate their palletizing process, manufacturers often use palletizers installed at the end of the line to ensure the automatic loading of products on the pallet. Palletizers complete the packaging line and help to save a lot of time on load palletizing.
Learn more about our shipping pallets and our whole selection of goods by calling us at or contacting us online. Variable packaging types—Robots pick and place the product, while conventional pallet machines simply convey the product into position. Depending on the packing variables, a robotic solution may require updated tooling and extensive modifications for seemingly simple packaging or product changes. The first versions of automated high-SKU, mixed-case palletizers became available to the logistics market around 2005.
With the acquisition of Lambert Material Handling in March of 2014, ARPAC LLC now offers the widest range of conventional and robotic palletizing solutions in the industry. Lambert has been an industry leader and manufacturer of conventional palletizers for over 66 years, introducing the first automatic palletizer to the North American market in 1948.
All equipment is built with the highest priority on safety, flexibility, performance and support to ensure your palletizer maximizes production every day for the life of your palletizer. Automated palletizing was developed in the 1970s and used a combination of conveyor belts and industrial sorting equipment to arrange standardized containers into preset patterns.
FANUC robots have been tackling complex and standard operations for 30 years. Whether you are palletizing a full layer or individual boxes, bags, pails or drums our systems are fast, steady, and reliable. Columbia Pallet Machine manufactures high level, floor level and robotic palletizers; load transfer stations and provides complete system integration.

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For example, industrial equipment is typically strapped to pallets rather than wrapped. However, in industries that produce massive amounts of products, utilizing automated palletizers can alleviate manual labor and significantly improve productivity. Palletizing is the process of stacking large quantities of identical items onto a pallet for shipping. Items are stacked according to weight and in a pattern that promotes stability and product integrity.
These options do add cost and may impact the overall throughput of the system, driving down the attractiveness of a robotic system to the end-user compared to more conventional machines. As early as the 1950s, conventional automated palletizers, which could process a single SKU continuously, came into use. By the late 1970s, robotics began to be employed to increase the flexibility of automated systems for singular SKU counts and different palletizing configurations. With the introduction of servo-motors in the late 1980s, the speed and performance of single-SKU palletizing systems advanced considerably. Fully-automatic palletizing systems offer companies maximum flexibility and can be switched to different product formats and pallets.
The cost for this concept is higher than conventional high-speed palletizers, but certain applications with high-speed and complexity demands can justify the added expense. Low-speed, simple case palletizing—For operations that have low speed and simple requirements for palletizing, robotics can be an attractive option. The addition of other automation, such as pallet and sheet handling or pallet conveyance, are all worth considering when evaluating a robotic cell.
A pallet machine is a mechanized system for automatically loading goods onto a pallet for shipping. This usually consists of a 4- or 5-axis robotic arm with an end effector designed to pick the type of products to be palletized. The palletization of goods consists in arranging the retail products on pallets in a specific way. More and more often, we can meet with the use of robots in this field.
This system optimizes the packing and palletizing of materials of different dimensions while maintaining high levels of throughput. It keeps required floor space to a minimum while improves production line utilization rate and system availability.
But knowing which are needed is a crucial part of the planning process. As with most competing technologies, both conventional and robotic palletizers have pros and cons. At up to 200 cases/minute, conventional palletizers usually have faster cycle times. However, the series of conveyors needed to orient the product means they also usually require more space.
“The acquisition of Lambert builds on our commitment to industry excellence and dedication to identifying and delivering what our customers want, complete end-of-line OEM integration. In the recent past, certain packaging and product types didn’t lend themselves to robotic palletizing systems. However, the technology has improved to the point that there are end effectors for nearly any shape or type of material.
We have put in place numerous systems that can palletize shipping products and depalletize products for receipt. Our experience includes various combinations of box sizes, package shapes, weights and patterns for stacking. We have also developed standard solutions for one in/one out, two in/two out, three in/three out and four in/four out applications both for product receipt and shipment. Palletizing robots are often less expensive than layered palletizers. They can be a good solution for an industy to make a first step into the world of automation.
Equipped with four-, five- and six-axis robots and software with expanded capability, these highly-automated systems have begun a new evolution in volume-SKU, mixed-case palletizing. Providing safe and secure packaging is essential for smooth freight transportation. When shipping with less-than-truckload, packing is even more important because there are multiple shipments combined in a trailer. Preparation simplifies handling, loading, and unloading, and prevents cargo damage. Palletizing uniquely shaped items is often more challenging than more uniform products.
To stack products, each container layer was clamped into place and lifted off the conveyor belt and onto the pallet. In order to alternate the stacking pattern, the entire pallet was rotated before the next layer went into place. The system was a rather impressive demonstration of engineering ability in a world that was still entirely analog. This type of palletizer is called an pallet machine and a version of it is still used in many supply chains. Palletizing or palletization most often refers to the act of placing products on a pallet for shipment or storage in logistics supply chains.
These palletizing processes may be automatic or semi-automatic, but either way, both are faster than the robotic palletizing process. Whether you are depalletizing product at the front of your line or palletizing downstream, FANUC offers a complete line of robots designed and built to deliver high duty and the world’s fastest cycle times.
Ideally, products are stacked in a pattern that maximizes the amount of product in the load by weight and volume while being stable enough to prevent products from shifting, toppling, or crushing each other. Traditionally, palletizing was accomplished by manual labor, but increasingly automated systems are taking over the task of palletizing products. The solutions requiring some form of automation have much higher capital expenditures and non-recurring engineering expenses due to the need for design, development, and deployment of machinery. The PFL solution, in particular, requires material robot capital investment as multiple PFL robots are needed in order to match the payload capacity of the traditional palletizing robots.
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Robotic pattern forming—This concept combines the best of both technologies for high-rate applications. This approach also improves pattern flexibility and simplifies new pattern creation; as the robotic arm’s role avoids the need to reposition cases in fixed-lane locations.
While the original method of palletizing consisted of people manually loading items onto pallets, nowadays semi automatic pallet machines make the process much faster and safer. Kaufman Engineered Systems is proud to introduce the new KPal series of robotic palletizing solutions! This industry-leading series of palletizers will accommodate a wide variety of product formats including case, tray, bundle, or containers.
The machines function in an energy-saving manner, with low noise and fulfil their task with high availability. An example of this is the articulated-arm robot which impresses with its flexible adaptation to the conditions in the palletizing of products in industry. When the robot comes into contact with the packed goods, corresponding gripper devices such as a bag- or suction gripper ensure gentle handling. Both types work with conveyors and a feed area that receives products.
The difference between the two is that low-level load products from the ground level and high-level load products from above. In both cases, products and packages arrive on conveyors, where they are continuously transferred to and sorted on the pallets.