Brandt was looking for an extremely versatile pick-and-place technology to pack the freshly produced rusk slices randomly arranged on the conveyor belt in paper trays. Bosch Packaging Technology's expertise convinced the long-established company. The solution with a Delfi feed placer was a success right from the start.
A crispy, crunchy rusk makes Childhood memories revive. As a familiar companion on the playground or for breakfast to get the day off to a good start, Brandt rusks have been familiar to many generations and have been putting a smile on the faces of young and old for over a hundred years.
Packaging challenge
The products should be exact and Positioned in a straight line and to their Quality checked be realised. In addition, a Gentle handling This is the case for rusks with an irregular surface structure or with a high-quality chocolate coating. The company was therefore looking for a solution that would both make production more flexible and increase it. Brandt examined various solutions and decided in favour of a Delfi feed placer with a integrated vision system and three High-performance delta robots from Bosch Packaging Technology SA.
Expertise that inspires
„An offer was prepared for us with a level of detail that is unusual - unusually good. We were certain that Bosch had asked the right questions, analysed our product and found the most suitable solution for us,“ explains Marco Geimer, plant manager of the Brandt plant in Ohrdruf, the purchase of the machine.
The rusk manufacturer was able to significantly increase its output. On the one hand, this is due to a higher pick-and-place speed and, on the other, to gentler product handling and the associated reduced waste. Two end effectors per robot pick up the rusk slices and place them in the feed chain of the downstream robot. Trayloaders. A unique principle is used here. The products are manufactured by means of a special, based on negative pressure end effectors are lifted particularly carefully. This also protects the air hoses of the robots from contamination by product particles. This in turn reduces the cleaning and maintenance effort and thus avoids downtimes.
„We have not yet reached the maximum. The machine is designed for 390 products per minute. We want to achieve this by gradually optimising the entire production process,“ emphasises Marco Geimer.
Flexible technology that impresses
For Brandt, it was important to offer several rusk variants on the same line instead of one product as in the past. of different nature reliable packaging. The Delfi system currently handles four flavours, including rusk varieties with chocolate and coconut coatings.
Further products are already planned. No problem for the Delfi feed placer, as the integrated vision system uses a camera to record all products before they are picked up by the robots so that they can be picked up precisely by the grippers. New product formats can also be learnt via the vision system's parameter settings and easily simulated on the operating platform (HMI). This is also possible without products and during production.
New product variants also present the company with new challenges in terms of Quality assurance. The Delfi feed placer was also convincing here: the vision system carries out continuous quality checks by recognising defective products via predefined specifications and not accepting them. They are then automatically ejected. In the past, this task was carried out by humans. „But no employee can keep an eye on every detail of a conveyor belt full of products,“ says Marco Geimer. „With the Delfi system, we are now close to 100 per cent control.“
Partnership that continues to grow
The partnership between Brandt and Bosch Packaging Technology SA began over 18 years ago. Fourteen solutions from the Bosch experts have already been integrated into the rusk manufacturer's production processes, which was a great advantage for the integration of the new system and the interface integration. The many years of collaboration helped to optimally adapt the Delfi solution to the current production conditions and also to incorporate planned future developments.
„The handling of the products is now more hygienic and efficient. The Delfi picker runs so smoothly that we are now even receiving more feedback from employees when the production process on other machines is not working so well and there is therefore a need for optimisation in production. The pleasant collaboration has prompted us to consider further joint projects with Bosch.“
[infotext icon]About Brandt
Brandt, a family-owned company known throughout Europe for its branded biscuits, employs more than 800 people, and the approximately 17,000 tonnes of rusks are sold mainly in Europe, but also as far afield as Japan. The company headquarters are located in Hagen (North Rhine-Westphalia).
The company owes its continued success not only to the great trust of consumers, but also to the innovative further development of its products. These include the rusk varieties with a delicious coating, which are very popular with customers today, but which initially posed a packaging challenge. [/infotext]
