Dr Schär Deutschland GmbH, a leading food specialist for special dietary nutritional requirements, commissioned ASA GmbH, Mainhausen, to design and build a picker cell for packaging gluten-free foods, which can be reliably integrated into a system that has been in operation for 20 years.
Production facilities that have existed for decades often still have technologies that work very well, but no longer fulfil today's product quality and quantity requirements accompanied by higher output, or only partially. At the same time, in addition to cost savings, producers increasingly want to think in terms of resources and the environment. In order to meet these requirements, ASA Automatisierungs- und Fördersysteme GmbH offers the following solutions for existing production lines Retrofit concepts on. Only critical modules are replaced or systems are supplemented with solutions for new requirements.
Customised standard cell
Dr Schär invested in a production plant consisting of a total of five cells, only one of the cells is replaced by a new one. The retrofit concept offers mechanical and electrical interfaces that allow the new production cell to be integrated into the existing system in order to replace existing system sections, thereby increasing production capacity and ensuring product quality.
In detail, the development of this concept focussed on the core task: Products "on the fly" from the conveyor belt and sort them into blister packs. All other existing processes in the environment were not changed in the existing system. A standard ASA cell, equipped with a delta picker and a vision system for product position detection with a welded steel base frame construction, served as the basis for the further cell design. Complex product grippers, manufactured using a 3D injection process and equipped with a gripper quick-change system, are added to the existing cell. „Product variant multiple concept“ fair.
„We always strive to offer our customers an optimal solution and sometimes only 50 per cent or less change is enough for a 100 per cent gain,“ emphasises Mario Krämer, Managing Director of ASA GmbH.
The design of the frame was adapted to the existing space conditions, which meant that the entire existing product packaging logistics could remain unchanged. The connection to the existing control technology was also realised in such a way that the operation of the production system was retained. This ensured that production could be started up quickly.
The Advantages The advantages of this ASA concept are: short implementation times (from conception to production start-up), calculable investments, product quality improvements and short installation and commissioning times. They convinced the customer and perfectly met their requirements for increasing performance, ensuring today's standards coupled with environmentally conscious, sustainable action.
