News & Knowledge

Below, you can take a visual tour of a complete upgrade to a palletizing and sorting conveyor, including a simulation of the complete solution, and a step-by-step breakdown of each facet of this robotic automation project. Automated End-of-Line Palletizing & AGV Solution The client came to us for help automating this process which was nearly 100% manual.  The sortation conveyor you’ll see delivering boxes to each lane in this simulation and subsequent videos was the only existing automation. After that boxes were stacked manually on wooden pallets and all pallet handling was 100% manual as well. Manual pallet handling was this client’s #1 cause of recordable accidents. The above simulation was used as a proof of concept to look at various production rates to ensure that we would not encounter any constraints or collisions and to ensure proper operation prior to final design and build. Post project, this same model could be enhanced and used as a digital twin for training, real-time troubleshooting, and new product simulation purposes Infeed Singulator & Sortation Conveyor This video shows the robotics that sort cases to be sent to palletizing. The infeed sortation conveyors deliver completed cases to the appropriate palletizing lane to be palletized by the robotic cells.  This is accomplished using bar code scanners that identify the product code (SKU) and then automatically route the box to the correct lane. Dual Palletizing Cell This video shows a palletizing cell designed to simultaneously stack 2 different product pallets. The total solution consists of 6 of these cells for a total production capacity of 12 pallets being produced simultaneously. These cells are fed by the infeed sortation conveyors that deliver finished cases to the appropriate lane for palletizing.  The robotic cells run nearly continuously with the automated pallet change capability shown in a subsequent video. They have … Continued

Congratulations to some of our recently promoted team members: Christina Jumalon, Eric Zhang, Samantha Nadeau, Zac Beyer, Andreas Lang, Sahil Mehta, Ken Her, and Umar Karim for recent, well-deserved promotions.   Christina Jumalon – Automation Engineer II Christina has had an incredible year of growth, supporting a fast-paced startup where she took an active role in PLC/HMI programming and troubleshooting, documentation, and Phase testing in close coordination with client process engineers. She’s also helped with documentation and testing for various projects throughout the year. Eric Zhang – Automation Engineer II Eric has developed his skills as an embedded engineer. Eric has also shown his hard work and ability to learn quickly while being on call and asked to troubleshoot and debug the live system when needed. He is asked to juggle multiple projects and priorities while maintaining his stellar quality of work. He has also helped us to expand our client role by helping to work with manufacturing, infrastructure, and other groups as needed. Eric has become a trusted resource to the PLC team and has expanded his documentation, coding, testing, and debugging skills. Samantha Nadeau – Automation Engineer III Sam is a very talented engineer who is technically capable, motivated, and committed to the quality of work she delivers. Sam has developed and maintained strong working relationships with engineers in the LSE unit as well as here on the west coast, where she is an active contributor to our company culture and social atmosphere. Sam juggled being a part of projects with the LSE and LSW teams. Zac Beyer – Lead Automation Engineer I Zac has seen an incredible variety of platforms and technologies in the past year. From specifying and procuring intrinsically safe hardware to quickly ramping up to support an OSI Pi project to programming Siemens PLCs … Continued