Palletizers

About Palletizers and Palletizer Systems Including: Case Palletizers, Depalletizers, Palletizing, Palletizing Equipment & Robotic Palletizers.

Palletizers and palletizer systems are machines that arrange products on a pallet for shipping, storing or moving. Palletizers have a feed area that receives the goods that are to be palletized. The feed area can be at ground level (low level) or at high level through a hopper overhead. While low level palletizers are fed from the ground level, products are fed to high level palletizers from an overhead hopper. The feed is received in a rolling or flowing fashion, in both cases, and is continuously transferred to the pallets, allowing for greater speed. Palletizers without feeds are usually robotic. In this case, the arm individually picks up, orients and places the individual item on the pallet. These robotic palletizers are often used with products that are fragile or heavy. The use of palletizers in these situations reduces the risk of injury to the workers and damage to the product.
 
Palletizer systems are used in packaging situations that require multiple units to be shipped or stored together. Placing the units on the pallet makes stacking, storing and moving the loads easier and more efficient. Packaging and shipping companies are the main users of palletizers as well as companies who do their own shipping. Palletizers can work with drums, sacks, bags, pails, cans, cases and various other product types. When looking for palletizers, it is important to consider the type of goods the machine will be required to handle, as not all palletizers are equipped to handle all package types.
 
Automatic and robotic palletizers have many advantages for companies thinking of purchasing palletizers. Palletizing units can work faster and have better consistency than a more costly human operator has. They can withstand harsh environments better and are less likely to be injured than a human is. These units also come with some safety features like QuickSTOP collision sensors and work cell perimeter guards called Smartscan. QuickSTOP has sensors that will shut down the work cell and deflate to absorb impact, which minimizes damage to tooling and the product. Smartscan has L- and T- shaped curtain units that are advanced enough to detect a pallet or a person being passed through the system. If a pallet is detected in the work cell, it is allowed to pass through, but if a person is detected, then movement is stopped immediately in a matter of seconds.
 
Automatic and robotic palletizers generally appeal to users with mid- to high range needs. Users with low range needs assume palletizing units are out of their budget, but most suppliers claim you can purchase palletizers and palletizer systems from the money you could save from avoiding just one back injury. To figure out what palletizers type is best for your company, you must consider how many lines of output will be distributing to the palletizers, if your conveyors release products at low level or high level, the way you assemble pallets, the type and size of pallets you use and the speed of your conveyor line.

Palletizers and Palletizer Systems Images Provided by Columbia Machine, Inc.

Palletizers and Palletizer Systems Images Provided by Möllers North America, Inc.

Types of Palletizers

• Articulated arm palletizers are a type of robotic palletizer that have a jointed arm, which gives them a greater range of motion and flexibility, while positioning products on a four-axis motion.
  
• Automatic palletizers assemble products on pallets by themselves or with little assistance, mainly limited to restocking packaging components. They can often be part of a larger shipping system.
  
• Bag palletizers include gripping modifications specifically to arrange bags on pallets for shipping and/or movement.
  
• Can palletizers arrange filled or empty cans onto pallets for shipping or moving.
  
• Case palletizers lift cases from tables and place them onto a pallet or previous layer of product.
  
• Depalletizers remove products by layer from pallets for leveling or stocking purposes.
  
• Drum palletizers move filled or empty drums onto pallets for shipping or moving.
  
• Gantry palletizers are a type of robotic palletizer that consists of a combination of a robotic arm and an overhead crane or I-bean.
  
• In-line palletizer systems can stack complete layers of cartons or bags at one time.
  
• Manual palletizers speed the stacking goods onto a pallet and aid with layer organization.
  
• Pail palletizers include modifications specifically to arrange pails on pallets for shipping and/or movement.
  
• Palletizing refers to the packaging process of arranging of products on a pallet for transportation purposes.
  
• Palletizing equipment refers to the various machines used to pack and transport pallets.
  
• Robotic palletizers lift and move goods to pallets automatically or semi-automatically, relieving workers from the potential hazards of heavy, repetitive lifting.
  
• Row stripper palletizers are a type of in-line palletizer that organizes a row and pushes it aside until another row is formed and put on top of the previous row, which is done until a full pallet is completed.
  
• Selective compliant articulated robot arm (SCARA) palletizers are a type of robotic palletizer that use a mast and cross arm to place products through four axes of motion.
  
• Semi-automatic palletizers allow an operator to stack layers of heavy products with no lifting.
  
• Vacuum-head unit is a type of in-line palletizer that clutches products with air powered suction cups and places the items on the pallets.  

Palletizers Terms

Captive Pallet – A pallet that stays within a facility and is not exchanged, traded or delivered off site.
 
Deck – The top or bottom surface of the pallet.
 
Deflection – The amount of bending in a pallet or one of its components when under a load.
 
Fork Entry – The place for forks to enter and move the pallet, usually between decks or under the top deck.  
 
Line Load – The weight of a unit load concentrated across the entire length or width of the pallet or along a narrow area.
 
Load Bearing Surface – The area of material that is in contact with and is supporting a unit load.
 
Mast-Equipped Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) – Vehicles that move unit loads and storing or retrieving pallets and unit loads.
 
Pallets – Platforms used to stack goods on for shipping, storing or moving. They can have two-way or four-way entry by fork trucks.
 
Pallet Design System (PDS) – A computer-aided design program that helps determine safe load carrying capacities, performance, life and economy of wooden pallets.
 
Pallet Jack – A manual wheeled platform used for lifting palletized unit loads.
 
Racked Across Deckboards – The maximum load carrying capacity and deflection of a pallet where, at the ends of the deckboards, the rack frame sustains the pallet.
 
Racked Across Stringers – The maximum carrying capacity of a pallet where, only at the ends of the stringers or stringer boards, the rack frame sustains the pallet.
 
Slave Pallet – A panel used to support the base of a palletized load in rack-storage facilities.
 
Strapping – Bands, which secure the goods or load to the pallet.
 
Throughput – The amount of output or production in a given period of time.
 
Top Cap – Panel placed on top of goods on a pallet that protects them from damage when strapping occurs.
 
Unit Load – The collecting of goods to be moved or shipped onto a pallet.