Motoman robots have taken over packing of bags into cartons in one of two cells serving the palletising area, which itself was robotised in 1998.
The majority of the heavier bags of peas, weighing either 1 kg or 907 grams (2 lbs), are processed through the robotic side to save the two operators.
In the adjacent cell the arduous task of stacking them into boxes by hand.
A smaller SK6 six-axis robot within the same floor area erects cartons and places them beside the SK16 for filling.
The other breakthrough was the multiple bag handling technology that Motoman introduced, following successful implementation of a similar collating gripper system.
'Motoman was awarded this contract because the other suppliers we looked at either wanted to specify two robots to load the pallets.
Or said the roof height had to be raised to provide clearance for robot operation.
He said that the palletising robot has been serviced once a year since it was installed four years ago, since which time its operational availability has been 100 per cent.
He confidently expects similar long-term performance from the other two robots.
