What usually causes it

Are you having issues with any of the following?

• The gripper cannot hold the new product. Different weight, surface, or centre of gravity than the tooling was designed for.
• The pattern was never accounted for in the original design. A new carton size needs a new stacking or collation pattern, not just a parameter change.
• Positions were taught but not validated. If pick and place points were manually taught for one format, a new format means teaching them again.
• The existing guides no longer fit the packaging. Changes to carton dimensions or packaging can require modifications to guides, stops and other mechanical components. See our Mechanical Engineering services for modifications and custom machine components.

What we check on a site visit

• Whether the existing tooling can handle the new product. We determine whether the current setup can be used as-is, modified to suit, or needs to be replaced.
• Whether the required production rate can still be achieved. A new product format can change the cycle time, robot movements or overall cell rate.
• The size and scope of the required changes. We identify what needs to be modified and estimate the work and time required.
• Whether the same issue is likely to occur with the next new product. Where possible, we look at how the system can be made more flexible for future product changes.

Typical outcomes

In rough order of what it takes to fix:

• A new recipe and taught positions, where the cell was built for changeover.
• Tooling modification. New suction cups, pads or fingers on the existing frame.
• New end of arm tooling, designed and built for the new format.
• A structural change to infeed or collation, which is a project rather than a job.

Grippers and tooling. A new carton or bottle often needs more than a program change. Our mechanical engineering team designs and builds vacuum and custom grippers for the new product, so the changeover is not limited to what the old tooling can pick.

A scope tells you which of those it is before you commit to any of them. Send us the old and new product specifications and we will come back with an approach and a price.