Natures Organics is an Australian manufacturer of personal care and household cleaning products, with the philosophy of creating environmentally responsible products of the best quality and lowest possible price. In the past, the company's hair care product packaging production line used four piece cardboard packaging equipment - lane separating conveyor, bundling packer, cardboard box sealer, and palletizer. This hair care product packaging production line is over 45 meters long and operates at a production efficiency of 10 boxes per minute. Each box contains 24 bottles of plastic packaging in 4x6 bundles.

The trouble is that the retail market is seeking a more ready-made packaging method for natural organic products that only contain four bottles of the product. The company's box packaging and palletizing processes cannot meet these retail needs, nor can they be produced at the required speed. In addition, due to limited space in the facilities, customers must find packaging line solutions that occupy less space.

Hair care product packaging production line

Adjustment of packaging flow line

The new hair care product packaging production line includes four sub machines that operate in a total space of only 12 meters long by 4.3 meters wide. The packaging line integrates all necessary functions, whether it is equipment or software, making everything in one device. Only one online management system and one employee are needed to operate it.

Whole line process:

The box packaging and stacking production line for shampoo and conditioner was put into use in March 2013, handling the following size and packaging requirements:

1. Two 400ml and one 500ml PET bottles, oval in shape

2. Four bottles packed at once

3. Five layer palletizing

4. The speed for all sizes is 220 BPM (55 boxes/minute)

Hair care product packaging line

The natural organic chemical plant located in the suburbs of Melbourne covers an area of over 40000 square meters and has all departments of the company. The raw materials for the company's products are mixed in fuel tanks ranging from five to 30 metric tons and transported to the filling line. Bottles arrive from the bulk department. The operator transfers the bottles to the hopper and then fills the bottles. From there, the bottles are transported to the filling and capping machinery. Next, before conveying through the shrink tunnel, apply PET shrink tubing to each bottle. The quality control personnel inspect the bottles marked on the sleeve, and then enter the robot box sealing palletizing packaging line.

Hair care product packaging assembly line

Carton transportation - sealing hot melt adhesive system

The cardboard box is crossing over the track. Electricity is transmitted through induction, and communication is done through Wi Fi, so there are no cables connected to it. The adjustable size board is located on the horizontal transport cart. For natural organic matter, the board is suitable for shelf preparation. A three track box feeder with cardboard blanks is installed in the first sub machine. The TLM F3 robot takes out three cardboard blanks from the box feeder and transfers them to the TLM F2 robot.

The dual axis robot guides the billet through the hot glue nozzle, stands the top loading box in the folding frame, and places the box on an area of the conveyor line, waiting to be loaded into the bottle below. To assist in bonding the inner side of cardboard boxes, Schubert provided a 22 axis TLM F2 robot. One robot is used to close the box, while the second robot is used to press on the side of the box.

Bottling

The bottles arrive from the filling line and are also fed into the first sub machine. The grouping conveyor chain separates the bottles and guides them into the entire bottle conveying system. Rotate and move to the bottle packing machine, this is the second sub machine. There, the TLM F2 robot picks up bottles from the inner bottle system and places them in boxes. When the filled box passes through the sealing station, the hot glue nozzle applies adhesive to the cover of the shell. The TLM F2 robot closes the shell on the third sub machine. Another TLM F2 robot is also pressing on the side of the lid. This robot picks up boxes, rotates them 90 degrees, and then places them on the conveyor.

Floor area of hair care product packaging production line

Downstream palletizing

The palletizer represents Schubert's first machine in Australia and is the fourth sub machine. The servo driven calibration unit is used for packaging and buffering situations. The TLM P4 palletizing robot picks up boxes and places them on waiting trays. The finished pallet leaves the line and is transferred to stretch packaging. The pallet warehouse can accommodate up to 10 empty pallets. From there, individual pallets are transferred to the cardboard palletizing station. The palletizing robot first places a cardboard skateboard on the base of each new pallet, and then stacks the cardboard boxes onto the pallet according to the pattern.

Once again, it is emphasized that the entire hair care product packaging production line only requires a space of 12 meters long by 4.3 meters wide. All actions are completed by robot operators.