11 Palletizing & Depalletizing Robot Manufacturers in 2023
This section provides an overview for palletizing & depalletizing robots as well as their applications and principles. Also, please take a look at the list of 11 palletizing & depalletizing robot manufacturers and their company rankings.
Table of Contents
What Is a Palletizing Robot?
A palletizing robot is a robot that stacks boxed goods on pallets in a predetermined arrangement. It is sometimes also called a palletizer.
With highly automated robotic arms taking on the task of transporting and loading heavy goods, the many advantages of palletizing robots, such as enabling high-mix, low-volume production, improving food product freshness, and reducing shipping time, have attracted attention in a variety of industries.
Similar benefits are expected from depalletizing robots, which automatically unload goods that have arrived in pallet form.
Uses of Palletizing Robots
In many manufacturing and logistics operations, such as food, chemical, and machine parts industries, boxed products are stacked in large numbers on pallets in specific arrangements, and pallets are lifted by forklifts for efficient transportation.
On the other hand, manually lifting boxes one by one after packing and stacking them on pallets one by one is extremely burdensome and poses a risk of back pain and other problems at the work site.
The introduction of palletizing robots can automate the work of carrying and stacking boxes on pallets, which is expected to save labor, reduce the risk of work-related injuries, and streamline the production process.
Principle of Palletizing Robot
A palletizing robot consists of a multi-axis robot arm with about 4 degrees of freedom and a gripping mechanism that grasps the product.
By automating the front and rear processes to a certain degree, the robot can load products in the correct position by repeatedly executing pre-trained grasping, carrying, and loading motions to ensure that the position where the boxed products are sent from the front process and the pallet is placed are the same each time. The gripping mechanism is designed with a thin jaw on one side, allowing the boxes to be loaded closely next to each other.
In addition, since serious injury can occur if the robot arm collides with a worker, the safety principle stipulates that workers are not allowed to enter the robot's range of motion.
Therefore, in addition to the automation of product transport from the front-end process, including conveyor belts, worker safety is ensured by installing fences to prevent entry into the robot's movable range and ancillary equipment such as doors with interlocks that stop operation when opened.
Palletizing Robot Operation Program
Palletizing, as mentioned above, refers to the process of stacking boxed products on a pallet in a predetermined arrangement. In other words, a palletizing robot takes a product from a predetermined position and repositions it to a predetermined position.
For example, if a palletizing robot is responsible for placing 30 boxes vertically by 30 boxes horizontally on a pallet, there are 900 boxes in total. If 10 teaching points (position information where the robot passes through) must be defined before a single box can be acquired and placed, 900 x 10 = 9,000 position information must be taught to the palletizing robot just to program this palletizing operation. This teaching operation is called teaching. This teaching operation is called teaching.
Simply put, teaching 9,000 positions to the palletizing robot is a very difficult task to be performed manually (this is called the teaching playback method). In palletizing, teaching is generally simplified by taking advantage of the "move from a predetermined position to a predetermined position" feature. Since 30 boxes are lined up on a pallet in regular rows, once the positions of three adjacent boxes are known, the positions of all the boxes can be calculated by offsetting the difference between the positions. By teaching this to the robot, the positions of all boxes can be taught to the palletizing robot.
Difference from Depalletizing
Depalletizing refers to the process of unloading goods on pallets to a fixed position. In other words, it is the reverse of palletizing, which involves stacking goods on pallets. Since palletizing and depalletizing are almost identical, the same robots can be used for both tasks.
Depalletizing is a part of the process in which goods delivered by an outside manufacturer are transported to various locations within the company. Because the palletizing of those products is done outside the company, it can be difficult to maintain a certain level of palletizing accuracy quality. If such a situation occurs, the in-house depalletizing operation may not be able to be performed accurately either, so depalletizing is generally considered to be more difficult to develop than palletizing.
List of 11 Palletizing & Depalletizing Robot Manufacturers
*Including some distributors, etc.
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KUKA AG
Packaging and palletizing robots
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Mech-Mind Robotics Technologies Ltd.
Depalletizing and Palletizing
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Robopac USA
Palletizer Machines & Equipment
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Palletizing & Depalletizing Robot Manufacturer Ranking
*Including some distributors, etc.Ranking as of March 2023 in United States of America
Derivation Method| Rank | Company | Click Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TGW SYSTEMS INC. | 50% |
| 2 | Chain We Machinery Co., LTD. | 50% |
Ranking as of March 2023 Globally
Derivation Method| Rank | Company | Click Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TGW SYSTEMS INC. | 50% |
| 2 | Chain We Machinery Co., LTD. | 50% |
Derivation Method
The ranking is calculated based on the click share within the palletizing & depalletizing robot page as of March 2023. Click share is defined as the total number of clicks for all companies during the period divided by the number of clicks for each company.Number of Employees
Newly Established Company
- Mech-Mind Robotics Technologies Ltd.: 2016 (7 years ago)
- Yaskawa Motoman Robotics: 1989 (34 years ago)
- Robopac USA: 1982 (41 years ago)
Company with a History
- Honeywell International Inc.: 1885 (138 years ago)
- OCME Srl: 1954 (69 years ago)
- Simplimatic: 1965 (58 years ago)
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