Page 45 - Glass Machinery Plants & Accessories no. 4/2017

has been considerable customer the boxes or on the pallet accord- KEEP IT SIMPLE
interest in such a step, so the ing to the glassware numbers An important consideration in
prospects of future business are previously selected. Items sepa- the Olivotto approach to automa-
promising. rators in the boxes or pallet layer tion is to make it “fitter-friendly”
The automation of the hot separators are positioned consist- while being at the same time
end enabled OGT to reduce the ently by the robots. If necessary, high-tech. This involves design-
personnel needed to operate the items can also be de-palletized ing equipment which does not
forming line and also increased automatically. have fragility built-in as a result
the flexibility of the machinery. Boxes and pallets are supplied of its complexity and which can
Similar reductions in the produc- to the line as needed by sepa- be maintained by operators in
tion costs are to be expected from rate “stand alone” modules. The the countries in which the plant
automation of the cold end. boxes are formed automatically is installed without having to
from die-cut corrugated paper depend on specialists to be flown
WORK BEGINS blanks, by dedicated equipment. in. The calibration of the robots
With the involvement of an Boxes containing glassware to cope with stemware was prob-
important Asian customer, can be stacked on pallets or be ably the most difficult aspect of
the first Automatic Packaging themselves loaded into larger the setup, but robot technology
Line order was signed in 2016. “master” boxes by a multitasking is by now relatively mature and
Operating data was collected robot. Individual items can also holds few mysteries for technolo-
and led to the construction of the be arranged on a multi-layered gists. The control systems do not
first line and this is now in the pallet. use sophisticated optical track-
process of being factory tested. The boxes are closed and the ing which might need a lot of
Trials are expected to be con- pallets wrapped automatically. maintenance. The overall result
cluded in November 2017; on Correct loading of the items is is a simple user-friendly instal-
successful completion, another checked by the system; partial- lation with a degree of rugged-
six lines will be produced for the ly loaded or otherwise defective ness which reduces down-time
same customer. packaging is rejected. and translates into high levels of
The latest high technology acceptability by operators.
THE LINE inspect/reject module which can By automating the packaging
The packaging line can handle detect defective items and elimi- line, OGT has closed the loop
a variety of glassware with differ- nate them from the line is an and opened the way for a fully
ent shapes and dimensions. The optional extra. automated production line. With
cooled glass items arrive on a its automation philosophy, the
conveyor belt from the annealing ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES company has put this automated
lehr after they have been passed OF AUTOMATED PACKAGING production line within reach of a
by a quality assurance examina- The immediate advantages wide range of clients while reduc-
tion (which can be either manual of the packaging line to the ing operating costs in the mod-
or automated). client are obvious: operating ern short-run frequent-change
Several anthropomorphic costs have been cut by reducing customized-product production
robots are used in series or in changeover times; maintenance environment. O
parallel – depending on the speed times have been cut by simplify-
of the line – for glassware pre- ing the machines, the cold-end
positioning according to their now needs only one operator/
automatic boxing, supervisor, buffer areas can be
The pre-positioned glassware used to minimize production
is then either loaded into corru- losses. The reliability, flexi-
gated cardboard boxes or stacked bility and predictability of the
in layers on a pallet. The items machinery with the minimum OLIVOTTO GLASS
can be individually positioned of maintenance and supervision TECHNOLOGIES SPA
either upright or reversed. will enable it to be incorporated
To cope with stoppages of the into automated factory systems. Viale Gandhi, 22
10051 Avigliana (TO) - Italy
line, items can be diverted to or Installation of this line will result Tel.: +39 - 011 - 9343511
retrieved from a buffer area. The into reduction of almost 90 per Fax: +39 - 011 - 9343593
robots are calibrated to achieve cent of the man power dedicated E-mail: info@olivotto.it
precise repeatable handling and to the packing area with a a con- www.olivotto.it
positioning of the glassware in sequent very short ROI.

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