Pallet Dispensing
Automatic pallet dispensing is incredibly advantageous to facilities across all industries. First, these machines improve employee safety and turnover rates by eliminating the need to manually remove pallets from stacks, a repetitive process that can lead to injury.
Additionally, integrating automated pallet dispensing into a conveyor system can help improve speed and throughput rates by placing a pallet directly onto the conveyor. That enhancement reduces the time it would usually take for an employee to pull an empty pallet from the stack and maneuver it onto the conveyor by hand. That was one of our primary goals when we took on projects from B&G Foods, a leading food industry manufacturer, and Proctor and Gamble, a leading consumer goods manufacturer.
The Challenge
Before calling on us, B&G Foods used a completely manual process. A human worker would take the pallet from a stack either by hand or with a forklift and place it on a conveyor. They’d then square it up and send it into the robotic work cell, where the robot would palletize finished product onto it before sending it out the door.
The main challenges here were safety, speed and productivity, as dedicating a forklift and employee to that space was significantly less efficient than using simple automation to dispense pallets.
Proctor and Gamble had a slightly more sophisticated request for us. They wanted to integrate a pallet dispensing machine with a conveyor system that would transport a clean pallet from the loading dock into a production area. This revamped process would be fully automated, removing human intervention except for when loading the pallets into the system. We also had to create clear distinctions between the different areas the conveyor would travel through.
Our Solution
At the B&G Foods facility, we installed our pallet dispenser directly adjacent to a robotic work cell. The company wanted a single pallet to dispense onto a conveyor, where it would be squared up before entering the cell. The robot would palletize finished product onto the pallet and send it off to its next destination.
With Proctor and Gamble, we installed a pallet dispenser that could hold a stack of 15-20 pallets and situated it so that it dispensed pallets directly onto the conveyor. It was used alongside a high-speed palletizing line. Once these pallets were on the conveyor, another machine would flip the pallets upside down to cover a wooden pallet filled with product, then flip both pallets over again so that the product ended up in the plastic pallet.
Once filled, the plastic pallet would travel through a wall and into the production area for completion.
Improve Pallet Dispensing Efficiency With Cherry’s Industrial Equipment
At Cherry’s, we proudly design and manufacture all our automated pallet dispensing equipment right here in the United States. Whatever your industry, you can rely on us to provide you with a dependable, long-lasting solution. Feel free to browse our selection of automatic pallet dispensers online.
Call us at 800-350-0011, or submit our online contact form today to ask questions or request a quote. Our customer representatives will be able to provide the information you need to find the best solutions for your facility.