MWC’s Robot Configurations Provide Flexibility

Robotics come into play in the cheesemaker's palletizing operations. But for the most part, that level of complexity isn't needed in a facility producing such consistent product types and sizes. What's needed more is simplified automation.

At MWC, Fanuc robots are used to place the packaged 40-lb blocks of cheese onto pallets before they go through a stretch wrapper and are taken to the warehouse.
At MWC, Fanuc robots are used to place the packaged 40-lb blocks of cheese onto pallets before they go through a stretch wrapper and are taken to the warehouse.
Photo by Thomas Kirby

As robots become increasingly prevalent in the food and beverage industry, especially on the packaging end, you might expect a state-of-the-art facility like MWC to have its fair share. But that complexity isn’t needed in a facility producing consistent product types and sizes. Instead, MWC’s operations lend themselves more to hard automation—traditional conveyors and case packers, for example—according to Jody Zepnick, CEO of Zepnick Solutions Inc. (ZSI).


Read article   Read the full June cover story detailing MWC's award-winning cheese and whey operations.

ZSI, which works heavily in the dairy industry, provided the automation for MWC’s packaging operations—from the equipment used in sealing the cheese blocks in bags all the way through the coolers and palletizers. ZSI integrates systems, develops equipment and robotic cells, and does a fair amount of the custom equipment design and fabrication, Zepnick notes.

Where the robots are

At MWC, Fanuc robots are used to place the packaged 40-lb blocks of cheese onto pallets before they go through a stretch wrapper and are taken to the warehouse. Besides being robust and reliable, a big selling point of these robots, Zepnick says, are the controller safety systems, which integrate seamlessly over Ethernet with the Rockwell Automation safety PLC systems.


Watch video   In this Take 5 video, ProFood World's Joyce Fassl is on location at MWC in St. Johns, Mich., to profile the 2021 Manufacturing Innovation Award winner.
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