FANUC Robotics Canada Ltd.

CA

CARAVELLE FOODS - 'There's No Looking Back'

Ergonomics experts say the most common worker disability is a back-related injury. In fact, Statistics Canada reports that two years ago, 123566 Canadians lost time at work because of such injuries.

With statistics like that, Caravell Foods of Brampton, Ont. decided this was an issue it had to deal with. For years, the company, which produces frozen meat patties for a major quick service restaurant chain such as McDonald's, struggled with costly worker injury rates, especially among its manual case palletizers.

Manual palletizing of the 30-40 lb. cases of frozen meat patties was a repetitive and physically stressful task at Caravelle - and it was taking its toll on both the workers and the company. 'Lifting one or two heavy boxes isn't wasy, ' said Alan Greenspan, Caravelle's executive vice president. 'Imagine spending an eight-hour day doing repeatedly.'

A recent move to a new facility prompted Caravelle, a meat supplier for 25 years, to update and improve several areas of its processing packaging line. In addition to state of the art meat grinding equipment, new conveyor lines and carton erecting equipment, the company installed an automated palletizing system, which would relieve employees of this backbreaking work. Greenspan said the company investigated serveral automated palletizing solutions including dedicated palletizing equipment, but determined that a robotic system provided Caravelle the most flexibility. In addition, robots required much less plant floor space than conventional equipment.

In the end, Caravelle selected FANUC Robotics Canada, Ltd., to design and build the automated palletizing solution. Working in partnership with the food processor, FANUC provided a turnkey system which incorporates the M-400 palletizing robot, system R-J controller and PalletTool application-specific software. The M-400's durability (ability to lift up to 50 kg.) and large work envelope (over 14 cubic meters of working volume), made it an ideal solution for Caravelle's palletizing applications.

The system works like this: corrugated cartons of frozen, packaged meat patties are shuttled into a refrigerated work cell via two infeed conveyors. Accommodating two pallet stations, the M-400 then picks and stacks cartons according to a predetermined pattern. As pallet patterns change, operators are able to re-program the robot within seconds, which makes it easy to handle multiple products at the same time. The robot alternates between the two product lines at a rate of 11 cases per min. Completed pallet loads are automaticaaly shuttled to a shrink wrapping station then transferred to a freezer storage area.

Caravelle' robotic palletizing system has alleviated the strain of heavy-duty lifting and allowed the manufacturer to process product quickly and consistently. 'This automated system is easy to use and has helped us reduce many of the obstacles associated with traditional palletizing methods, ' said Greenspan.

FANUC RECEIVES GM SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR AWARD

April 27, 1998 - The FANUC Group of Companies has been named by General Motors as a worldwide Supplier of the Year for 1997. The FANUC Group of Companies includes FANUC LTD of Oshino-mura, Japan and its subsidiaries - FANUC Robotics Europe S. A, FANUC Robotics North America, Inc., and FANUC Robotics Canada, Ltd.

FANUC was among 189 recipients selected for the award from a GM Supplier base of more than 30, 000 companies. 'FANUC demonstrated throughout 1997 that is among the 'Best of the Best' suppliers for robots and robotic systems, ' said Harold R. Kutner GM's vice president for Worldwide Purchasing and North American Control & Logistics. 'FANUC is truly globally competitive and, by virtue of this award, is recognized as a worldwide leader in product development, technology, manufacturing, continuous improvement, value and most importantly, quality.'

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