Inspection and Palletization:
Automated Material Handling System for Food Industry
PROJECT SCOPE
System Design and Engineering, Project Management, Millwright/Mechanical and Electrical Installation, Warehouse Controls
INDUSTRY
Food Distribution
Summary: The SilMan Material Handling System Integration group was engaged to design and engineer an automated material handling system solution to inspect and palletize cartons for a leading food distributor. SilMan’s Specialty Trade Services implemented the project.
Material Handling Challenges for Cold Chain Food Distributor
Like all forward-facing businesses, the client proactively works to sustain their competitiveness and continually re-imagines their systems for improvement.
In this case, their previous food distribution system conveyed picked cartons from storage directly to shipping. However, with increased demand for their products, the added volume had the secondary effect of delivering an increasing number of cartons that were flawed in one way or another, and therefore unfit for transport.
The solution proposed and provided by SilMan introduces a new automated material handling system for package inspection and sortation system that culls cartons needing manual attention from the outbound traffic.
The new system also expands the future potential of the facility. With this updated technological infrastructure, the client is one step closer to moving toward an automated storage retrieval system (ASRS) if desired.
Material Handling System Implementation
Global pandemic poses unique challenges
The new inspection and sortation system integration delivers higher throughput with increased speed and efficiency in the shipping department. In particular, with the improved percentage of “transport-ready” cartons arriving in shipping, bottlenecks at the palletizing stations have been all but eliminated.
The design process was marked by a high degree of interaction from the earliest meetings.
David Birmingham, who led the engineering team on the project, corroborated this assessment, saying “the success of this project is a direct result of a high degree of collaboration between the client’s engineering and project group and a variety of team members at SilMan.”
This interactive environment continued throughout the execution phase, despite Coronavirus shutdowns.
“The way everyone came together and showed their tenacity on this project really encouraged me,” engineer Garret King said. “Especially knowing the sacrifices being made in terms of time away from home, and dealing with constantly changing COVID-19 guidelines.”
Speak to a key team member on this project
Meet David Rebata
For more information about this project or related topics, contact David by email or call directly at 510.409.6567.
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Key Elements for Success
SilMan’s real-time, cloud-based project management platform was an invaluable tool to coordinate multiple teams and changing production schedules, due to COVID-19 disruptions.
The system allows all participants to daily maintain and access all data, updates, and milestones throughout the project’s life.
Inspection and Palletization
Integration of a new food distribution system solutions
The material handling system provided for the food producer was designed for a turnkey approach. This allows SilMan Industries to provide design, implementation, and execution for seamless integration of the overall project.
Scanning and Routing Operation
The primary challenge of the system is packages arriving in the shipping area that are not fully prepared for shipment, such as unreadable shipping labels or damaged cartons that cannot be handled by the palletizing robots in the shipping department.
The packages to be rejected were to be identified for the following characteristics:
- broken or leaking boxes
- crushed boxes
- incorrect label placement or scans
- over-packed cartons
To combat this issue, an integrity checkpoint with a high-speed camera is used to identify boxes with the issues listed above. The items are coded as "failed" and diverted from the main conveyor path, delivered to a quality control team member at a workstation, and then processed.
QC personnel inspect the boxes and either correct the issue and re-induct the box into the system or fail the box, sending it down a secondary conveyor to be repackaged. Once the carton has been reconciled, it is then re-inducted into the system.
Once a package successfully passes the camera scan, it is routed to its designated destination within the shipping area.
Design, Engineering, and Project Execution
In-house engineer team plays a key role in food distribution system success
SilMan engineering provided project management and engineering support during both the engineering and project execution phases.
The Tupelo, Mississippi-based engineering team provided mechanical and electrical system design.
SilMan engineers managed all site activities and personnel throughout the duration of the project, supported by the project coordinator team in Tupelo. This includes all site installation and construction, as well as coordinating with client personnel to minimize interruptions to current operations.
The team also collaborated with other client vendors involved with the project.
SilMan directed all work onsite, providing Mechanical and Electrical installation services, and Electrical and Controls integration.
Cold Chain Food Distribution Center
Automated Material Handling System Installation – Work in Progress
Photo credit: Matthew Aultman (SilMan Industries)
Meet our Valued Partners
Equipment employed in food distribution center project
We are grateful to our top-grade partners for their vital contribution to this material handling system for the food industry.
Partner |
Contribution |
|---|---|
| Conveyor Concepts | Accumulation Conveyors, Merges and Special Devices |
| Interroll-Portec | Portec Belt Curves and Spurs |
| Cognex | Cameras and Scanners |
| Hytrol | Conveyor and Shoe Sorters |
| Intralox | Belting |
| Steel King | Selective Racking |
About the Company
SilMan Industries (previously SilMan Construction) is based in San Leandro, Calif., with Engineering and Field Operations offices in Tupelo, Miss. The firm provides integrated turnkey solutions in the Industrial, Manufacturing, Distribution, and Public Works sectors.
Notably, in 2010 SilMan Industries was contracted to dismantle and remove the NUMMI assembly line in Fremont, Calif., transport the equipment, and reinstall the system in Blue Spring, Miss., establishing Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi (TMMMS). This high-visibility project ignited the company’s meteoric growth, laying the foundation for SilMan’s national service area.
For more information, please visit www.silmanindustries.com/about.
Integrated Material Handling Solutions
The SilMan System Integration team provides conveyor equipment and automation solutions to industry-leading companies in various industrial sectors across the US. The company has built this reputation on the unique insight and value delivered on every project. These outcomes begin with a deep dive into over-arching business objectives to identify the highest value course of action. Specializations include distribution center optimization for the Fulfillment and Parcel sectors (see “A Comprehensive Guide to Efficient Parcel Handling Systems”), food and beverage manufacturing and warehouse solutions, and end-to-end innovative manufacturing solutions.
SilMan solutions include robotics, analysis, controls, and automation, implemented by our multi-discipline in-house field teams. This “One Team” approach” means collaboration and efficiency for all stakeholders throughout every project phase.
Insight, efficiency, and quality trade services guarantee optimized ROI-justified results. SilMan serves all cities in the US and Canada.
Frequently Asked Questions for Inspection and Palletization
How does a high-speed inspection system prevent bottlenecks in the robotic palletizing process?
A high-speed inspection system prevents bottlenecks by acting as an integrity checkpoint upstream of the palletizing robots. Machine vision cameras and scanners are used to identify flawed cartons—such as crushed, leaking, or incorrectly labeled boxes—and automatically diverts them to a manual Quality Control (QC) station. As a result, only shipment-ready, structurally sound cartons reach the high-speed robotic palletizers, eliminating errors and stoppages that cause production downtime.
What types of carton flaws can an automated vision inspection system detect in a food distribution environment?
Automated vision inspection systems play a key role in maintaining product quality and safety, and are configured to detect a range of non-conforming characteristics, including:
- Physical Damage: Crushed, broken, or leaking cartons.
- Labeling Issues: Unreadable barcodes, incorrect label placement, or missing shipping labels.
- Over-Packed Cartons: Boxes that are bulging or improperly closed, which could jam conveyors or palletizing robots.
Why is automating carton inspection an essential first step before implementing an AS/RS or other advanced warehouse automation?
Automating carton inspection is crucial because the structural integrity and data accuracy of the package must be flawless for future automation, like an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) to function correctly. These advanced systems rely on consistent package dimensions and perfectly readable data. By culling and correcting flawed cartons upstream, the inspection system ensures a "clean" product flow, guaranteeing a higher return on investment (ROI) and lower error rates for downstream automation like ASRS or high-speed sortation.
