Project summary
A cosmetics company wanted to update their process for unloading jars so that operators could work more efficiently. DenTech Industrial designed and built a custom semi-automated system—a pallet lift/unload station that fits into the facility’s existing space and even accounts for tight space constraints.
The new system is housed in a free-standing frame structure that’s positioned alongside the existing jar conveyor system in the customer’s facility.
The system included:
- a heavy-duty guided pallet lift system
- a lift table that supports the entire pallet area
- safety guarding
- light curtains around the openings of the structure and below the lift table
- sensors to monitor the pallet height and any product that falls off the pallet area and drops inside the system
- a custom electrical control panel, HMI terminal, and push button station incorporated into the frame design
With the semi-automated pallet lift/unload station installed, an operator can use a standard pallet jack to load full pallets of stacked product into the system. The pallet raises and stops at a set position. The operator uses a push blade to push the top layer of product off the pallet area. Then the operator presses the System Start button to raise the lift system up one index, aligning the next layer, and continues to feed the system.
DenTech designed and built this system to meet the needs of the customer’s processes and facility. Because this is a custom machine, there wasn’t any documentation for the system. We developed original documentation for the customer. Documentation included instructions for how to operate the system, reference diagrams with labeled components, maintenance, fault clearing information, and recommended spare parts.
