Pallet magazine or robotic arm – not sure what to decide?
Here are 5 questions to help you decide.
The robotic arm may already be part of your production line. It moves, packs or palletises products – so why not let it handle all the empty pallets too? Why invest in a separate pallet magazine?
But just because a robot can handle pallets doesn't necessarily mean it's the best solution for your project. What tasks does the robot need to perform? How much of its capacity will be used for pallet handling? And could a dedicated solution for empty pallets make the entire system simpler and more efficient?
Here are five things worth considering when designing your next project.
1. Let the robot do what it does best
A robotic arm is flexible. It can perform a wide range of tasks and handle different products. A pallet magazine is the opposite. It's designed for one specific task: stacking and destacking empty pallets. And that difference can work to your advantage.
If the robot needs to handle both products and empty pallets, it spends part of its time on pallet handling – a task that a pallet magazine could take care of instead. With a dedicated pallet magazine, the robot can focus on what it does best, whether that's moving, packing or palletising products.
So the question isn't really, "Can the robot handle the pallets?" Because it can. The better question is, "Is that what we want to use our robot capacity for when we're trying to improve efficiency?"
2. Don't let your pallets choose your robot for you
Imagine a food production facility where a robot needs to handle small, lightweight products. If that same robot also needs to lift empty pallets, pallet handling may require a robot with a higher payload capacity than the primary task actually demands. And that can affect the rest of the solution.
Larger robots with higher payload capacities often have longer cycle times than smaller robots designed for lighter products. By adding a pallet magazine to the project, the empty pallets can be handled separately, allowing the robot to be sized according to its primary task. A larger robot may also require more space, potentially affecting the layout of the entire installation.
It's not about removing the robot. It's about getting the most out of every machine in your project.
3. Give the robot a pallet in the same position – every time
A stable automated flow isn't just about speed. It's also about predictability.
If a robot needs to pick pallets directly from a stack, it must be able to determine where the next pallet is located. That's essential because the height changes as the stack is emptied.
A pallet magazine such as PALOMAT® Inline automatically stacks and destacks empty pallets as an integrated part of the production line. PALOMAT® Inline continuously supplies the robot with a new empty pallet in exactly the same position – every time. This means the robot doesn't need to use its flexibility to locate the next pallet in the stack. The result is a more consistent and predictable pallet flow, helping to reduce palletising cycle times.
4. Flexibility for future pallet requirements
Adding a pallet magazine to your palletising project sounds like a good idea. But perhaps you're thinking, "What happens if the pallet size changes?"
It's an important consideration because production requirements rarely stay the same. New products, different pallet sizes or changes to the production line can all create new requirements.
That's why PALOMAT® Inline can be fully customised to your solution and supplied with various options for easy adjustment. For example, PALOMAT® Inline can be equipped with adjustable sides , allowing the same magazine to handle pallets of different widths. The adjustment can even be motorised in applications where pallet types change frequently. PALOMAT® Inline can be installed over all conveyor types, handle all four-way pallet types and integrate easily into the complete system.
A specialised solution doesn't necessarily mean being locked into one specific requirement. On the contrary, flexibility can be built into the system design from the beginning, helping it accommodate future needs.
5. How much do you actually need to develop yourself?
There's another important difference worth considering: the internal hours spent developing a solution from scratch.
When planning an automation project, costs aren't limited to the price of individual components. Time is also spent on development, engineering, manufacturing, programming, testing, documentation and commissioning.
PALOMAT® Inline is specifically designed for automatic empty pallet handling and is supplied as a solution prepared for integration into the complete system. It comes with features such as a terminal box for external control and technical documentation.
This means the system integrator doesn't necessarily need to develop the pallet handling solution from scratch. That can reduce the internal hours spent on development, engineering, manufacturing, programming, testing, documentation and commissioning – freeing up resources for the rest of the automation project.
Robotic arm or pallet magazine? Maybe the answer is both.
The choice doesn't have to be between a robotic arm and a pallet magazine. In many applications, the more relevant question is how the two technologies can complement each other.
The robotic arm provides flexibility and can perform complex tasks. PALOMAT® Inline specialises in automatically stacking and destacking empty pallets. When the tasks are divided effectively, the robot can focus on its primary function while the pallet magazine ensures a stable pallet flow.
So, next time you're integrating a robot into a production line, consider these five questions:
- What is the robot's primary task?
- Does pallet handling require a larger robot than the primary task?
- How much of the robot's capacity will be used to handle empty pallets?
- Are different pallet types required now – or could they be in the future?
- Does it make sense to develop the pallet handling solution ourselves, or should we use a solution already designed for the task?
Because the best automation solution isn't necessarily the one where a single technology does everything. It's the one where each technology is used for what it does best.
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