Projekt 20

Projekt 14

Coating, testing and palletizing on a piecework basis

Delivery period: March 2024

Our customer: Lindner NORIT GmbH & Co KG. With the takeover of the Goldbach NORIT Group in 1998, the Dettelbach site became part of the Lindner Group. Since then, consistent further development has resulted in one of the most modern production facilities for building products in Europe. Lindner NORIT GmbH & Co KG produces innovative raised and hollow floors, fire protection and dry construction boards, dry screeds and underfloor heating for all areas of application on 25,000 m². We were able to further optimize this highly efficient site in Dettelbach with a conveyor system from ALFOTEC.

Clients

Merkmale

Conveying Elements: Roller conveyor non-driven
Single scissors lift table
Ball transfer table
Pallet transfer shuttle
Convey Goods: Gypsum fiber boards
wooden pallets
Industry: Construction and real estate industry

We swap old for new, with no downtime!

The aim was to replace the system as smoothly as possible during the company vacations and to commission the system in parallel with the start of production in the new year. Customer experience from the production of the old system was incorporated into the new solution. The new system should not only palletize and transport different panel thicknesses, but also offer the possibility of testing and post-treatment. The new conveyor solution was supplemented by a spraying system, a measuring system for thickness measurement, two scales, a paternoster and a printer. In addition, the entire system was to be integrated into the existing production management system (PMS).

After the sanding line is before quality control

As with the old system, we take the gypsum fiberboards directly from a sanding system. In the first step, the boards, which are processed in pairs, are separated and fed to the thickness measurement system. The boards are measured at full conveyor speed and, if they deviate from the tolerance, are ejected to the inspection station for checking.

The operator controls the entire system via the control panel and is able to eject individual gypsum fiber boards for further inspection. Up to four boards can be inspected and processed simultaneously on the partially driven roller conveyor without interrupting the entire system.

The boards are then fed back into the system fully automatically on request and conveyed to the first scale. Here, random samples are weighed before and after the spraying system for quality assurance. The results are in turn forwarded to the PMS and can be monitored from there. To avoid a backlog during weighing, the panels are lifted off the belt conveyors by eccentric lifters so that subsequent panels can continue to be conveyed without interruption. This also prevents product jams.

A paternoster for drying after the spraying system

The moist gypsum fiberboards from the spraying system must first be dried on a pallet before palletizing. A space-saving buffer solution is required to ensure a high throughput and good ventilation of the boards at the same time.

Our paternoster system, individually adapted to this application, has a capacity of 22 boards and is the ideal solution here. Using servo drive technology, the boards are first conveyed upwards on a few support points, transferred there and conveyed downwards again in a cycle. During this time, the gypsum fiberboards can be optimally ventilated and dried.

If, in special cases, no drying and buffering of the boards is required, the paternoster can be deactivated. In this case, the product is conveyed underneath via a belt conveyor.

The individual panels are then transported individually on a roller conveyor system to the stacking portal, where they are accumulated in pairs and centered.

Precise palletizing in piecework

Our palletizing gantry system was used here as the basis for the stacking gantry. The standard version with pneumatic grippers was replaced by 8 vacuum suction cups to transport the panels safely and without damage from the pick-up to the stacking station. Precise vertical and horizontal positioning is achieved by servo-drive controlled belts.

The pairs of panels on a wooden pallet must be palletized in a perfect layer pattern in the high cycle of the overall system.

For this purpose, vacuum suction cups lift the two gypsum fiber boards and the arm of the gantry system moves them horizontally to the pallet conveyor system, where the boards are stacked on an empty pallet. This stacking process is repeated up to an adjustable number of layers and the stack is printed with a batch number using a printer for tracking purposes.

Once the final number of layers has been reached, the full pallets are conveyed to the removal area, where they are removed using a forklift truck.

Pallet feeder and batch printer

The pallets are loaded by forklift truck. The pallets are picked up by the system and fed to the pallet magazine via roller conveyors, where they are separated. To ensure that the filled pallet can be replaced smoothly with an empty one, the separated pallet is moved to a waiting position directly in front of the stacking station.

Once the pallet has been loaded with sufficient panels, the batch number is printed on the side.

Once the preset number of layers has been reached, the pallet is exchanged without affecting the cycle time of the stacking gantry. This ensures continuous palletizing without waiting times and product jams.

The finished pallet with a perfect stacking pattern is now transported out of the safety area by a corner transfer unit through a safety light grid with a muting system. An indicator light signals the logistics department to remove the pallet and send it to its next destination.

Facts and figures

20.000

Plates per day

Pallets per hour

114.000

Pallets per year

Communication of all components

For full control of all control components such as touch panels, frequency converters and decentralized peripherals, ALFOTEC also relies on future-proof communication via Profinet in this system.

An interface to the customer’s Oxaion system was created for full integration into the LINDNER Production Management System. This enables order management and monitoring of system availability from the higher-level control system. The system is used to manage orders, record and monitor quantities and system status.

The system is divided into 10 functional areas and 4 safety areas to reduce downtimes in the event of maintenance and to ensure a quick restart. These can be switched off separately. The safety areas can be accessed via a total of 10 safety doors.

The customer benefit

The individually planned conveyor system is an optimal replacement for the old system. The conveyor line was installed and put into operation without any major disruption to day-to-day business. Due to the significant increase in throughput, further production capacities and thus additional capacity reserves are to be created in the future. The most important advantages at a glance:

Significant increase in throughput
Significantly increased degree of automation
Improving ergonomics and occupational safety
Reproducible quality in the production of panels
Quality assurance through thickness measurement and weighing
Optimum system availability thanks to functional and safety areas

Are you interested in a conveyor system?

Then get in touch with us now

Telefon
+49 2196 887669-0

E-Mail
info@alfotec.com