Holts Auto

Holts Auto have been a global leader since 1919 in the manufacture of car care products, supplying superior performing appearance, repair, maintenance and winter products to the automotive aftermarket. Their product range is extensive, supplying aerosol sprays, waxes, emergency puncture repair foam, engine system cleaners and screen wash. RMGroup have designed and installed an automated case loading system, consisting of:

• A Case erector to form cases
• An Case Conveyor
• ABB IRB4600 Robot Palletiser with specialised end of arm tooling: A fully automatic robot case loader to pick and place containers into cases presented by the case erector. Product specific end effector for accurate and controlled handling of product
• Product accumulation conveyor
• Custom designed and built product collation system
• Pick up conveyor

This case loading system currently packs into three current formats of 2.5L (x6) and 5L (x4) containers of screen wash. Further formats can be programmed to suit the customers needs.

Product is received on the accumulation conveyor from the upstream high-speed container filling system. Then, depending on the format required, the system will collate either four or six containers before feeding them to the pickup conveyor. The robot will then pick up the collated containers and load them into a pre-opened box.  Once loaded a full box is automatically indexed away and replaced with an empty one.

Changing between packing formats is carried out via a user friendly touchscreen interface.

John Lightbown, Project manager at RM Group said: “After evaluating various aspects of the customers’ existing plant it was important for us to design and build a system where changes to packing formats were carried out from the HMI without the need for mechanical intervention.”

RMGroup are delighted to announce a new strategic partnership with Lantech, leading manufacturers of case and tray erecting equipment. We are looking forward to showcasing some of our collaborative projects in the coming months. If your project requires case erectors and sealers we are able to incorporate these into your system and provide a full aftercare service and parts supply.