Turnkey Packaging Line for Dairy Distributor

Customer Requirement

Our customer is a distributor of dairy products and needs to process high quantities of mixed pallets in the cold store.

Typically, cold store distribution is a fast paced environment with trucks regularly coming and going to different loading zones. Cold store distribution is generally a large-scale operation, causing this industry to be particularly labour intensive & difficult to automate. Fromm Australia worked closely with the customer to design a solution to meet the clients goal of 80% automation.

FROMM Packaging Solution

FROMM Packaging Australia installed an in-line automatic stretch wrapping system, complete with pallet dispenser, separate re-work infeed, staging area, pallet wrapping machine, conveyor lowering (for walkie truck access) and safety systems to category three standards.

As a result of our customer’s requirements, we built their line to be as flexible as possible, allowing for three forklift operators to be working on three different points within the system simultaneously.

To achieve this, FROMM Australia designed a packaging line with a pallet dispenser, which feeds out two pallets side by side to a loading conveyor. Forklift operators are then able to assemble mixed pallets on the packaging line, reducing the number of pallet movements.

Once pallets are complete, the machine splits the two pallets, moving the first pallet to the wrapping zone and leaving the second in a staging area. Once the staging area is cleared two more pallets are dispensed for employees to pick and assemble.

In the wrapping zone, each pallet configuration is identified and wrapped automatically with the pallet remaining completely stationary. Once wrapped, the pallet exits the wrapping zone and is then lowered to a floor level conveyor, allowing access by walkie truck as opposed to requiring a forklift. The wrapped pallets can be picked up as an individual item or two at a time depending on where they need to be taken.

The entire machine was built at FROMM’s Italian Manufacturing Plant under strict quality assurance standards ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. Once shipped to Australia, the installation was completed and operational within four weeks.

This new Inline automatic packaging line was commissioned for under $400,000. Overall it met the clients need of 80% automation, resulting in a much higher product throughput and decreased the amount of human errors and OH&S claims.

Installation Gallery