The Material Handling Blog

When trying to determine the best automated solution for a manufacturing application, it’s important to ask the right questions.

From picking, packing, palletizing and beyond, here are some distribution center applications that can benefit from using cobots, or collaborative robots.

“Garbage in, garbage out.” As this phrase applies to robotic palletizing systems, the system outputs, particularly built pallet quality and throughput rates, are directly tied to the quality of the system inputs. To avoid issues, it's critical to ensure quality products, pallets as well as downstream and upstream processes. Read: How to Avoid Common Pitfalls of Robotic Palletizing System Startups

Industrial robots play a large part in the automation of industrial environments, but collaborative robots are expanding the realm of possibility. In part two of our series, we’re discussing the benefits of collaborative robots, and why that makes them a growing piece of today's modern manufacturing and distribution puzzle.

With the continued advancement of the automotive industry and the high demand placed on manufacturers, is it time to automate your machine tending operation?

A Robotic Document Inserter can accurately place the proper paperwork into your case or carton every time and can ease the demand on your operational team.

With recent innovations in technology, Robotic End of Arm Tooling concepts are rapidly becoming a reality in today's manufacturing environment. These innovations are helping manufacturers increase productivity and efficiency in their operations.

Hundreds of thousands of people have to deal with risky work environments, dodging workplace injuries, and making it home to their families every day. There are industry shifts, however, that are seeking to reduce the need for utilizing human labor in these inherently risky operations and shifting them to safer tasks in the facility.

In a robotic application, many times the goals are safety, labor-cost, throughput, or ergonomics. Once the system type is defined, technical requirements are stated, and the goals are established, one of the most crucial ingredients to a successful project is an efficient system layout.

Bastian Robotics recently redesigned and upgraded our robotic bag palletizing End of Arm Tool (EoAT) to accommodate a wider range of products with the same base tool. Similar to past renditions, this tool still has a clamshell design and interfaces with our custom bag pick conveyor.

Industrial robots have been associated with the automotive industry ever since their inception over 50 years ago. Back in 1962, Unimation’s UNIMATE was installed in General Motors’ New Jersey plant, making it the very first industrial robot to ever be used by a major manufacturer. However, it wasn’t until about 20 years later when industrial robots truly became synonymous with the auto industry.

We’re hearing more and more from material handling and packaging automation facilities that having spare parts on hand is a luxury they can’t afford. But what is your facility sacrificing if your production line comes to a screeching halt when a component fails?