San Deigo, CA – At the 2010 CSCMP Annual Global Conference held in San Diego, Bastian Robotics, ASAP Automation, and Blue Arc Engineering partnered to create a high speed bottle picking solution for the Supply Chain of the Future Lab—a 100,000 square foot supply chain that was fully implemented and functional. The solution utilized robotics, vision, carousel storage, an Exacta 3D Warehouse Control System (WCS), and ZiPline conveyor to automate bottle picking during the distribution process of beverages.
“Our customers who are in beverage distribution find themselves using a lot of labor with bottle picking. As liquor retail stores order more individual bottles of high end wine and spirits the ability to robotically automate this process is becoming more and more important,” stated Bill Bastian II, President of Bastian Robotics.
The team presented a robotic solution to automate this labor intensive picking process. Zero pressure belt conveyor (ZiPline) was used to bring the empty shipping cartons into the robotic cell. As the cartons moved within the robot cell, the Exacta Warehouse Control System moved the carousel full of bottles to its next pick location. Once the carousel presented the right group of bottles, the robot performed a bottle pick—based on instructions from the warehouse control system—and placed it into the shipping carton. Rates with a three (3) bottle picking end of arm tool (EoAT) exceed 200 bottles per hour.
For more information, you can watch a video of the high speed bottle picking solution here >>
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About Bastian Robotics
Bastian Robotics is a leading robotics system integrator located in St. Louis, Missouri. The company specializes in vision systems, force sensing, automated palletizing solutions, and high speed picking, while also providing expertise in end effector design, engineering, manufacturing, and complimentary robotics consulting.
Bastian Robotics is dedicated to helping companies excel by providing the best robotic system solutions and technologies, while serving a wide variety of industries, including automotive, chemical, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and consumer products.