Cobots reduce employee lifting by 50%

As one of the world’s largest meat producers, Danish Crown faces challenges in handling and palletising products on a larger scale. The need for staff can vary depending on the season and market demand, making it difficult to fill positions, especially during peak periods. This often leads to reliance on employee substitutes or additional staff, which can be a cumbersome process. These challenges have prompted Danish Crown to seek more innovative solutions.

At one end of the production line, an employee would pack eight bags of grill sausages into cardboard boxes, pass them through a taper, and then manually stack the boxes onto a pallet at the other end of the production line. This process, while essential, can be time-consuming and physically taxing for the employees.

There is a continuous flow of 20 different products, all packed in the same box but with varying weights, which requires quick adjustments when a box with new contents needs to be palletised. At the same time, traditional manual palletising methods can be time-consuming, physically demanding and risky for the employees.

In 2023, the factory in Svenstrup introduced a UR10e cobot from Universal Robots (UR). Since then, two more of the same type have been added to two more of the factory’s flow packer conveyor lines.

The three cobots have been implemented in collaboration with the Danish distributor Bila, which specialises in customised palletising solutions. For Danish Crown, the company used a Safe&Light Foam Vacuum Gripper from UR+ partner Joulin, which is installed with software developed by Bila’s technicians specifically for Danish Crown based on the dimensions and weight of the boxes.

Bila’s software solution consists of an operator interface that overlays the UR software and is programmed for the boxes, depending on their contents, as they move through the flow packing conveyor. The user-friendly programming is designed to simply let the operator at the conveyor press a button to switch from palletising one product type to another.

When an employee packs the eight bags of grill sausages today, they are still sent through a taper as before. However, the UR10e robot now handles the task of placing them on pallets.

“We are producing the same amount as before, but we are doing it much more efficiently because we have brought in the robots to assist with palletising. This means that employees no longer have to lift more than absolutely necessary,” said Lean Manager Jonas Salk.

Before Danish Crown installed the robots, peak periods typically required 15 employee substitutes — positions that were difficult to fill. This number has now been reduced to nine, and simultaneously, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) has increased by a total of 19% across the three lines since the cobots were installed.

Maintenance technician Emil Lykholt also notes that the help from the robots has made the workflow easier.

“The production has become more efficient, and working with new equipment is enjoyable,” he said. “The robots were also easy to install and didn’t require more specialised training than a two-hour course.”

Due to the user-friendly program and the software solution, it is easy for everyone to manage the robot at operator level. They were instructed on how to start, stop and reset the robot to begin a new program.

“Usability has been our key focus in developing the software for the palletising solution at Danish Crown,” said Brian Spetzler, Product Manager at Bila. “It needs to be easy for any operator to start the cobot at the end of the conveyor, stop it if necessary, and reset it when a new type of product needs to be palletised.”

The collaboration between the robot and employees also influenced Danish Crown’s choice of the UR10e for its factory in Låsby, where another robot has been installed. Salk believes that Danish Crown will benefit from cobots in various areas of production, especially because they reduce the need for heavy and unnecessary lifting by employees.

“We see many opportunities with collaborative robots in various parts of production and at our other factories, where we can eliminate heavy lifting for employees and leave it to the robots,” Salk concluded.