Industry: Pet Food· Automated Workstation· Dosing Machine Integration
Challenge
An operator manually loaded drying screens onto a 22-tier rack trolley. Each screen loaded with product weighed approximately 15 kg. At this payload, human efficiency drops rapidly; maintaining throughput required rotating workers almost hourly. The station caused significant physical fatigue, leading to inconsistent cycle times throughout the shift.
Solution
We engineered an automated trolley-loading system integrated directly with the product dosing machine. The operator is now only responsible for infeeding empty screens and replenishing the magazine; the rest of the cycle runs fully automatically. The system integrates inline along the conveyor transfer line.
Beyond cycle time reduction, repeatability is critical: the automated unit maintains a constant rate from start to finish. In a three-shift operation, the system relieves physical workloads equivalent to three operator positions.
Results
- 16–18 s – automated loading cycle per tray
- 22–24 s – manual handling time achieved by an operator with a 15 kg screen
- Consistent pace – cycle time remains identical in the first and eighth hours of the shift
- 2–3 years – estimated return on investment (ROI), depending on the shift model
Versatility
The design is not tied to a single product line. The same system handles wire screens, baking sheets, smoking racks, drying trays, and cooling racks — applicable wherever a dosing machine deposits product onto trays that must be loaded into multi-tier rack trolleys.
