Tekpak Automation's Blog

Maintenance Made Easy!!!

admin — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:48:14 +0000

John demonstrates how quick and simple it is to change a module in our new pacing and launching product feeding system!

Tekpak have doubled manufacturing capacity

admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:44:25 +0000

Tekpak are expanding to make room for new orders!

►Tekpak at Interpack

admin — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:37:28 +0000

For the first year, this year we have sent all our engineers to Interpack 2011. They will be checking out the latest in Robotic Packaging Technology, Case Packing and getting more ideas to innovate new designs for the packaging world! Plus they will be meeting and greeting many of our European strategic partners and friends in business like Imball, Ilapack, CT Srl, Bosch Rexroth, Festo so they can put a few more faces to names.

►Tekpak Shortlisted by Danone Sponsored Award

admin — Mon, 09 May 2011 11:12:33 +0000

Tekpak has been shortlisted for "Wexford Manufacturer of the Year" Award by Danone. In order to be shortlisted for the award, Tekpak had to demonstrate excellence in quality, leadership, innovation and a commitment to Green policies in manufacture. Wexford is one of the emerging manufacturing centres of Ireland with companies like Coco Cola and Danone operating major manufacturing facilities here. Our team is proud to be taking part and to have been selected. The award ceremony will be held on 16th June so we'll keep you posted!

►Tekpak Robot and Nestlé

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 14:11:01 +0000

Thanks to "Food Production Daily" and "Bakery and Snacks" for featuring our Robotic Pick and Place system beside Nestle on the front page!! Buyers from Nestle – if you are reading, we would love to hear from you!!

Retail pressure spurs bakers to invest in robots, says Tek Pak

By Jane Byrne , 04-Feb-2011

Downward price pressure from the leading retailers is spurring investment by bakery and confectionery manufacturers in robotic packaging systems, said Tek Pak as it releases a new pick and place system designed to give throughput a veritable shot in the arm.

Ireland based robotics manufacturer Tek Pak said that its newly configured robot cell for delicate product handling was designed for a bakery and confectionery brand owner who had determined that robotic loading would give it the high speeds required for a new product launch.

“The processor in question needed a significant gain in efficiencies at the packing end in order to guarantee a profit while meeting retailers demand on lower pricing,” said Imelda Kehoe, quality manager at the Co. Wexford located technology supplier.

She said that the Packman Vision cell brings fully integrated logic, motion and vision control for delicate product handling.

“The fact that the cell is constructed out of stainless steel and not the industry standard of carbon fibre makes it ideal for those industries and also enables washdown to ensure manufacturers meet strict hygiene standards,” said Kehoe.

Successful trials were conducted in house, continued the quality manager, on products as diverse as poppadoms and meringues. The testing on the Packman Vision system also showed that it can be used effectively with cereal and chocolate bars, wrapped or unwrapped, she added.

While ultimately developed for high speed and high volume operations, Kehoe told BakeryandSnacks.com that the pick and place system could potentially bring a return of investment (ROI) of only a year for smaller sized bakers and confectioners due to the massively increased throughput and lower packaging costs.

She said that the system can handle multiple tray size variations and differs from existing technology that is forced to stop to allow pick and place of products:

“The Tek Pak system can place moving objects from one moving position onto another such as a conveyor belt by using data from cameras to compensate for natural track variations. And it has an accuracy level in terms of pick and place of 0.1mm,” explained Kehoe, who added that this is an essential component of the higher throughput gains for manufacturers switching to the cell technology.

It also sends management information to client networks and is enabled for remote maintenance. There is additional vision verification after the pick and place motion, said the quality manager, to ensure all cartons or trays are complete and any anomalies are detected and rejected.

►Tekpak front page news again in Packaging News

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:56:34 +0000

Thanks to our friends at Packaging News for publishing the feature on our Robotic Pick and Place system…..

Tekpak introduces pick-and-place robot for food packing

Staff, February 3, 2011

Pick and place specialist Tekpak has configured a robot cell specifically for the high-speed packing for confectionery and bakery products.

The food-packing equipment specialist said the stainless-steel manipulator arms made the Packman Vision cell ideal for environments where there were concerns about fibre-glass arms.

The system has fully integrated logic, motion and vision control that is said to make it easier to operate. It sends management information to client networks and is enabled for remote maintenance.

The robots can place moving objects onto another moving position such as another conveyor belt or carton by using data from cameras to compensate for natural track variations.

A vision verification system checks completed pack formations to ensure that all cartons or trays are complete and any anomalies are detected and rejected.

►Tekpak join BARA

admin — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:35:39 +0000

Many thanks to David Harrison at the PPMA for extending a welcoming hand to Tekpak to join BARA. We hope to become an active member and regular contributor to the various groups and publications.

►Tekpak manufacturing base expanding in Ireland

admin — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:31:34 +0000

Why does Tekpak have its manufacturing base in Ireland? Well, apart from the great Corporate Tax rates for manufacturers, there is another reason……

and of course………...

Tekpak is located in Wexford – within 10minutes of fantastic beaches. This one is Curracloe and is where the famous beach landing scene in "Saving Private Ryan" was filmed. We are very lucky to manufacture our fantastic machines within a stones throw of some of the most amazing scenery – We have a great synergy in our business and much of that comes from being located in such an awe inspiring place!

Also, we feel that UK customers (who represent approx 30% of our customer base) benefit from a manufacturer who is so close. Most UK Robotic systems are bought via agents and are manufactured in Germany, Holland, US or Italy and we are right on the door step. And with our UK sales and Service office, we can still provide excellent back up and after sales support.

Tekpak continue with business as usual during the Snow!

admin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:49:27 +0000

Despite widespread disruption during our snowy December – Tekpak managed to install and commission 3 packaging lines for different customers simultaneously without any downtime from snow. In any case, in Ireland and the UK, it was not as bad as in Russia……..

►Five Misconceptions about Robots in Packaging

admin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:29:29 +0000

Robots are complicated to operate and we do not have the expertise to use and maintain them.

Complete Robotic Loading systems from good quality, specialist manufacturers have been specificallydesigned for Food Packaging applications and are virtually maintenance free and very simple to operate. They use programmable logic control (PLC) or PC based systems to control the complete packaging cell as one unit. The latest user interfaces are intuitive and easy to use and can be operated by one person after a short training period.

Our product could not be handled by a Robotic Gripper.

Gripper technology has advanced greatly in recent years. Robot grippers can handle eggs, merangues, tubs with loose lids, chocolate,bakery goods, meat products and even popadoms!

Robots are expensive and only for large companies.

Complete Robotic Pick and Place systems start at around €75k without vision and are capable of picking and placing up to 600 products per minute with specially designed gripper heads. Typically a Robotic Pick and Place system will give payback in 1-2 years.

We run small batches of products, we wouldn’t have the same flexibility with a Robot.

Robots can be programmed to run short batches of product no problem, in fact they can adjust to a different product at the push of a button.

We can buy an industrial Robot from ‘robot manufacturer’ and install it ourselves at a lower cost.

A Robot on its own is just one component of the packaging cell – for it to function effectively in a high speed packaging line, it must be integrated with a control system, programmed with proven and stable software, built into a robust food quality frame, fitted with suitable guarding and safety devices that complies with the latest CE regulations and fully integrated with the existing production line. Implementing a Robotic solution requires expertise and time.