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It’s Time to Wrap Things Up
Faster, safer, and more flexible packaging at LSI Germany
LSI – Germany GmbH, known for producing the popular BiFi sausages, is part of the globally operating company Jack Link’s. Jack Link’s, the market leader in the meat snacks segment in the USA, operates production facilities in Germany, Brazil, New Zealand, and the USA, distributing its products in around 40 countries.
Since 2006, Jack Link’s has continuously relied on automation solutions from robomotion to enhance the efficiency and quality of its production lines.
Food / Packaging
LSI Germany GmbH
The automation solutions we implemented in collaboration with robomotion and ABB over the past years have fully met our expectations. The systems are reliable, low-maintenance, and offer high availability, which also positively impacts our overall operating costs.
Alfred Gehr, former Operations Manager at Jack Link’s (Jack Link’s today LSI Deutschland GmbH)
The challenge
Previously, BiFi sausages were manually placed into the cavities of the thermoforming machines. To increase efficiency and speed, a pick-and-place solution was needed that met the high hygiene standards of the meat industry.
This solution not only had to ensure automated material flow and the handling of natural products but also enable 100% inline inspection. This inspection includes both visual checks and X-ray control systems. The increasing variety of product and packaging sizes (e.g., single packs, 3-packs, and 5-packs in different cartons) also required a flexible, quickly adjustable automation solution for the end packaging stage.
The solution
With our innovative automation solution, which relies on fast and flexible delta robots and precise image processing technology, we have developed a highly efficient and reliable process that ensures the highest quality standards – from the exact positioning of the BiFi sausages, quality inspection and packaging through both primary and secondary packaging stages.
The process begins with the precise cutting of the BiFi sausages. An X-ray and image processing control system inspects the appearance and shape while detecting foreign objects. Defective products are automatically sorted out. Using vibration conveyors, sausages are aligned and separated to be picked and placed by delta robots into the cavities of the prepared thermoforming film, where they are then sealed.
Immediately after packaging, image processing technology performs another check to ensure everything is in order. Even the smallest defects, such as contamination on the sealing seam of the sausage casing, are detected. In the end packaging stage, the delta robots group the sealed sausages and place them into cartons. Technically, this process is powered by the fast and flexible ABB IRB 360 delta robots. To coordinate the robots precisely and synchronize them with visual detection and gripping mechanisms, robomotion utilized the ABB PickMaster control system. Thanks to our programmers’ deep expertise, we were able to meet the high demands of this high-speed pick-and-place application.
With our in-house vision solution, roboVision, based on Halcon algorithms, it is possible to precisely locate products while reliably monitoring and ensuring the highest quality standards.
