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Hochland Deutschland GmbH, Start-up Beetgold GmbH & Co. KG
Wafer-thin and flawless: high-tech automation for dough products
Automation for Hochland Deutschland GmbH / Start-up Beetgold GmbH
Hochland Deutschland GmbH is a renowned company that specializes in the production and processing of cheese. In April 2019, the start-up Beetgold emerged from an ideas competition organized by Hochland with the sustainable idea of whole vegetable products. Since it was founded, 230,000 kg of pomace from vegetable juice production has been processed into organic vegetable products such as tortillas, wraps and pizza bread.
Food/food packaging
Hochland Deutschland GmbH, start-up Beetgold GmbH
Unsere Greifer sind das Rückgrat der Anlage. Sie sorgen dafür, dass die Teiglinge sicher und effizient gehandhabt werden, ohne Kompromisse bei der Geschwindigkeit oder den strengen Hygieneanforderungen einzugehen.
Daniel Knauss, Projektleiter, robomotion GmbH & Co. KG
The challenge
It was clear early on that the production and packaging of the 1 mm thin dough pieces, whether raw or baked, required automated processes.
At the same time, it was clear that the range of pomace-based products such as tortillas and pizza bases would be expanded quickly. This required a flexible automation solution to be able to switch quickly between the products. The development of the grippers was a major challenge: the raw, extremely thin and sticky dough pieces had to be handled safely and quickly. As no raw dough pieces with the same consistency as in series production were available for preliminary tests, the final adjustments had to be made directly in the production environment under time pressure.
Another challenge: when integrating the continuous oven, high system availability is crucial in order to prevent the products from burning and to avoid rejects.
The solution
The grippers are the heart of the system: 3D-printed, smoothed, equipped with a quick-change system, easy to clean and, of course, certified for the food sector.
In the first step, the robot lifts the raw dough pieces from the feed belt onto the oven conveyor belt. An automated weight check is integrated upstream of the oven to detect deviations early on when the dough is rolled out. The robot randomly places dough pieces on the scales and then feeds them back into the production process. After baking, the second robot cell picks up the hot products, which are arranged in five rows, and takes them to the cooling section in a single row.
A weight check is also carried out here to detect any irregularities in the baking process. The robot cell at this point is cooled to withstand the heat, while heat-resistant sensors ensure a smooth process. Finally, the third robot loads the packaging machine in a freely selectable depositing pattern. Our “roboVision” image processing system guarantees that only flawless products are packed – all others are sorted out immediately.
