Yarn Packing System

challenge

A major U.S. manufacturer of polyester yarn required an automated system to move 40 lb. yarn packages from spinning frames to an inspecting, testing, and palletizing area. All the yarn varieties produced across the multi-acre spinning floor looked alike, but they differed in formulation and filament count. Data tracking would be required to prevent mixing the product between spinning and packaging. A spindle of 6 yarn packages would finish every 30 seconds, and they needed to be removed quickly.

solution

The team implemented a system combining Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs), articulated arm robots, power and free conveyors, and gantry palletizers. AGVs service the winding machines and transport the yarn packages to a central handling area. A scheduling procedure handles the logistical task of dispatching AGVs to retrieve finished yarn packages per both the routine production schedule and the exceptional events generated by quality control demands and random yarn breaks. Robots remove the yarn from the AGVs, loading conveyor pallets for delivery to inspection and to the quality lab. The conveyor finally delivers the yarn packages to large gantry robots for palletizing where the robots sort materials from across the production floor into pallets of matching yarn. The system of PLC-based data tables maintains records of product data, associating the package data with the physical yarn packages as they move from spindle to AGV, to robot, to conveyor pallet, and finally to palletizing.

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outcomes and benefits

The manufacturer enjoys a successful system that demonstrates a very high uptime rate with virtually no data tracking errors. The system has been featured in a major trade journal as an example of a highly successful material handling system. The manufacturer routinely uses the system as a sales tool to demonstrate production capacity and reliability to potential customers.

Packing System Doesn't Get Tangled Up in Multiple Yarn Varieties or Busy Schedules

Industry

Ecommerce & Packaging Fibers & Textiles

Technical Capabilities

Material Handling Solutions Robotics Integration Software & Data Integration

Region

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