Famous leading Swedish cooked meat producers and processors, Charkman Group, have dramatically increased output at the Fernebrand Chark, Boras, plant by adding an AEW Delford Systems IPL (Intelligent Portion Loading) Robot and Junior Slicer to their PolySlicer Plus fully automatic slicing line that slices and packs high volumes of salami, ham, turkey, rolled pork and other cooked meats. Thanks to help and advice from our Swedish distributor, I.O. Trading and new investment in AEW Delford Systems’ innovation and technology, output and productivity in the slicing department is being boosted to remarkably high levels from a very small team of operatives. The new system also provides a very high level of flexibility in that it slices a wide variety of product and it can be programmed to handle some 26 pack variations and sizes. However, this is just the start. The robot can be set up to handle as many as 100 product programmes and, at a later date, up to 5 further robot cells can be added to the existing master control and vision system to provide even greater flexibility and output.
The Charkman Group is made up of 12 small to medium sized private companies who, for over 30 years, have cooperated closely with each other on most aspects of the food processing business – from buying in raw product to pooling production resources and selling only Charkman branded and private labelled products to wholesalers, hotels, restaurants, institutions, supermarkets and multiple retailers throughout Sweden. The Boras plant belongs to Kjell Fernebrand whose sons, Pierre and Pontus, continue the family tradition of sourcing and developing new and innovative ways of maximising output. The labour saving benefits, easy hygiene and safety aspects of the new system are impressive in their own right, but the proven capability of the Junior Slicer combined with the astounding qualities of the IPL Robot convinced Kjell Fernebrand that this system was indeed a wise investment. “Now, shingled slices can be quickly and perfectly handled with a level of precision and consistency that a human could never achieve,” he said. Charkman’s well earned reputation has never looked stronger.
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IPL Robot and Junior Slicer 
The Junior Slicer works continuously, producing well presented shingles and stacks of product which are then conveyed to the IPLS Robot for consistently gentle and accurate loading into thermoformed trays. Typical loading formats range from 180mm long shingles containing 10-12 slices up to as many as 24 slice shingles per tray. The robot picks up 12 slices at a time and for the 24 slice pack it rotates the second shingle of slices through 180 degrees to give superbly presented overlapped packs. Loading rates vary according to the type of product, but speeds are typically in excess of 50 packs/min. The system then automatically conveys the loaded trays into a flow wrapper for packing and sealing prior to being weighed, priced and labelled by an AEW Delford Systems
Our amazing Intelligent Portion Loading Robot (IPL Robot) A single vision and control system can handle up to six robots, each of which can perform various loading tasks and certain grading options. |
