The customer is an American supermarket chain with approximately 2,800 stores in 35 states in the United States. Second to Walmart as a general retailer, it is first in size in the food retail category. The customer manufactures in its own plants all its store-brand products sold in its US stores.

Clevertech designed a palletizing system using Multibrand Palletizer technology for the customer’s Minnesota factory, where it produces its own brand of cheeses. The customer’s goal was to centralize eight cheese packaging lines into one central line.

Standard systems versus the Clevertech Multibrand palletizer system

The standard systems involve eight palletizers that convey products to a single wrapper. Clevertech has developed a much more efficient system consisting of just two Multibrand Palletizers, each handling four packaging lines. The Clevertech solution is therefore more efficient but also more sustainable in terms of saving floor space within the factory.

The system is located inside a cold room, so the space saving is also a cost saving. The space to be maintained at a constant temperature of 4°C is significantly reduced and therefore less expensive than the standard solution with eight palletizers.

Pallet stacking, flexibility and single-source supplier

The Clevertech palletizing system also has another advantage that was particularly appreciated by the customer. It is a flexible system, as it can be expanded by adding components according to the needs of the factory.

Multibrand Palletizers are also equipped with a pre-forming area with Cartesian manipulators, which enable layer formation and allow new palletizing patterns to be created directly from the machine panel. Therefore, the system can be adapted according to the type of product to be palletized, without the need for any further modification to the system.

The system is based on the concept of complete integration, so it includes the case conveyor, pallet conveyor, wrapper and stacker.

Thanks to the stacker, the operator inside the plant handles two pallets of the same product, stacked one on top of the other, making pallet storage operations faster.

Finally, the system was assembled and tested in the presence of the customer at the Clevertech factory to allow for the best efficiency at the time of delivery to the customer.

The palletizing system reaches a speed of 7-10 cartons per minute.