BS Handling Systems delivers automated palletisation cells for Mindful Chef
Matthew Maxwell again , “ As part of our due diligence we visited other sites within the Nestlé group to evaluate their palletising operations . The benefits of automating the palletisation became obvious and so we pushed ahead with phase two of the project .”
An experienced , professional and friendly team
In 2022 , BS Handling Systems completed the design , manufacture and installation of pick-to-light conveyor lines at Mindful Chef ’ s distribution hub in Redditch . The success of the project led Mindful Chef to commission BS Handling Systems to deliver phase two of its development plans , an automated palletisation solution at the end of the pick-to-light lines .
“ Phase one was designed to increase throughput performance and reduce error rates in the picking process ,” explains Matthew Maxwell , head of operations at Mindful Chef . He continues , “ With phase two , the key objectives were to reduce or remove manual handling operations at the end of the lines and further increase throughput speeds .”
Minimising manual handling
Before phase one was completed , Mindful Chef had already started thinking about adding more
32 FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk automation to the end of the pickto-light lines . With phase one the company achieved a throughput increase of around 30 percent . To cope with this increase it required two operators at the end of each line to manually lift the boxes off and palletise them prior to loading into a trailer for despatch .
Removing these manual handling elements at the end of each line would have several benefits :
i . Reduce the number of operators required to meet increased throughput
ii . Eliminate the health and safety risks to operators
iii . Run continuously and accurately without the need for breaks
iv . Improve the mental health of operators by giving them less repetitive tasks
“ BS Handling Systems are really good to work with , they ’ re extremely knowledgeable and accommodating . They ’ ve worked with many companies developing warehouse and distribution facilities , so they have a wealth of experience . This is a huge benefit when it comes to designing a system and finding the best way of configuring it .
“ Initially , we looked at two possible solutions ; one loading pallets directly into the lorry trailers themselves , the other automating the palletisation . After careful consideration , we decided that loading directly into the trailers wouldn ’ t give us the flexibility we needed , so we opted for palletisation automation .
“ The first design concepts had just one palletising cell . This had two robots inside the cell with both pick-to-light lines feeding the cell . After the order was placed for the conveyors to feed the cell , we had second thoughts . The space where we were going to locate the cell was very tight and the design had the potential to cause issues for our operators . So , at the eleventh hour , we decided to look at a different approach .
“ A major advantage of working with BS Handing Systems is their flexibility . Even though