production and pack out automation - Wolverine Forest Park
Wolverine Packing Co. needed a high-speed automated case packing and palletizing solution for the 
company’s new greenfield meat processing facility in Forest Park, MI. The equipment needed to be installed in several distinct phases to accommodate the facility’s startup timeline and evolving needs.
Extensive discussions with the customer were conducted to understand the full scope and intent of the solution, and a flexible, modular design was adopted which used relocated existing equipment and allowed for phased installation and future expansion. The two-part solution is comprised of a production
system and a pack-out system.
System Details:
- Box taping
- Conveyors
- Control panels
- Weigh check
- X-ray systems
- Barcode reader to sort product
- Three FANUC R2000 robots each tending three palletizing areas
- Proprietary flexible EOAT picks up boxes of varying size and weight
- One pallet dispenser
- Pallet conveyors
- Slip sheet feeder
- Pallet wrapper
- Manual pallet loading area
In the product-handling area, modular designs allow for current reuse of existing customer equipment and give flexibility for future modifications. In the
pack-out area, each robot in the nine pallet-loading areas can handle any of the customer’s products, and achieves the required high-speed and high-
throughput. The nine automated lanes reduce plant floor congestion for palletizing standard orders, and a tenth manual lane can be used for partial, custom-loaded, or pallets kicked out of the system. The two-part solution evolved to meet the customer’s production requirements and retained a modular
design for flexibility and future expansion.
