Chocolat Frey Production Plant Upgrade, Buchs, Switzerland

The Swiss chocolate manufacturer Chocolat Frey, a subsidiary of the large Swiss retailer Migros, completed an upgrade of its Buchs facility in December 2004. The manufacturer, which holds a 35% share of the Swiss chocolate market, aimed to increase productivity and save costs by installing new high-speed robotic packaging equipment.

The force behind the modernisation was a need to maintain product quality and save costs in a declining market. Swiss chocolate sales have declined by 2.4% and production has declined by 1.8% from 2003 figures. The investment in the new equipment at the Buchs facility, which is one of the largest chocolate production plants in Europe, is estimated at SF5.6 million.

The company has been accused of replacing jobs with machines but defended this position by pointing out that short run seasonal products would not be packed by machines since this was not cost effective and manual packing would still be a large part of the company's processes. Chocolat Frey employs around 850 people and manufactures over 1,500 different products.

CONTRACTOR

Sigpack Systems were awarded the contract to install the equipment line at the Buchs factory. Sigpack were chosen for the contract because of their previous history with the company and the fact that they are based in Switzerland, which would allow easy access for servicing and technical support. In addition, the Sigpack software system, which enables changes in the packaging format, is user friendly and powerful.

The new line consists of eight Delta robots to reduce manual handling at the factory by placing chocolates into blister packs and blister packs into cartons. The robots will be able to load chocolate into an assortment of up to 40 different plastic packaging formats including blister packs. The new line is expected to operate at two-and-a-half times the speed of the previous packaging machinery and will increase productivity by up to 30%.

The equipment uses optical vision technology which has the ability to recognise unique product packaging formats and specifically selects them to be filled with the correct product. Adept Technology supplied the vision system and motion controller. The new equipment was integrated with existing equipment at the plant and operates alongside the older cartoners and closers.

CHOCOLATE PACKAGING PROCESS

Containers are transferred to the robot packaging line from a blister de-stacker. The blister packs are identified by the robot line's highly advanced vision system and this transmits information on both position and location to the robot motion controller. The vision system can also identify the type of chocolate product and its position and location. This information is also passed to the motion controller, which allows the coordination of each robot to pick up the products precisely (by selecting the correct suction head to suit the particular product) and place them in the correct place in the blister pack.

After the blister packs are filled they must then be placed in boxes. The boxes are supplied by an existing cartoner and placed in position for handling by a robot module. The filled blister packs are then identified by optical processing and placed in the box by the robot using a specially developed tool.

The same tool also places pads in the boxes before the latter is finally closed. It uses a high air flow instead of a high vacuum and a padded material that enables the gripper tools to tighten on the blister without causing crush damage. A Delta robot can then close a box or add a lid, either by folding the attached lid into the closed position or by placing a separately formed lid onto the box.

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