Piab’s hybrid bag gripper increased productivity by 33%

Background

Customer Sapho of Bilgram Group packs loose road salt in bags of 10kg, 25kg and 50kg, which are then palletized. The old gripper no longer provided the necessary performance to manage the quantities required to be handled during the peak time, and was the bottleneck of the whole process chain.

Solution

After visiting another company and seeing a hybrid bag gripper in action, the management team of Sapho decided on the investment in a new gripper. Piab’s hybrid bag gripper convinced them because the integrated Decker plates keeps the pallet packed denser and more stable. With the adjustment of the gripper fingers to the roller belt used by Sapho the solution is an economic mix of a standard product with a customized adaptation. The integrated suction cups allow automatic intermediate layer handling avoiding manual interference in an automated process and relieving worker’s backs.

Result

Sapho can now palletize 9 bags per minute instead of 6 with the old system. This corresponds to up to 16 pallets or half a truck load more per day. Additionally, the process runs smoothly and without damaging the bags.