Sweden based FlexLink, with previous experience in crate handling for the packed meat industry, said it is aiming to improve efficiency within the baking sector by providing systems for stacking and de-stacking, washing, sorting and packing to palletizing as well as pallet handling.
Installations
Viktor Hermansson, marketing manager at FlexLink, told FoodProductionDaily.com that the decision to launch a campaign aimed at the bakery industry follows on from success the company recently had installing a conveyor system in a German family bakery.
“An entire baking crate cleaning process has been successfully and optimally automated in the Sehne facility that uses all of the available space. We installed a flexible washing line that could be modified to fit into its environment.
“Where extremely heavy physical work was required, a FlexLink system now controls the conveying of the baking crates, which runs via a FlexLink line into the fully automated washing system – and on to production,” explained Hermansson.
Customisation
He claims that FlexLink succeeded in customising the technology perfectly to the plant’s limited space by installing the flexible conveyor systems along walls, floors and ceilings.
And in another bakery plant installation by the company, a robot cell it designed helped Dutch manufacturer, Bakkersland, automate the end of line production of their bake-off goods, continued Hermansson.
He said that FlexLink can also integrate third party equipment into its systems, such as crate washing and drying machines and robot systems for the handling of piles of clean crates.
Tailored consultation
And, according to Hermansson, the secret to the successful introduction of automation in a manufacturing facility lies in the close collaboration between the customer and FlexLink:
“We always sit down with a potential client, following on from their initial request, to discuss how our systems can address their specific needs and requirements in terms of hardware, software and after sales service from the receipt of dirty crates to the shipment of crates full of product.”