Show Machine Spotlight: Pick & Place, Alternate Inverter

Hanging Sign

Pack Expo Las Vegas 2021 is here! Come visit Morrison Container Handling Solutions at booth #C1851. To get the most out of your Pack Expo experience, we’ve put together a quick guide for you to review so you know what to expect to see from us in Vegas. Remember to add us to your Show Planner.

Where can I find Morrison Container Handling Solutions?

We’re located in the Central Hall in Booth #C1851. Walk in at the main entrance for the Central Hall and head forward. You can’t miss our hanging and spinning spiral screw signage. Once you’ve found that, you’ve found us.

What machines are Morrison showcasing?

You’ve read about our Morrison Smart Divider and a Smart Combiner (click here for this post) and our Smart Changeover Loop that can run a variety of container shapes and sizes around a loop, manipulating the containers in different ways (read all about that system here).

This week we’re revealing another, new show machine. The Ice Cream Loop consists of a Pick & Place system and an Alternate Inverting System.

NEW MACHINE: The Pick & Place

The pick and place operation follows the linear speed of the screw and picks out containers from the screw. It uses continuous motion to follow the position of the screw and grab containers. Running continuous motion increases the lifespan of the machine and lowers the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the machine. As you may know, a pick and place machine with an indexing motion is hard on the equipment and can make container handling more difficult.

 

The positive control of the timing screw allows us to know the exact position of the container each and every moment. This control eliminates the need for complex vision and robotics systems.

 

The perimeter guarding on the system is a small overall footprint. The gull wing door design allows for full access to the machines without being extremely invasive to the greater line layout. Other safety features:

          • Safety interlocked doors
          • OSHA rated

 

Smart Inspection Pick

An inspection at the infeed of the screws detects the orientation of the containers. This is communicated to the pick head to ensure all containers are oriented correctly.

 

NEW MACHINE: The Alternate Inverter

The alternate inverter uses continuous motion and inversion of containers, creating an alternate inverted pattern of containers. Other approaches you may have seen require an indexing motion to create the alternate inverted pattern, or significantly more conveyor space to divide, invert one lane, and combine into one common lane downstream. This alternate inverting system is servo driven, allowing for the most robust and positive container handling. Morrison’s approach of a standardized design, allowing for easy length modification for future machine designs, minimizing potential future engineering time.

 

When it comes to the conveyor, it’s preferred for Morrison to provide the conveyor section underneath the screws, but it can be mounted to existing conveyor if required. Morrison’s zero-gap conveyor side transfer design and approach eliminates gaps and dead plates creating a smooth transition between conveyor chains allowing for efficient container handling.

 

The perimeter guarding on the system is a small overall footprint. The gull wing door design allows for full access to the machines without being extremely invasive to the greater line layout. Other safety features:

          • Safety interlocked doors
          • OSHA rated

 

Smart Upgrades Available:

          • While we avoid having empty pockets in the timing screws to keep containers from random feeding, in the field it can happen. So, adding sensors/inspection to detect when containers are present allows the system to be more dynamic and versatile.
          • Post-machine inspection can be added to the system easily as a verification that the proper pattern is achieved.

 

See the whole system in action at Pack Expo Las Vegas 2021. Add us to your Show Planner and make an appointment to meet directly with our experts while at Pack Expo.


Morrison Container Handling Solutions
335 West 194th Street
Glenwood, IL, 60425
United States