When one of Australia’s largest coffee roasters built a new facility to supply 7-Eleven and McDonald’s, they needed an end-of-line automation solution that could keep pace with the rapid growth without compromising product quality. They turned to Apex Automation and Robotics to deliver a fast and reliable system that would future-proof their production.
The system needed to:
- Collate cases of roasted coffee beans
- Verify barcodes
- Palletise cases
- Stretch-wrap pallets
- Apply labels to pallets
- Stage the finished pallets for forklift transfer to the warehouse
The equipment had to process up to six different product formats — varying in size, weight, and palletising pattern — at throughput rates up to 1,800 cases per hour, with no tool changes.
Apex Automation and Robotics engineered and delivered a complete turnkey system to meet these requirements. Each case underwent barcode inspection, with non-conforming products automatically diverted. The solution incorporated a pallet dispenser and a 6-axis robotic palletiser equipped with a proprietary multi-function gripper capable of palletising all cases without tool changes as well as handling slip sheets.
One of the challenges in this project was the need for a high-capacity First In, First Out (FIFO) buffering solution upstream of the robot, that can fit in a very compact footprint. This was achieved by using two wide flat-top conveyors that could accommodate up to 100 cases, combined with smart control logic enabling dynamic accumulation and release of cases while maintaining sequence integrity.
The result is a fully integrated, turnkey automation solution that has boosted the client’s capacity, reduced labour dependency, and delivered higher quality products.
