Flexible gripping fingers in action

This system packs 160 salad tubs per minute into shelf-ready trays.

The gripping heads of the packing module are the key elements of any ETT end-of-line packaging system. They load bottles, cans or alike into cases or trays. This packaging system that ETT designed and manufactured for a Dutch salad producer shows how flexible these grippers can be.

In the first step the rectangular salad tubs are distributed to four conveyors while the flat tray blanks are being erected and glued inside a forming shaft . In the packing module a special gripping head with a 4 x 4 matrix loads the tubs into trays. The specific features of this gripping head are the special “fingers” that are capable of picking up the tubs without touching the lids.

160 tubs per minute

The gripper picks up two times six salad tubs per cycle and loads them into two trays. Special guiding plates on the searching frame ensure that the gripper will not hit or damage the tray. The system is designed for a maximum cycle speed of 160 tubs or 27 trays per minute.

Special features

• closing module for stacking fl aps
• 4 x 4 special gripping head
• stainless steel construction
• reliable destacking of salad tubs

Special grippers made to suit the product size pick up the tubs and load them into trays (front).