The challenge:  

CSM Bakery recognised the risks their employees faced when lifting sacks and bags of ingredients such as sugar, flour and cocoa powder weighing up to 25kg from pallets in the ingredients store and into their three mixing hoppers in the food manufacturing area. CSM Bakery was unloading approximately 10 pallet loads of goods a day – that’s a lot of bending, stretching, straining and lifting for employees. 

Whatever solution CSM Bakery chose, it was integral for it to work around their current factory set-up which was extremely space-restricted and due to the industry, came with stringent health and safety regulations. 

This is an extremely common challenge within the food manufacturing industry as so many ingredients are supplied in such a way that makes it unsafe for employees to manually handle on their own and unproductive having two employees’ time taken up with a single process. 

The Solution: 

Initially an EZ Loader self-levelling scissor lift table was suggested as the ideal solution as CSM Bakery had previously purchased these and benefited from them considerably, however, after visiting site and assessing the factory set-up and application, a Pronomic Vacuum Lifter was deemed most suitable. 

CSM’s bespoke Pronomic configuration was made up of three separate elements, the structure, the rail and the end-effector all of which were designed to work within a food manufacturing environment and to fit around the CSM’s footprint, an 8,000mm x 3,500mm working area. 

The steel structure consisted of three freestanding painted steel pillars, one in front of each hopper. They were joined at the top with a bar mounted with a Movomech Mechrail (Light Rail System) also in steel. 

A Pronomic Vacuhand V with a suction foot was mounted onto the Mechrail. The Vacuhand is a vacuum lifter to lift loads between 5kg and 200kg. The lifter is designed for a two-hand grip and has a simple throttle regulated lifting and lowering function meaning it can be operated by one person, rather than two, safely, ergonomically and with precision. 

The system was designed to achieve as low leakage as possible to optimise performance and lower energy consumption. 

Benefits: 

The Mechrail system uses extruded aluminium profiles constructed in such a way that maximises its torsional strength and carrying capacity. Its modular nature means it can easily be extended if CSM Bakery’s needs permit and the interchangeable end-effector makes it easy to adapt to suit the ever-changing requirements of the company and environment. The profiles are also anodised to reduce maintenance and increase the longevity and reliability of the solution. 

Investing in a bespoke Mechrail dramatically reduced the risk of employee injury caused by unnecessary and incorrect manual handling of 25kg sacks of ingredients. The solution also provided CSM Bakery peace of mind that their process of transporting and unloading ingredients from the store and into hoppers was as safe and efficient as possible.