Dot’s Pretzels (now a brand of Hershey Co.) had no visible growth barrier other than capacity, so it opened a new factory with a focus on robotic packaging automation.
Known for their colorful, unique condiments, Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels is the third largest pretzel brand in the United States. This is a big achievement for a company that was founded in 2012, operates in the field of mature products and did not gain national distribution until mid-2019, mainly through hardware stores.
Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels is the third largest pretzel brand in the US. Hershey acquired Dot’s in December 2021 for $1.2 billion. Founder Dorothy (Dot) Henke and her team carefully managed growth, expanding from an early home business to Dot’s hometown of Huelva, North Dakota and opening factories in the winter in Goodyear, Arizona and then Kansas. has an east-oriented, geographically equidistant plant.
Despite steadily expanding production capacity, Dot’s struggled to keep up with rapidly growing demand, even though each plant was basically running 24/7.
186,000 square feet. The state of the art facility opened in November 2020 at the Kansas City Logistics Park in Edgerton, Kansas. It uses automated product preparation, processing, and packaging from start to finish, and like the rest of the Dot factory, it runs a 24/7 production schedule with short breaks every weekend for cleaning and maintenance.
“Our prosperity over the past few years has allowed us to gather the resources we need to automate, which we see as a natural progression to keep the company on an aggressive growth trajectory,” said Kent Schmidtberger, Dot’s project lead at Edgerton. .
”I work in a highly automated factory, so I know the benefits. Not only can we produce more pretzels, we produce them more consistently. We also have more flexibility to expand our product line.”
Dot commissioned Viking Masek, a packaging solutions provider based in Osterburg, Wisconsin, to design, dimension and install an automated packaging system on site. The packaging system consists of a bucket elevator that delivers the finished product to several weighing stations, then to bag sealers, metal detectors, checkweighers, vertical packers, case packers and finally packers.
Dot twisted pretzel sticks come in eight sizes from 0.5 oz to 32 oz and three flavors: Original, Southwestern, and Honey Mustard. The most popular retail size of 16 oz is available in standard and point-of-sale display cases.
Viking Masek has joined forces with automation systems integrator IAS Inc. to form Viking Masek Robotics and Automation (VMRA). The strategic partnership brings together the knowledge, experience and resources of both companies to provide advanced packaging solutions that automate the entire packaging process, from bagging to palletizing.
Delta robots from ABB FlexPicker fill shop windows. VMRA designed two parallel packaging lines, one equipped with three ABB IRB 360 FlexPicker delta robots for 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.5 oz bags, and the other with two identical FlexPickers for 5.0 bags , 16.0, 24.0 and 32.0 oz. The 6kg Delta robot picks up bags from a conveyor belt and stacks them into boxes in a variety of configurations using different end-of-arm vacuum tool (EOAT) designs.
The three smaller SKUs are stand-up pillow packs with heat seals on both ends. The three-robot box packing line is optimized for maximum productivity, with automatic switching to meet different picking and placing requirements for each size of boxes. Smaller bags are commonly used in convenience stores, vending machines and airline service kiosks.
Switching from one article to another is done with just a few button presses on the machine’s HMI. Once a new recipe is accepted, the machine automatically adjusts the physical and procedural parameters to process the next SKU. All this is done in a matter of minutes.
When 16 oz. The bags leave the production line and are packed into POP boxes, where robots pick them up and stack them in dump boxes on the side of the conveyor next to the boxes. When the basket is filled with the appropriate number of boxes, it automatically tilts and drops the bags into the box in a vertical position. Thus, the bag is positioned for display when the front cutout of the box is removed on the sales floor. Standard bulk boxes shipped directly to the distribution center or where the product is stored on the shelf are packaged in flat boxes without display. This additional automation provides the flexibility to pack multiple 16 oz. The body configuration is on the same line.
Delta robots from ABB FlexPicker fill shop windows. The big bag line also includes an automatic changer as well as a tool changer that seamlessly switches between two different EOATs depending on the size of the product being packed. When switching between bagging and display packaging, the machine instructs the operator to make a manual change, placing the packaging automation on the display in the ready position. The process does not require tools and is checked by sensors on the machine to make sure it was done correctly.
VMRA worked with the Dot production team to optimize the vacuum tool for the project. Tool geometry, suction cup design and robot programming are carefully engineered for optimum performance and durability.
EOAT palletizing is a VMRA foam vacuum gripper specially designed to meet the needs of a specific application. Using a single tool, palletizing robots can pick single or multiple products to maintain optimal performance. Finished pallets are transferred to the main output conveyor, wrapped in stretch film and sent to the warehouse ready for shipment.
EOAT palletizing is a VMRA foam vacuum gripper specially designed to meet the needs of a specific application. Using a single tool, palletizing robots can perform both single and multiple product picking to maintain optimal performance. VMRA uses RobotStudio, ABB’s offline simulation and programming software, to help design a robot production line.
Using PickMaster for packaging lines and Palletizing PowerPac for palletizing systems, two application-specific plug-ins for RobotStudio, VMRA allows you to experiment with highly realistic automation simulations with different combinations of robot models and layouts. Optimal design for every production line.
In addition to helping you determine the relative position of each robot based on its area, reach, and payload, the software allows you to select and place all other line components, such as conveyor belts and other fixtures, needed to complete the various processes on the line. As the system simulation develops, RobotStudio can identify any potential bottlenecks and calculate the exact space requirements and cycle times that the system concept would provide if it were actually installed in the factory.
“RobotStudio is an excellent program that allows us to simulate real system configuration scenarios offline, which saves a lot of time in the system design and commissioning process,” said Dave Raschke, VMRA project lead, who was directly involved in the Dot project. “Essentially, we were able to experiment with complete and accurate system design options through risk-free trial and error until we created the perfect system.”
The primary role of the Allen-Bradley GuardLogix platform is to act as the “machine master” and control the core automation functions of each machine, such as conveyor operation, separating bins, and product unloading. Machine and operator safety is a top priority for VMRA, so the GuardLogix Safety CPU was deployed to monitor all safety devices and ensure that machine safety meets or exceeds SIL2/PLd safety requirements.
ABB FlexPickers assemblers fill standard packing boxes. At the same time, the ABB IRC5 (Packing Robot) and ABB IRC5 Compact (FlexPicker Packing Robot) controllers control all movements and special code associated with each robot. The combination of Allen-Bradley PLCs with ABB’s IRC5 series controllers provides seamless integration between each robot and the corresponding PLC host. This allows the two systems to communicate via the Ethernet/IP and Ethernet/IP CIP security protocols, greatly simplifying the machine control code and overall machine topology.
In May 2021, Viking Masek and IAS entered into a strategic partnership that resulted in IAS being renamed Viking Masek Robotics & Automation (VMRA). The new facility has the ability to design and build a fully automated production and packaging line from raw materials to shrink trays.
In an unrelated but highly publicized deal, The Hershey Company acquired Dot’s in December 2021 for $1.2 billion. PW
Post time: Apr-24-2023