Palletiser Brings Block Production To Book

Clays binding line for book blocks produces 24,000 book blocks every hour.

Clays binding line for book blocks produces 24,000 book blocks every hour.

Hundreds of thousands of book blocks had to be taken off the line manually every day and stacked on a pallet - a job that is highly labour intensive and tough.

Unable to find a system that could replace the flexibility of manual handling, the line often had to be slowed down or heavily manned - an expensive use of resources.

But Solema's Pluto palletiser is claimed to handle anything from loose books, magazines to shrink wrapped parcels, cartons and other uneven stacks of output in a compact space saving design.

Duplo International is the official, exclusive UK distributor for Solema's Pluto palletising systems.

The advantage of the Pluto is that each layer to be stacked is completed in an assembly area before a belt delivers the layer neatly on to the pallet.

The product is controlled during every step, preventing the layers on the pallet from moving.

Due to the machine being fully programmable, the option of pre-loading the next job whilst the current one is running and the drastic reduction of physical labour, Clays estimates that return on investment will easily meet forecasts with the added benefit of a happy work force.

Commented Angus Campbell, manufacturing director of Clays: "We are really pleased with the flexibility of the Pluto palletiser.

Not only does it respond to the demands of our very fast production system, but the Pluto is easy to operate and saves a lot of physical effort, whilst allowing us to run the line at optimum production speeds." He added that the company was saving the labour of two people per shift who were lifting and stacking the book blocks and are now enjoying less physical work in a different department.

"We are also very pleased with the overall service and support from Solema and Duplo - all in all an investment that will help move our company forward," he added.

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