KUKA robot performs quality checks

Official KUKA System Partner AVT Europe developed a tailor-made solution for Seabridge for taking samples from coffee bags. A KUKA KR 22 R1610 robot was used for this.

Seabridge is a new logistics service centre and distribution platform for green coffee in the port of Zeebrugge. The advantage of this location is that it enables the distribution of green coffee throughout Europe via railways, highways and even by sea. This is necessary because Seabridge offers their customers a Just-In-Time service. They also attach enormous importance to food safety, quality controls and, of course, environmental management. Seabridge is a state-of-the-art storage facility with constant control of air temperature, humidity and ventilation. Thanks to their unique coding system, Seabridge is even able to track and trace their coffee at any time in the coffee supply chain.

Necessary to industrially automate quality controls

Quality controls are of the utmost importance at Seabridge. They promise their customers the highest quality in green coffee and in order to guarantee this, they carry out quality checks on the coffee bags on a regular basis. If this process is carried out manually, it is impossible to check every coffee bag without reducing production capacity. It was therefore necessary for Seabridge to opt for an industrial automation solution.

A solution tailored to the customer

Seabridge came into contact with Official KUKA System Partner AVT Europe from Essen. They quickly understood the problem and came up with a tailor-made solution for Seabridge. AVT Europe developed an industrial automation solution using a KUKA KR 22 R1610 robot from the KR CYBERTECH family with a custom made sample pricker mounted on it. This allows the robot to take a sample of every coffee bag that passes by. This sample is then poured into a sample collector and a quality analysis can take place.

Before setting up the installation at Seabridge, AVT Europe decided to first test their entire solution internally at their own site. This way they could perfect the installation down to the smallest details and deliver an installation to Seabridge that met their expectations 100%. The installation at Seabridge itself was also completely flawless. AVT Europe perfectly kept to the agreed time frame to install the installation at Seabridge. They carried out the installation, the connectivity and the programming of the KUKA robot completely according to the agreements made. As a result, production at Seabridge was only at a downtime for a minimum period of time. This was an important condition for Seabridge, while a longer downtime would entail higher costs. Because of AVT Europe's professional approach, these costs could be kept to a minimum.

Automation benefits for Seabridge

For Seabridge, this industrial automation solution from AVT Europe brought numerous advantages. They are now able to take a flexible sample of 20% to 100% of the incoming bags without having to compromise on production time. Because the samples are taken by a KUKA robot, each sample is representative time after time. The chance of errors in comparison of manually taken samples has therefore also become non-existent. The KUKA robot also ensures that this process is safer, which is better for the working environment at Seabridge.

AVT Europe: a reliable partner

Seabridge is therefore more than satisfied with the industrial automation solution developed by AVT Europe. According to Seabridge, AVT Europe has the required know-how and works with an enthusiastic group of employees. AVT Europe listens to the customer and creates a tailor-made solution. They are a partner you can trust.