A KUKA palletizing robot boosts productivity at Crown Paints

High performance in confined spaces

Used intelligently, wall paint can make even the smallest room appear larger than it is according to Crown Paints, one of Great Britain’s leading paint manufacturers, in its blog of practical decorating tips. The Lancashire-based company that makes the Crown, Sadolin and Sandtex brands is no stranger to making optimal use of confined spaces.

At its main production plant in Darwen, south of Blackburn, Crown Paints uses a KUKA palletizing robot from the KR QUANTEC series for palletizing pots of paint. In addition to Darwen, Crown Paints also has a production plant in Hull and operates 130 paint and wallpaper outlets throughout Great Britain and Ireland.

The British paint manufacturer was looking for a solution to boost productivity during the palletizing of paint pots while also ensuring reliable quality and enabling flexible selection of the products. The wide-ranging expertise that KUKA Robotics has acquired in many different sectors and branches of industry, such as the automotive sector, was a convincing argument for Crown Paints. The company opted for a robot-based automation solution developed jointly with local integrator Optima Control Solutions Ltd. This solution is centered around a palletizing robot from the service-proven KR QUANTEC series.?

Maximum performance in confined spaces

The robust design and the powerful gears and motors of the KR 180 R3200 PA from the KUKA KR QUANTEC series enable palletizing operations with up to 27 cycles per minute. With its streamlined base frame and small footprint, the robot requires very little space. These criteria were of central importance for Crown Paints when it came to selecting the appropriate robot.?

Smooth installation

“Following its smooth installation, the robot now enables a safe and uninterrupted production process,” emphasizes Paul Feldwicke, Maintenance Support Manager at Crown Paints. The robotic automation has not only enabled the company to boost the productivity of the overall system considerably, it has also significantly improved reproducibility and flexibility with regard to different paint mixtures. Thanks to the positive results of introducing robotic automation to the company’s palletizing operations, which are important for the entire process chain, Crown Paints is now considering using additional robots in the future.?

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