“In our plant we produce frozen pasta: ravioli, tortellini, gnocchi… both for large-scale retail and for food service. The problem was the incredible variety of formats and seasonality.”

• Over 15 carton formats (from small retail packs to catering boxes)
• Very frequent production changeovers (even every 1-2 hours)
• High production peaks during seasonal periods
• Fast line, but end-of-line not aligned

“The bottleneck was precisely the end of the line. During peak periods we accumulated cartons and had to add people to clear them.”

• Robotized cell with high-speed anthropomorphic robot
• Gripper designed to handle cartons of very different sizes without manual adjustments
• Pallet recipe management software with automatic selection from the line
• Highly customized palletizing patterns by customer (large-scale retail vs horeca)

“We worked a lot on flexibility: the system recognizes the format and automatically changes the pattern.”

• Elimination of end-of-line accumulation even during peaks
• Drastic reduction in manual interventions
• Fully automatic format changeover
• Pallets always compliant with customer specifications

“Now we can change product without worrying about the end of the line. It has become a strength instead of a problem.”