| Supply scope | Air conveyor, roller conveyor, depalletizer, palletizer |
| Function | Move bottles and cases without damage, stack outbound pallets |
| Key control | Accumulation pressure, guide rail gap, pattern repeatability |
| Types | Semi-automatic and automatic palletizing |
| Key decision | Manual, semi-automatic or robotic palletizing |
| Automation | Manual, semi-automatic or robotic |
The conveyor is the only part of the line that touches every bottle. Guide rail gaps, transfer plate height and accumulation pressure decide whether bottles jam, scuff or fall. Most unexplained short stops on a mature line trace back to a transfer that was set for one bottle format and never re-set.
Automatic palletizing pays when the labour it replaces is continuous and the pattern is stable. A plant running two shifts at high case rates reaches payback faster than a single-shift plant with mixed patterns, because a robot needs the pattern defined before it can be programmed.
| Function | Manual | Automatic |
|---|---|---|
| Depalletizing empty bottles | Rack or hand stack | Layer depalletizer |
| Case palletizing | Operator with pattern sheet | Layer or robotic palletizer |
| Pallet wrapping | Hand wrapper | In-line stretch wrapper |
| Accumulation | None, line stops together | Buffer sized to longest stop |
Throughput and change-part lists are on the Depalletizing & Palletizing page rather than in this note.
When the pattern mix is wide and the pack is fragile. A layer palletizer is faster on one stable pattern; a robot changes pattern by program. Most plants with more than three patterns choose the robot for that reason alone.
Reference unit for this duty: the Conveying.
Square pallets, consistent layer sheets and a stable stack. Empty bottles are light, so a leaning pallet becomes a fallen layer at the depalletizer. The machine can only work with the stack it is given.
The same question is worked through from another angle in How to Maintain Conveyor Systems in Beverage Plants.
A depalletizer unloads empty bottles or full cases from a pallet at the start of a line. A palletizer stacks finished cases onto a pallet at the end. They are separate machines with separate footprints.
Guide rail gap and transfer plate height. Both are set for one bottle diameter and both drift when a second format is introduced. Re-set them at every changeover, not once at installation.
A robot is more flexible across patterns and gentler on the pack; a layer palletizer is faster for a single stable pattern. The choice follows the pattern mix, not the technology.
Low air pressure, a worn layer clamp, or a pallet that is not square. Empty bottle layers are light, so small errors become fallen bottles at the infeed.
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