Triangle Ice approached Modern Ice Equipment & Supply, a Hamer-Fischbein equipment dealer, in 2016 to find a palletizing solution for their Savannah, Georgia facility. Modern Ice collaborated with Hamer-Fischbein to design a semi-automatic robotic palletizing system to suit Triangle Ice’s objectives to decrease palletizing labor and increase production. The first system was delivered to Triangle back in early 2016. It was the first system that Hamer-Fischbein designed utilizing the vacuum end of arm tool. 

The vacuum end of arm tool, which picks up either 5, 5-7 lb. bags, 2, 20 lb. bags, or 1, 40 lb. bag is an effective bag picking option for delicate ice bags. The ability to stack up to 5 bags at a time onto a pallet stack eliminates hand baling, manual stacking and associated labor.

The overall response and feed-back from Triangle Ice has been very positive. A second similar semi-automatic robotic palletizer system was shipped to Triangle Ice’s Walterboro facility in early 2017, further enhancing the palletizing automation across Triangle Ice’s plants.

The video below shows the Palletizing operation at work at Triangle Ice: