Automation supports fruit farming
It may seem like an unnecessary luxury to many: robots in fruit farming, an industry where most people imagine everything is done by hand. However, for Peter Veltman of Kerk-Avezaath near Tiel, "the Einstein of fruit farming," it is seen as an essential next step in the growing automation of this industry. Whereas for a long time there was a trend toward moving operations to low-wage countries, automation has now made it possible to keep everything at home or bring it back here. With a focus on unfolding crates that hold the trays of fruit, Veltman and his company Fieldman are designing entire lines with a number of innovative components that he builds himself.
Inventing the missing link
Originally from the labeling industry, Veltman knows the fruit growers' processes like no other. "I know what the customer needs. I have an idea, I put that to the customer and that idea then becomes a design," he explains. "The design is for the whole line, including the packaging materials. That's my strength, my added value. I come up with the 'missing link' between all the machines and start where the rest ended." Veltman knows where the problems lie with his customers and one such problem was de-nesting plastic trays at a strawberry grower and then placing the trays in a crate, very labor-intensive and awkward work. Now there is a line with Yaskawa robots at the front and back and a de-nester in between. At a rate of 10,000 trays and 1,000 crates per hour, this is a huge advance in flexibility and capacity. Where previously hard manual work was done 24 hours a day, this solution means many more trays in much less time.
Unfolding tool
The next problem lies in unfolding the crates themselves. One customer had Europool folding crates. This problem was quickly remedied: if the crate is held upside down, it folds open automatically. However, there are also IFCO folding crates and these do not open automatically when held upside down. After some thought, a solution to this was also devised: Fieldman developed a 5-fold and 4-fold gripper that opens and places the crates 5 (or 4) at a time, 1,000 per hour with a Yaskawa robot. With this original gripper, Fieldman was able to quickly solve this problem in good cooperation with Yaskawa.
Combining forces
For a strawberry grower, this new variant was designed for 60 x 40 cm crates and possibly in the future for 40 x 30 cm crates. A piece of cake for Veltman. "The key elements in the line I invent, design and build myself," said Veltman. "For the electrical engineering and software, I work with Frank Bierbooms of FB Automation, a Yaskawa-minded programmer." Naturally, Yaskawa robots will be used, from the GP series handling robots. The remaining hardware is built by Flex Industries Solutions BV, specialists in the production of stationary internal transport systems. This collaboration combines the strengths of all the specialists, so that with each element in the line, the specific expertise comes into its own.
Spare parts warranty
For now at least, there are plenty of opportunities for automation within the fruit-growing industry. New greenhouses are being built and existing fruit farms are expanding, but the work is very monotonous and labor-intensive. Fortunately, for all the fruit growers who are at a loss because of this, there is Peter Veltman, who has plenty of ideas for having the heavy work taken over by tireless robots. And for those who might be concerned about the availability of spare parts for the robots with their long lifespan, Yaskawa guarantees to supply spare parts for 10 years after the end of production of each robot model.
