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The automated cosmetic packaging line containing both Kugler’s Flexofill and Flexocap machines, in addition to robotics from Schubert, streamlines the container-handling process.Kugler Develops New Lip Gloss, Mascara Filler
by Daphne AllenFilling packages with multiple viscous cosmetics like mascara and lip gloss demands flexibility. To meet one customer's requirements, the Kugler Cosmetic Division of Optima Machinery Corp. (Green Bay, WI) relied on automation, including robotics from Schubert, to develop a turnkey packaging solution.
Kugler's customer's project currently involves about five to six color changes per shift, a complexity that is far too error prone for manual work. Three current packaging formats are filled with different colors. However, the number of packaging formats is slated to increase ten. With such color combinations multiplying, automation was in order.
By using intelligent process automation, Kugler met all requirements, the company reports. The equipment provider installed a filling and packaging process consisting of three work stations and two loops that are interconnected at two points. The three work stations include a Kugler Flexofill filling machine with two independent filling stations and an insertion station for wipers, a robot station, and a Kugler Flexocap capping machine.
Brush, cap, wand, and bottle handling are all performed by robots. All container components are delivered to the robot located between the filler and capper. The two-arm robot takes the bottles from the tray and places them in the pucks of the first conveyor loop. In parallel, the second picker of the robot takes up the wands, brushes, or caps and places them in the pucks of the second conveyor loop. Such robotic sorting utilizes vision technology to guide the robot in finding each container, orienting its arm, and picking up the container gently enough to prevent scratching. The task is a challenging one, given the fact that the bottles are supplied unsorted in polystyrene trays, in almost random positions. In addition, while sensing container position, the robot system is also checking component quality. Faulty objects are not picked up by the robot and will automatically remain in the trays.
At the Kugler Flexofill filling station, the mascara or lip gloss bottles are filled with the respective product followed by wiper insertion. The filler is equipped with two dosing units for the handling of different product types as well as multiple-color filling. A complete dosing block with filling nozzle and tubes can be removed from the machine via a trolley unit.
The container can be fed to the capper, a Kugler Flexocap machine, which places and closes the wands, brushes, or caps, all supplied by the robot. The finished products are then taken out and transported to the secondary packaging process.
To handle several format changeovers, the filling station is equipped with a redundant second filling unit. To plan for a color change, the change station can be prepared while the second station is still filling. After the product change, the second station can be completely cleaned and in turn prepared for the next product change. This configuration also allows for the production of two different lip gloss colors in one bottle, for instance. (Clean-in-place processes can also be performed on one dosing block while the other dosing is being used for filling product.)
As mascara and lip gloss are highly viscous products, both filling stations are heated, which significantly improves filling with the rotary valve piston pumps without permanent effect on product properties.
The Flexocap system can hand both press-on caps and screw caps with integrated brushes. Screw tops are first pretightened and then closed to a precise torque that is measured inside the screw head. Every single container is checked, and random sampling is no longer required.
The Kugler line is servo-driven. All formats can be stored in the control of the machine. This allows for individual motion sequences and speeds to be defined and stored for each mascara or lip gloss and for the torques to be preselected. Format changeover can be carried out at the push of a button, which includes synchronization of the functional sequences of all three aggregates – robot, filler, and capper.
The entire line is operated by only one operator who is also in charge of supplying the containers. The output of the filling and packaging machine is a high 60 products per minute. With a volume of 10 ml, the filling accuracy is +/- 0.5 percent for all formats. Format changeover for the entire line is carried out without tools in less than 25 minutes.
Kugler reports that for this customer application, 80% of the line is standard and 20% is modified and customized to customer specifications.