Automation in skilled trades: Panifactum relies on a cobot for palletizing

At a glance

Panifactum stands for high-quality, gluten-free, low-carb baked goods. Whether bread, rolls, cakes, crispbread, or crackers—around 20 employees work every day to ensure that healthy enjoyment does not come at the expense of taste. However, with the steadily increasing success and demand for Panifactum's low-carb products, the effort required for manual palletizing became greater and greater. “Logistics was a real bottleneck,” says founder and managing director Matthias Hofmann, describing the situation. “We knew we needed a change to keep pace with growing production.”

The Challenge

When asked about the least popular task in his company, Matthias Hofmann does not hesitate for a second: “Manual palletizing—nobody really wanted to do that.” With a growing product range and increasing orders, it became clear that this logistical step in production had to be solved in a smarter way. Manual palletizing not only required a lot of time, but also considerable physical effort – especially in a business with growing volumes. “The boxes don't weigh much, around two and a half kilos, but we pack a lot of pallets every day. It's physically demanding and, above all, mentally tiring because it's the same movement over and over again – day after day,” reports Matthias Hofmann. Employees had to constantly stack large quantities of products on pallets, which not only became exhausting over time, but also led to a certain error rate. “The pallets were not always even – sometimes boxes protruded over the edge, which caused problems during storage and transport,” Hofmann continues. The lack of space in production was also particularly critical. “We asked ourselves how we could find an automation solution that would fit into our cramped production hall,” explains Hofmann. “It was important to us that the solution worked efficiently but didn't take up a huge amount of space, because we simply don't have the room. We also wanted to ensure that our employees could continue to work safely without the robot having to be fenced off.”

The Solution

The choice fell on a cobot palletizing solution from coboworx, equipped with a Fanuc CRX robot, an automatic belt conveyor, a powerful flat suction gripper, and a lifting axis for high stacks—optimized for up to 400 cartons per hour. “The system is very simple: select the product, define the pallet location, press start – that's it,” says Matthias Hofmann, describing how it works. “The employees hardly needed any training.” The robot cell was introduced as part of a rental model – including maintenance, training, documentation, CE certification, and remote maintenance. “This makes the investment predictable and flexible for us – and made our decision easier,” says Matthias Hofmann. The cobot palletizing solution in detail: • Compact palletizing cell: A space-saving cell without a safety fence, comprising two pallet storage spaces for Euro pallets, which can therefore also be integrated into confined production environments. • Fanuc CRX robot system: Thanks to its integrated lifting axis, the robot is designed for high palletizing heights and offers a payload of up to 20 kg – perfect for the efficient handling of up to 400 cartons per hour. • Conveyor technology: An automatic belt conveyor with mechanical stops and adjustable guide plates ensures precise feeding of the cartons and enables repeatable positioning, minimizing errors. • Carton gripper: The flat suction cup ensures reliable gripping and stacking of the cartons. • Touch panel for operation: The user-friendly touch panel allows employees to quickly and easily select the appropriate packing pattern for different product sizes. • Flexible palletizing process: The solution is designed in the Panifactum concept to palletize a defined number of cartons per hour in single picks. • Manual removal of pallets: Once the pallets are filled, they are removed by the operating personnel, which enables simple and efficient handling.