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Vetipak is a Dutch family business that was founded in 1997 and has since grown to become one of the largest contract manufacturers for food and consumer goods brands in Europe. The company offers innovative, scalable and customized solutions for leading FMCG companies. Vetipak customers benefit from the automation of highly complex packaging processes, production performance and scalability. The offering includes complete production and packaging solutions that encompass design, engineering and production.

Team of experts provides support with technology and market expertise

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Van der Burgt continues: "Our new packaging systems had to be able to handle the volume and variety of products to be packaged. We were also looking for solutions that were easy to operate and that would work safely and seamlessly with our employees. Each of the three projects had its own specific criteria for success: In the first project, we had to create a beautiful gift set with intricate paper folding, similar to origami. If we had done this manually, we would have needed 15 workers per line. Thanks to robotics, we were able to automate the numerous manual work steps, ensure quality and realize the project with an immediate return on investment." Van der Burgt adds: "The other two projects involved confectionery packaging. The first required a large amount of packaging and the other had to be scalable for future requirements. It was important for us and for the end result to find a flexible solution that could meet changing consumer demands in terms of quantity and design. We also want to be able to use the robots for other purposes later on. For example, if we redesign a line, we want to use the same robots and the same technology."

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To develop such customer-specific solutions, the company cooperates with a team of software and hardware engineers, including its long-standing partner B Electrical Engineering. The system integrator based in Ravels, Belgium, specializes in the development of control cabinets and the provision of solutions for programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and image processing, motion, sensor, robotics and safety solutions. Guy Beyens, Managing Director of B Electrical, explains: "When I first heard about Omron's integrated robot controller, I immediately thought it would be a perfect fit for Vetipak's needs, as it is not only very powerful but also easy to program. That saves a lot of time. With a single controller, you can also achieve seamless integration of sequence, motion and robot control, meaning synchronized control of the robots and other devices."

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The system integrator and the LAB51 team from Vetipak installed Viper robots from Omron, Robotics Integrated Controller and conveyor belts and built the control cabinet. Vipers are six-axis articulated robots with a maximum payload of five kilograms. Omron's NJ501-R integrated robot controller is designed for applications that require high-speed processing for machine control, safety, reliability and ease of maintenance. It enables companies to produce faster and more accurately, reduce maintenance and realize faster time-to-market.

Key advantages of the new robotics approach

Guy Beyens explains: "The user interface of the new system is very simple and user-friendly. For example, the touch panel allows users to make minimal adjustments to the movement that were not possible with other systems. The Robotics Integrated Controller allows the robot's position to be updated in real time. This is particularly important and helpful when gluing. The solution makes it possible to react to environmental factors and make adjustments if necessary. This makes internal technicians and operators a little more independent. For example, they can set a date on the packaging or the robot's gluing position directly via the touch panel."

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Mark van der Burgt adds: "Another advantage is the very precise gluing, as it improves the quality of the packaging. Luxury products in particular need to look good, so they need to be glued cleanly, completely and precisely. For the food industry, it is important that everything is safe, so precision is extremely important here too. Omron's robot technology helps with all these challenges."

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Omron's role included solving any problems that arose, discussing possible solutions and sharing technical expertise. Sylvie Van De Weghe, Sales Manager for Belgium and Luxembourg at Omron, comments: "We have been working closely with B Electrical Engineering for over a decade and they were the first partner in Europe to test and install the new Robotics Integrated Controller. The company is currently expanding and investing in a new building to better support our robotics solutions. We want to inspire end customers, provide support and service and share our innovations and technical expertise with partners."

For Vetipak, it was primarily about the flexibility of the new systems. The company wanted to simplify changeovers to different packaging formats and lower the entry barriers for technical solutions. Van De Weghe reports: "Vetipak has introduced 17 new robots alongside Omron's integrated controls. This investment not only supports the production of retail packaging for confectionery or the assembly of luxury gift sets. The flexible technology also ensures that future requirements can be easily met: The robots can be easily reprogrammed and used for new or different lines if required."

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Mark van der Burgt sums up: "We are very satisfied with both the solution and the collaboration. This project is a good example of our motto: Together we make the difference. As a co-production partner and contract manufacturer, we want to contribute to the success of our customers and give them the benefits of the 'Factory of the Future'. The best results can be achieved when we develop solutions where people and technology work in harmony to achieve even more flexibility, scalability and quality. Our partners B Electrical and Omron will continue to inspire us and share new insights with us to achieve these goals."