Segbert’s newly-developed CPA-10 cobot palletizer featuring a Yaskawa MOTOMAN HC10

Full flexibility at top speed

As a specialist for intelligent logistics solutions in the printing and packaging industry, North Rhine-Westphalian machine manufacturer Segbert has had a decisive influence on automation trends in the industry. Now the company has reacted to current market demands for more flexibility in end-of-line packaging with a new cobot palletizer. The centrepiece of the in-house development is an HRC-capable hybrid robot Motoman HC10 from Yaskawa.

All activities of Segbert GmbH & Co. KG, whose headquarters are in Ahaus close to the Dutch border, are focused on the handling of paper and cardboard. Managing Director Klaus Segbert describes the general challenge in the printing and packaging industry as a “rather difficult product”. The company, which was founded in 1968, has taken up the industry-specific challenge by developing intelligent concepts and solutions, in particular for automated stacking and palletizing loose packages and packing units.

New core markets call for compact, flexible systems

Up to now, the Ahaus-based company has mainly specialised in large layer palletizers, of which over 300 are used worldwide, particularly in the printing and graphic design industry. But those in charge at Segbert have long started to focus on new core markets such as the cosmetics and confectionery industries. However, this customer segment has completely different requirements: “Today, in many supermarkets products are commonly sold directly from the pallet, so packaging forms are diverse, including round and open-top packages,” says Klaus Segbert and notes: “With a classical layer palletizer this is not possible.” Instead, compact, flexible and easily movable end-of-line units are required.

With this in mind, the Segbert specialists embarked on a search for potential solutions. It soon became clear that articulated robots would play an important role. However, Klaus Segbert and his colleagues were faced with a general problem: a cobot enables direct human-robot collaboration (HRC), offers a high degree of flexibility and permits a compact design but cannot attain the desired speeds. On the other hand, a classical industrial robot achieves high cycle times, but due to the necessary safety precautions it requires more space and is also less flexible.

Klaus Segbert captures the essence as follows: “We took the added-value approach, i.e. full flexibility at top speed. That was ultimately the deciding factor in terms of our concept, enabling us to set ourselves apart from the competition.” Following an extensive market analysis, the decision was taken in favour of the Yaskawa Motoman HC10 robot model.