FANUC Robot Raises Palletising Capacity at Flour Plant

Production Manager Fiona Weber-Lehmann and her sister Jeannine Lehmann are the 17th generation management team at leading flour manufacturer Lindmühle. The 40-employee company produces over 300 flour mixtures at its mill in Switzerland, selling its highly successful products to bakeries, restaurants and pizzerias. 

That solution arrived in the shape of a FANUC M-710𝑖C six-axis industrial robot via local automation specialist and system integrator Imperia Systems. 

“Our biggest challenge was the lack of space at Lindmühle, not just the footprint but also height, which was 2.9 m maximum,” explains Calogero Imperia, CEO of Imperia Systems. “It was clear we couldn’t use a gantry robot, so we began thinking about an articulated arm robot instead. Notably, with the help of FANUC’s ROBOGUIDE software, we can simulate the most diverse of robot options at quotation stage, check the cycle time and select the optimal solution for our customer. In this case it was the FANUC M-710𝑖C.” 

The FANUC M-710𝑖C stacks Lindmühle’s individual bags of flour in a visually pleasing way. Affectionately named ‘Erwin’ by staff, it provides physical relief for workers and has already increased bagging and palletising capacity to 35 tonnes - a 50% gain - with the potential to expand capacity even further moving forward.