Robot Palletiser Suppliers & Manufacturers

Robotic palletiser configurations and end-of-arm tooling

A robotic palletiser uses an industrial robot arm to pick and place products (cases, bags, buckets, drums, trays) onto a pallet in a defined pattern. Robot palletisers offer greater flexibility than conventional layer palletisers for operations with multiple product formats, frequent pallet pattern changes, and lower throughput requirements where a full layer palletiser is not justified. Robot types used for palletising: 4-axis articulated robot (SCARA-type or 4-axis floor-mount) — the standard for palletising; 4-axis robots are optimised for the horizontal plane picking and placing typical of palletising; fast, reliable, and widely used; payload capacities from 50kg to 300kg+ for heavy-duty bag palletising; 6-axis articulated robot — more flexible (can reach any orientation in 3D space); used when products must be picked in unusual orientations or when the robot performs multiple operations (palletising + case erecting); higher cost than 4-axis. Gantry robot — a Cartesian overhead gantry; suitable for very large footprint pallet areas or multi-line palletising from one robot. Delta robot — used for light, high-speed picking (packing chocolate, biscuits into trays) but not typical for heavy palletising. End-of-arm tooling (EOAT) is critical for palletising and must be matched to the product: vacuum suction cups — for cases, cartons, and shrink-wrapped products with a flat, air-impermeable surface; mechanical gripper — for bags (woven PP or PE), which cannot be vacuum-picked effectively; fork/plate EOAT — slides under a bag or large case to lift without gripping; mixed gripper + vacuum — for lines handling multiple product types. Safety guarding: all industrial robot palletisers require CE-compliant safety guarding: interlocked perimeter guarding, safety light curtains at the pallet exchange area, safety-rated PLC monitoring robot reach; AMR (autonomous mobile robot) guidance for flexible pallet positioning is available on modern cell designs.

Speed, flexibility, and sourcing

Robotic palletisers are typically slower per cycle than a dedicated conventional layer palletiser but offer significant advantages in flexibility and footprint. Throughput: a 4-axis robot palletiser with vacuum EOAT picking individual cases: 10–20 cases per minute (single robot, individual case pick); dual-robot cell or multi-pick EOAT (picking a row at a time): 20–40+ cases per minute; for heavy bags (25–50kg): 3–8 bags per minute is typical. Multi-line palletising: a single robot palletiser can serve multiple infeeds from different production lines, reducing the number of palletisers needed in a factory — the robot alternates between infeeds, picking from whichever line has product available. This is a key advantage over conventional palletisers, which serve one line. Pallet pattern programming: robot palletising systems include software to define pallet patterns (product dimensions, layer count, row-column configuration, rotation, interlayer sheet positions); modern systems include graphical 3D pallet pattern editors; pattern changes are done at the HMI without mechanical adjustments. Collaborative robots (cobots): for lower-payload and lower-speed palletising (cases up to 10–15kg), collaborative robots (UR, FANUC CRX, ABB GoFa) can operate without full perimeter guarding, enabling smaller footprint cells. Key robot suppliers for palletising: FANUC, KUKA, ABB, Kawasaki, Yaskawa Motoman (robot platforms); these are integrated by packaging system integrators who supply the complete palletising cell. When sourcing, specify: product type and payload per pick cycle, required throughput, number of infeeds served, pallet format and pallet height, EOAT requirements, floor space available, and safety guarding requirements.

Frequently asked questions