Ceepackaging

Technology

KHS dolly system concept strikes the nerve of the times

A dolly is a rolling transport system designed as a steel carrier, which fits the size of a quarter-pallet very exactly.  The dolly can be loaded with a wide variety of products.  Whether bottles or cans, shrink packs, pad shrink packs, tray shrink packs, or multipacks – everything is possible – and simple handling of dollies at the point of sale is guaranteed.  The quarter-pallet size dolly keeps the presentation area in the store carefully small to take up less space and allow a wide assortment.  If the dolly has to fulfill returnable expectations, the arguments in favor of this transport system apply equally to its return to production operation.  Instead of full packages, the dolly then carries the correspondingly stacked empties back to the store from the consumer.

The KHS dolly system solutions begin with the unstacking of dollies provided or separately stacked on a carrier pallet into a special magazine.  The unstacked dollies then enter the dolly conveyor, which is modular in design and allows a great deal of flexibility.  Whether one, two, three, or even more conveyor segments – anything goes.

Once the dollies are on the conveyor, they are exactly aligned.  All dollies are equipped with two movable and two stationary transport wheels.  A uniform alignment of the dollies based on the transport wheels is just as important for safe transport as for their later loading.  A hook gripper head designed individually to customer specifications, grasps, lifts, turns, and positions the dollies.

The dollies are conveyed within each conveyor segment over a clocked rail.  Special carriers integrated into the clocked rail ensure that dollies are pushed gently throughout the entire conveying process.  The speed at which the clocked rail itself moves can be freely selected using its motorized drive.

In addition to conveying dollies, pallet conveying is also possible within the system.  This is comprised of a surrounding chain – also equipped with a motorized drive.  If pallets are required after dolly conveying, the dolly conveyor is simply lowered.

A key advantage: If there is already a pallet conveyor in the system, the system can be upgraded by adding the dolly conveyor.  Maximum flexibility – once again an effective motto.

The palletizing process after transport is fully oriented to the desired number of dollies to be simultaneously palletized.  KHS offers a variety of variants of two-column palletizers designed according to modern KHS modular dry area concept, as well as the option of highly flexible use of articulated robot technology.

Depending on the requirements, palletizing can be done on dollies only or on dollies placed on carrier pallets.  The placement of dollies on carrier pallets can also easily be carried out after the palletizing process.  A wide range of options is available for securing the dollies or dollies placed on carrier pallets.  Here, too, the individual needs of the customer are met while taking into account a comprehensive set of safety guidelines.