A beverage packaging facility needed a more precise solution that could program and control independently driven sets of chains used to position beverage products into group sequence positions. The goal was to move the bottles at a rate of 60 bottles/minute and over a 9-inch distance in 3 seconds. The operation required the ability to switch to different program sequences easily and on the fly while delivering accurate, reliable pin position information in a cost-effective solution.
The customer installed NAI's Astrosystems Programmable Servo Synchronizer (Astro 1000), which allowed personnel to easily program up to 8 different group sequence positions that were required to allow for a pick and place of the product to a cartoner. The synchronizing of pins, used to position products into different groups ensured that the group sequence kept pace with the rate of production, providing the desired rate of speed and repeatability of 0.1% or better within one second precision.