by N. S.
The consumer is no longer looking only for convenience but also for health and sustainability. Interest in product quality is growing, along with demand for packaging that is increasingly eco-friendly. Packaging therefore becomes an active part of the value proposition, together with product quality.
“Production speed and a low shelf price are no longer enough: recyclable materials are essential,” Alessio Borgo begins. “Brand owners ask us for productivity and flexible solutions, but also for sustainability starting from the concept phase. We work side by side with them through an in-house packaging team that studies formats capable of reducing materials, costs and carbon footprint.”
With systems engineered for specific sectors—from bakery to confectionery, from pet food to personal and home care—Cama can transfer proven solutions across different production areas. “Our competence and versatility are widely acknowledged,” Borgo continues. “Because of its high volumes, the food industry has always paid close attention to sustainability, from materials to energy consumption to footprint. The non-food industry, by contrast, has tremendous growth potential and can look to food as inspiration to accelerate its own sustainability journey.”
Even though the packaging industry is highly automated, operations such as loading carton magazines are still partly manual and present challenges. By automating these repetitive, heavy, time-consuming and low-value tasks, ACL frees operators and boosts productivity. Fewer manual manipulations also mean fewer damaged cartons.
Automatic Carton Loading (ACL): why was it developed?
“Die-cut cartons are often produced at paper mills hundreds of kilometres away, transported by truck, unloaded by forklift drivers and stored for weeks or months,” Borgo explains. The result is “pallets with misaligned products, excessive creases or cartons with different consistencies and moisture content depending on the season.” Such variability clashes with the rigid concepts underlying automation.
Consequently, “replenishing the die-cut-carton magazine on packaging machines becomes a demanding task. The bottleneck of a wrap-around case packer is the carton loading, which can be a nightmare for traditional suction cups and repetitive work for the operator.”
“Our new ACL solution automates this process, keeping Cama technologies in step with future challenges. The ACL system consists of a collaborative robot equipped with specialised gripping tools, a smart camera and advanced programming systems. It automatically recognizes the pallet pattern, the carton stacks and the interlayer sheets, enabling the die-cut blanks to be picked up and loaded automatically into the machine magazine.”
The three building blocks of the ACL system
- Three-axis collaborative robot: designed in-house and optimised for compact spaces and variable loads.
- 2D/3D vision system: detects the pallet layout, orients individual elements and identifies damaged cartons.
- Interchangeable, sensorised modular grippers: allow automatic format change without tools.
Software and artificial intelligence
The vision system uses neural-network algorithms that distinguish a minor crease from serious damage and decide whether to reject the affected blank. “The ACL system fits naturally into Cama’s green roadmap, removing heavy tasks, eliminating waste and lowering consumption. It is one piece of a puzzle that includes packaging design and digital services.”
This ingenious system eliminates manual loading time and the awkward handling of cartons, resulting in fewer damage-related rejects. The robot’s fully electric architecture reduces energy use compared with pneumatic solutions. The ACL system communicates with other Cama machines and with upstream and downstream equipment. “If AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robots) vehicles bring pallets in the plant,” Borgo points out, “our ACL synchronises with them, eliminating downtime.”
A look to the future
“Our philosophy,” Borgo concludes, “remains unchanged: to provide the customer with an ecosystem, not just a mechanical unit. Collaboration during development is an integral part of the machine’s value. ACL demonstrates that ergonomics, sustainability and productivity can converge when machines and packs are designed together, with the OEM involved from the very beginning, in a scenario where consumers increasingly demand health and sustainability.”
