Sewtec develops system to pack new Twinings tea bags

Dienstag 24 August 2010

Sewtec Automation has designed and installed a pick and place system for Twinings that loads its new flow wrapped tea bags into boxes.

Twinings introduced the flow wrapped bags to extend the freshness of its tea products and contacted Sewtec to install three robotic machines at its Andover factory that would pack the bags into boxes of 40, 80, 160 and 240.

The system is set up to pack single/single stacked wraps into eight boxes simultaneously or twin/twin stacked wraps into four boxes simultaneously, at a rate of up to 120 flow wraps per minute.

It firstly picks packs from compartment racetracks, spaces and pitches them according to the required loading format and then places them into boxes.

Special features
A spokesperson for the company said the vacuum pick and place tooling used by the system had to be specially designed because the lightweight and loosely wrapped packs required gentle but firm handling.

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