A lot of finesse for cheese

For one of their specialty cheeses, Emmi developed a novel, fully automated and dynamic production line. Controls and stainless steel motors from Siemens specially developed for the highest hygiene requirements enable the demanding cutting and packaging processes.

Perfectly suitable Simotics motors made of stainless steel

"At the beginning, the idea was to capture the position of the cheese pieces with cameras and only automate the gripping process and packaging," recalls Thomas Bohl, Head of Design at Robofact. But after their first visit to Emmi, the idea of a robot solution that handles the entire process fully automatically came to them on the drive home. From then on began an intensive period of development, during which numerous challenges had to be mastered.

The sophisticated gripping elements on the robots stand out, equipped with two gleaming stainless steel motors. The motors for this finely tuned and very dynamic process are Simotics servo motors in the so-called Hygienic Design. The new, food-grade stainless steel motors came to market just in time before the end of the project. "Until then, we relied on coated motors. These have the disadvantage that during intensive cleaning, tiny parts of the coating can come loose and bacteria can settle at these spots. Strong cleaning agents, on the other hand, cannot harm the stainless steel motors. The design also has no edges or grooves where bacteria could feel comfortable," explains Bohl.

At the beginning, the idea was to capture the position of the cheese pieces with cameras and only automate the gripping process and packaging.

Thomas Bohl, Head of Design at Robofact

Manifold challenges

The production system is controlled by a central programmable Simatic S7-1500, and each robot cell also has its own control system. Thanks to stored recipes, the controls ensure, for example, that the right process runs for each of the various packaging formats and that the robot cells always receive supplies of trays and cheese. No other system at Emmi is so complex, reveals Purtschert: "The cutting process for the delicate cheese pieces is very demanding, and the cheese is of different hardness depending on temperature or degree of ripeness. In addition, the shape of the pieces must be right, the robot must not compress them and must arrange them perfectly in the packaging." Since the cross-shaped gripper constantly rotates around its own axis, Robofact had to arrange the cable routing so that no cable can get caught.

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