Case Study: Automating the Palletising of Insulation Batts with the Granta Cobot Palletiser

Sector: Manufacturing – passive fire protection / fire-stopping products
Application: End-of-line palletising of insulation batts
Solution: Granta Cobot Palletiser

Overview

A UK manufacturer of fire-stopping products set out to automate the palletising of insulation batts at the end of one of their production lines. The packs were being hand-stacked by operators in a pre-defined pattern — a process that was physically demanding, inconsistent in speed, and capping the line’s true output.

Granta Automation supplied a Cobot Palletiser: a compact, collaborative system that now stacks every pallet to an identical, repeatable standard, removes the manual handling, and gives the line a reliable, consistent output it didn’t have before.

The Challenge

At the end of the line, production operators stood and manually stacked packs onto pallets for despatch, following a pre-defined stack pattern. While it worked, the manual approach carried three persistent problems:

• Health and safety risk. Repetitive manual handling and lifting exposed operators to the risk of repetitive strain injury (RSI) and other injuries.
• Inconsistent output speed. Because stacking depended on individual operators, the pace varied — which made line output unpredictable and constrained overall throughput.
• Variable stack quality. With pallets built by hand, consistency came down to the individual, leaving room for stacking errors that can cause problems further down the supply chain.

The business wanted to reduce the risk of injury to its people, increase line output productivity, and put the end-of-line process onto a more reliable, repeatable footing.

Building the Business Case

Before committing, the customer worked through a full cost of not automating analysis with Granta — looking well beyond the obvious. The exercise weighed up the factors that quietly erode margin when an end-of-line process is left manual, including:

• Production reliability and running time — the value lost to variable pace and stoppages across shifts.
• Faster production — the additional output value unlocked once the line is no longer paced by hand-stacking.
• Defective product — damage and stacking-quality issues that create problems in transport and storage.
• Health and safety — the cost of absence, claims and HR challenges tied to manual handling and RSI.
• Reliability and resourcing — the cost and difficulty of recruiting and covering manual roles.

Importantly, the strongest return wasn’t a single line item — it was the cumulative effect. As Granta consistently sees across installations, the biggest payback comes from an uplift in production combined with the intangible gains: fewer H&S issues, reduced HR burden and improved staff morale. Because an automated cell holds a steady takt time — it doesn’t take breaks, call in sick or pause for conversations — customers typically see a 30%+ increase in production throughput they hadn’t even priced into the business case.

This case also reframed the role of the team. Rather than being about removing people, automation removed a repetitive, physically demanding task — freeing operators from injury-prone manual handling and allowing that effort to be redirected to more skilled, higher-value work.

The Solution: The Granta Cobot Palletiser

Granta recommended its Cobot Palletiser — a high-payload collaborative robot ideally suited to a line where space is tight and consistency matters. Key reasons it fit this application:

• Small footprint. A compact, self-contained cell that slots into a constrained end-of-line space without a major reorganisation.
• High payload. A genuinely high weight-load capability, comfortably handling the packs coming off the line.
• Genuinely simple programming. Granta’s easy-programming software lets operators set up and adjust stack patterns themselves — no specialist robot programmer required.
• Efficient, built-in safety systems. Collaborative safety features allow the system to work safely in a shared, space-constrained environment.
• A cost-effective package. High capability and consistency without the cost or complexity of a large conventional palletising installation.

The Results

• Every pallet is now identical. Stack quality no longer depends on the individual — the system guarantees the same result every time, every shift.
• Manual handling removed from the end of the line, sharply reducing the risk of RSI and lifting injuries.
• Reliable, consistent output. A steady, automated takt time replaces operator-to-operator variation, lifting and stabilising line productivity.
• A future-proofed line. Simple in-house reprogramming means the system can adapt as pack patterns and requirements change.

The Investment and the Return

Set against the cost of running the line manually, the payback was rapid. Granta’s cost-of-automation analysis showed the complete solution — palletising system plus operator training — paying for itself in under five months, with a significant net return in every year that followed.

That’s before accounting for the harder-to-quantify benefits: improved safety, consistently high stack quality and reliable, predictable output.

In the Customer’s Words

“I chose the Cobot palletiser from Granta because it has a very small footprint and a very high weight load. The system is very easy to use — programming is unbelievably simple. On the quality side, I can now guarantee that every pallet is the same when it leaves this factory, whereas before it was down to individuals. I’d recommend the Cobot system for its small footprint, high weight load, unbelievably efficient safety systems, and because it’s a genuinely cost-effective solution.”

— Production Manager at a Fire Stopping Products Manufacturer

Could the Cobot Palletiser work for your line?

If hand-stacking is putting your people at risk or making your output unpredictable, the Granta Cobot Palletiser offers a compact, high-payload, easy-to-program route to consistent, reliable palletising — and a business case that usually pays back faster than expected.

Book a free site visit today – 01223 499488 or helpline@granta-automation.co.uk