{"id":3075,"date":"2026-10-05T14:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T14:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.granta-automation.co.uk\/news\/?p=3075"},"modified":"2026-10-05T14:31:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T14:31:06","slug":"the-compact-palletiser-pallet-truck-take-off-and-automatic-pallet-feeding-without-excavating-the-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.granta-automation.co.uk\/news\/the-compact-palletiser-pallet-truck-take-off-and-automatic-pallet-feeding-without-excavating-the-floor\/","title":{"rendered":"The Compact Palletiser: Pallet-Truck Take-Off and Automatic Pallet Feeding, Without Excavating the Floor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The compact palletiser was not designed to fill a gap in a product range. It was designed in response to a requirement that came up repeatedly on site visits, and that the market was not answering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customers wanted an industrial robot palletiser with two properties at the same time: full pallets removed by pallet truck rather than forklift, and empty pallets fed automatically so the robot did not stop. And they wanted it without excavating a pit for the conveyors, building a ramp, or altering the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, those requirements were treated as mutually exclusive. This article explains why, and how the compact palletiser resolves them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the requirement kept arising<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several separate pressures produce the same specification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sites are removing forklifts from occupied areas. Some are doing so entirely, on pedestrian-safety grounds; others are restricting them from food production areas, clean areas and mezzanines where a counterbalance truck is unsuitable or not permitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, throughput requirements have not fallen. A cell that stops for every pallet change loses a significant proportion of its available running time, and on a fast line that is the difference between meeting a shift target and missing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Floor space is also constrained. In most cases the palletiser has to occupy space at the end of an existing line, without moving the line or the building around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the market treated it as a contradiction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conventional palletising cells deliver finished pallets at a height suited to forklift collection, or onto conveyors set high enough to accommodate the drive and frame beneath them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve pallet-truck take-off from such a system, the usual solutions are to excavate a pit so the conveyor sits flush with the floor, to build a ramp up to the take-off point, or to accept manual take-off through a gate with the system stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each carries a cost. Excavation is expensive, disruptive and often impossible in a leased building or on a food-grade floor. A ramp consumes floor space and introduces a manual handling issue of its own. Stopping the cell for every pallet change costs throughput.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, sites were routinely offered pallet-truck take-off or automatic pallet feeding, but not both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the compact palletiser resolves it<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The compact palletiser<\/a> uses a low-profile conveying system that run close to floor level, so a pallet truck can collect a finished pallet directly from the conveyor. No pit, no ramp and no alteration to the floor is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empty pallets are handled by the same principle. A stack of empty pallets is loaded at low level, again by pallet truck, and fed into the cell automatically as required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is continuous pallet flow through the cell without a forklift and without the robot stopping. That combination \u2014 floor-level pallet-truck take-off together with automatic pallet feeding at speed \u2014 is rarely available elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is worth being clear about which part is unusual. Low-level take-off exists on other systems. Automatic pallet feeding exists on other systems. The two together, in a footprint this small, at this throughput, is the combination we are not aware of another system offering on the worldwide market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speed and footprint<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The compact palletiser uses a 140kg payload industrial robot rather than a collaborative one, and is  able to palletise 30+ products per minute depending on stack patterns. Row gripping can be included where higher throughput is required, and slip sheets can be added to any layout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a full-speed industrial palletising cell that is designed to occupy a very small footprint. Single and double lane configurations are available, so a single cell can serve more than one line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three versions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Version<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Pallet handling<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Running during pallet change<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Static<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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A single empty pallet is loaded as required while the robot runs. Full pallets are removed manually through a gate, by pallet truck or forklift<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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The system stops while a full pallet is removed<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Auto<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Full pallets leave the cell on low-profile conveyors. Empty pallets are fed in singly as required<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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The robot continues running<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Auto with pallet feeder<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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A stack of empty pallets is loaded at low level, fed in automatically as required. Full pallets leave on low-profile conveyors<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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The robot runs continuously; pallet flow is fully automatic<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n

All three are available single or double lane. Full pallets can be removed by pallet truck or forklift in every version; the pallet truck is an option the site gains, not a restriction it accepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Programming<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The compact palletiser is supplied with the same software as every Granta system. An operator enters four dimensions \u2014 length, width, height and weight \u2014 and the software generates the viable stack patterns, ranks them by pallet efficiency, and derives the robot paths, clearances, safety zones, speed profiles and the orientation and grouping of product on the infeed conveyors, including for row gripping. A new product size takes approximately five minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where it applies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The compact palletiser is normally the correct specification where one or more of the following is true:<\/p>\n\n\n\n