Case Study

Robotic Case Palletizer: 70% Labor Reduction and Sub-12-Month ROI for Household Appliance Distributor

Industry: Consumer Goods

A major household appliance distributor runs a high-volume palletizing operation, moving boxed products across as many as 50 distinct product lines into retail distribution. Before Han-Tek’s involvement, that operation was entirely manual: workers unloaded trailers, sorted boxes by product type, and hand-stacked pallets with no programmatic guidance on optimal configuration. With box dimensions varying widely across product lines, configuration errors were common and throughput was capped at roughly 1,010 boxes per hour. The facility also carried a corporate mandate that any capital investment in a new system must deliver full payback within 12 months.

Han-Tek engineered a Robotic Case Palletizing system that replaced manual stacking with an automated vacuum-ended robotic arm, Allen-Bradley SLC 5/05 programmable controller logic, and Rockwell Software RSView32 operator interface software. The system supports up to 50 product types across 150 pallet configurations, with operators selecting the optimal layout at order entry rather than relying on worker judgment. The result: palletizing throughput climbed to 1,440 boxes per hour, labor requirements dropped by more than 70 percent, and the customer recovered its approximately $500,000 investment in under 12 months through labor savings alone.

Their Challenge:

Entire palletizing operation was manual, requiring workers to unload trailers, sort boxed products by type, and stack pallets by hand at a high-volume household appliance distribution facility
Widely varying box sizes across 50-plus product lines made consistent pallet configuration difficult, leading to frequent stacking errors and slow cycle times
Average palletizing throughput was limited to approximately 1,010 boxes per hour, creating a bottleneck in the outbound distribution flow
Completed pallets had to be stretch-wrapped manually and moved by forklift to outbound staging, adding labor steps between the palletizer and the truck dock
The system needed to handle up to 50 different products across as many as 150 distinct pallet configurations without requiring extensive retraining for each SKU
Corporate mandate required any replacement system to deliver a complete return on investment within 12 months

Our Solution:

Han-Tek designed and integrated a Robotic Case Palletizing system working in partnership with Horizon, a Rockwell Automation distributor, to match the customer’s throughput and configuration requirements
A robotic arm with a vacuum end-of-arm tool picks each box from the infeed conveyor and places it on the pallet in the programmed configuration, eliminating manual stacking entirely
An out-feed pallet conveyor transfers each completed pallet to a downstream automatic stretch wrapper, removing the manual wrap step and the associated labor touch
An Allen-Bradley SLC 5/05 programmable controller manages the logic for up to 150 pallet configurations, with fault code detection to stop the line automatically if the robot misses or adds a package
Rockwell Software RSView32 operator interface software allows operators to enter product dimensions and select the optimal pallet layout at order entry, putting configuration control in the hands of the operator rather than relying on floor-level judgment
Ethernet networking connects the SLC 5/05 processors to warehouse data, supervisory control, and production scheduling systems, with remote monitoring available from any networked PC
New products can be uploaded and test-run on the line within one hour of entering specifications into RSView32, supporting rapid SKU expansion without downtime

The Results:

70%+ labor reduction: The automated palletizing system eliminated the majority of manual labor in the palletizing function, allowing the customer to redeploy workers to other areas of the facility and reduce headcount in the palletizing operation by more than 70 percent.
43% throughput increase: Operating on two lines, the customer’s palletizing capacity increased from approximately 1,010 boxes per hour to 1,440 boxes per hour with no impact on pallet quality.
Sub-12-month payback on $500,000 investment: Labor savings alone were sufficient to recover the full capital cost of the Han-Tek system in under 12 months, meeting the corporate mandate that drove the project.
Ergonomic risk eliminated: Redesigning the palletizing workflow removed the majority of physically stressful repetitive-motion tasks from the operation, reducing the ergonomic risk profile for warehouse workers.
Downstream error reduction: The Allen-Bradley controller’s fault detection logic stops the robot line when a pick or place error is detected, preventing defective pallet configurations from advancing to the stretch wrapper and shipping dock.
New SKU onboarding in under one hour: The customer can introduce new products to the palletizing line by entering specifications and running a test cycle within one hour, supporting business growth without system downtime.

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