The Challenge
Replacing Manual Packing with Scalable, Flexible Automation
Manual case packing was labor-intensive and inconsistent. To scale production and free employees for higher-value tasks, the customer needed to automate:
- Erecting pre-glued auto-bottom boxes at pace
- Picking and placing 60 pill packs per case in specified patterns
- Managing packing of mixed case sizes and part counts
- Reducing manual labor in favor of more scalable automation
MWES was chosen for its proven modular robotic packing systems and integration expertise.
The Solution
Cobot-Driven Two‑Robot Cell with Integrated Box Handling & Vision
MWES engineered a self-contained robotic case packing machine with:
- Universal Robots UR10e cobots for box erection and part loading
- Box erection station with pre-glued auto-bottom style, forming at 4 boxes/min
- Part feed hopper with vision tracking and pick-and-place stacking logic
- Barcode, tape seal, case fill, and label application built into the flow
- Compact, forklift-deployable frame needing only power, air, and Ethernet
The end-to-end cell enables fully unattended operation with minimal human oversight and easy recipe changes via HMI interface.
The Results
High-Speed Case Packing with Workforce Efficiency
The automated system delivered:
- Up to 240 pill packs per minute (~4 cases of 60 packs per minute)
- Freed several packing-line operators for higher-value tasks
- Reduced dependency on labor fluctuations and staffing constraints
- Modular expansion potential for downstream palletizing or upstream case erection
By automating this bottleneck process, MWES enabled faster throughput, consistent pack quality, and significantly reduced operator requirements.
