A new type of pallet stacking assembly line. Two pick-and-place robots are
used. The first robot has a relatively low position. The second robot is
in an elevated position. A pallet dispenser dispenses a first pallet onto
a pallet conveyor. The pallet conveyor then moves the first pallet to a
first build position in front of the first robot. The first robot then
begins picking products from a first pick position and stacking them on
the first pallet. Once the products on the first pallet reach
approximately half the finished height, the pallet conveyor carries the
first pallet over to a second build position in front of the second
robot. At the same time, the pallet dispenser dispenses a second pallet
which is carried to the first build position. The second robot picks
products from a second pick position and places them on the upper portion
of the first pallet in order to complete the stack. Meanwhile, the first
robot is picking and placing products on the lower portion of the second
pallet. The process continues indexing, with both robots ideally being
busy all the time. Each robot only has to build half the pallet. Thus,
overall line speed is increased.