This is a thread about where I work....Beer Distributer

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bremereric

bremereric

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I thought I would build a thread to show all where I work......Beer Distributor
I work at Houston Distributing...we are a beer distributor....trucks of beer come to our warehouse and we break the pallets down manually and layer pick gantries....we have three layer pick gantries....two palletizers....four robots....four stretch wrappers and three different type of storage towers...I will share some pictures every day then add some live action video so you guys can see how it builds pallets...I am the department head that oversees....repairs and makes programming changes as needed....we have 5 Allen Bradley PLC cabinets that control the conveyors and other equipment....

One of the robots...

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All four of the robots....

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Two Pics of our larger palletizer...

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and last for today our layer pick gantry that is dedicated to picking six of the same sku's all of the time...

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I can see this thread outdoing the "Bacon!!!" thread in no time. Should be an interesting journey.

Looks like your job is almost as much fine as mine. :-D
 
Seeing these reminds me of the Cheers episode when Norm gets that job at that brewery. That was a good one.

Thanks for the pics!!
 
Do they have volunteer openings there, I would sweep floors for damaged 30 packs :-D
I beet I have had some of your BL here in Arkansas :love7:
I agree with Leanna this should be a cool thread 8)
 
very kool that you are able to share that with us,,my company would have a heart attrack if i took pics,, we print all the bounty in the world,,and some charmin,,,,all top secret,,,24/7..


and the reason you have all those robots ??? if real people did all that work they would be to drunk to get it right,,,
 
Where i work, you would be fired for taking pics too.
Everything's top secret.
Our set up is very similar to yours, except we produce margarine, shortening, and canola oil. I operate the equipment that fills the containers and then it goes down the line and is palletized by robots.
We produce Canola Harvest, No Name, etc. for western north america and some exports.
I would rather do rework at your plant though.
Great thread!
 
Me and those robots wouldn't get along, long story...

Looks very organized, looks like a cool place to work...
 
Two pictures of our other layer pick gantries.....4 lanes feed each one...two lanes on each side are dedicated to certain products...the gantry either picks the full pallet or picks a couple of layers....the partial pallets are returned to their storage positions until needed again...

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A picture of the Product Silverlady...this is what returns the partial pallets to their storage positions or retrieves them when the gantry needs it again...

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Two pictures of the storage positions and the four lanes on one side...note the two dedicated lanes...

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This is called the Pallet Silverlady...it transports empty pallets to pallet stackers...it also carry partial pallets from the lifts to a take off conveyor so that the Product Silverlady can pick them up.....

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In my line of work robots are not needed as I am a medical marijuana provider, I do however get a chance to taste the product before it goes to its card holders and to me that deserves a smile :)
 
This palletizer is slower and is a side feeder....cases come in at a 90 degree instead of straight in....the other one can work on three layers at a time while this one can handle only one at a time...

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This is a typical stretch wrapper set up after each palletizer...then there are two after the robots...

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We have three different types of towers and this one is called flow rack....cases manually in from the back and manually out from the front...there are two wide screen TV's and a computer in the middle that tells you which case to place on the conveyor and in which order to do so...the cases go through a sequence checker and then head upstairs to be introduced into the rest of the system...we have 285 postions..

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MV towers are manual cases in and auto cases out...their is an solenoid valve and air cylinder at the bottom tray...when it is time to discharge a case onto the conveyor the solenoid kicks on and the air cylinder releases a latching device that lets one or more cases out....we have 264 of these towers...we also have two spirals that move cases vertical up rather than an incline.....

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more to come
 
How much do you have to pay them to work around all that beer? Only thing better would be working right at the brewery...
 
With all that beer sitting around I'm sure a case or 783 could be accidently "damaged" by an over productive fork lift operator... Or I'd blame the missing beer on a robot, photo shop a robot out back beside the dumpster downing a kegg, then run back inside and mess up one of the robots computor programs so it can't pass the stooge test or a breathalizer... Ah hell, I guess it would be easier just to stop at the 7-11 on the way home and buy a case....
 
..pretty cool! i work for a Distibutor here in CO. its part of the Charmer sunbelt group! good Union job i like it! pays tha Bills!
 
Thanks for sharing bremeric. I too work on AB PLCs on a daily basis. I am an industrial mechanic for a company that makes those tiny gold fish crackers. They go really good with an ice cold beer. Maybe we could work out a trade.
 
This is not a very good video...on Friday the volume is lower so smaller pallets ar being built...more frequent pallet change out thus it slows it down a lot..

 
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