When Logistics Community Brabant (LCB) compares the south of the Netherlands to other regions in the country and in Europe, it sees that the region leads the way with its excellent supply chains. But the organization cautions that the sector will have to level up when it comes to digitalization, in order to reduce our impact on the climate. For that reason, it has set up the Digital Data Square Zuid-Nederland project (DDSZ).
The DDSZ project kicked off in mid-2021, and was recently completed. The participants included VDL Steelweld, Na-Nomi Co-Packaging, CyBe and Logistics Force. And of course, Vetico. “We were invited to participate because of our strength in innovation and our willingness and ability to change the way we think”, explains our Chief Commercial Officer Mark van der Burgt. “Naturally we said ‘yes’, because the accompanying grant from LCB will accelerate one of our moonshot innovations. We were already experimenting with 2D and 3D vision technology, but thanks to this project we were able to make it more specific for our plants.”
Automated pick & place unit
One of LCB’s conditions was that we would use the subsidy, which was funded in part by the province and a European fund, for research within a real-world business case. In our case, we’re working on an automated pick & place unit. Project Manager Sven van der Venne explains: “Our goal was to design a flexible solution – a unit that uses a vision system to recognize products and sends the dimension information to a robot, which then picks and places the products. In other words: one standard machine that can be used on all the lines.”
we have the ultimate machine”
“Testing, testing, testing”
Sven has worked on the project at the Vetico Innovation Center since November 2022, and has been working on it full-time for the past six months. “First, we researched suitable technologies. Then we selected two camera systems. And then it was constant testing, testing, testing. We used AI, backlight, a height scanner, you name it. Later we also tested using a 2D and a 3D camera and different types of lighting, and we selected a robot and a machine controller. In the process, we discovered more and more opportunities and hurdles for each product. We also learned a lot about the latest technologies.”
The result
Sven and Mark shared the knowledge they gained during a presentation for all of the project partners and participating companies – along with a 93-page report. But Vetico didn’t stop there. Sven: “We found the setup for our pick & place unit that offers the greatest flexibility at the moment. It includes a 2D camera system from Omron, a Gocater laser scanner, flash lighting, a 4-axis Omron robot, and a machine controller.”
“We’re already using elements on certain lines”, adds Mark. “For example to conduct quality checks, like whether a gift set or Advent calendar has been filled. We’ll continue to conduct research though, because the unit still isn’t ideal for all of our locations and lines. That’s just how we are at Vetico: we’ll keep working until we have the ultimate machine!”
