Hexis, a company with headquarters and main plant in Frontignan (France), is a leader in the production of adhesive films which are used in many sectors, such as signage (on the ground, for events, …), automotive (restyling or protection of vehicles), decoration, textiles, …
The solution provided by Trascar for Hexis is able to carry out the automatic packaging and palletizing of the reels produced in the new plant in Hagetmau, located in the south west of France.
Trascar has been identified as the technological partner for the ambitious project thanks to the proposal of a completely automated solution, to the wide use of anthropomorphic robots for the manipulation of the reels and to the experience demonstrated thanks to the references acquired on solutions for the handling and packaging of reels of adhesive paper.
The installed automation can package the reels coming from the production line, including other operations like external and internal labeling, bagging in waterproof film, boxing with subsequent labeling of the cardboard and final vertical palletization inside cardboard boxes.

The solution
The slitted reels are palletized vertically on dedicated pallets (this activity is carried out manually by the operators). A robot (dedicated to depalletizing) picks up and places the reels one by one on the packaging line, where they are labeled both inside the core and outside. Subsequently, the reels are packed inside a polyethylene bag, undergo the insertion of the support caps and are packaged with the wrap-around system using hot glue, in order to be then definitively labeled and palletized.
A total of three anthropomorphic robots are installed on the line and the computer management of the solution interfaces with the ERP of the plant to receive and manage information of each reel.

Performance
The installed solution is sized for the packaging of four reels per minute but is designed to a possible subsequent expansion which could include the palletization of the reels’ horizontal axis and the automatic packaging of the pallets.

Conclusions
Since February 2021 the line has been in full production and the automated solution has allowed Hexis to maintain and continue with the planned growth plans, always guaranteeing high quality standards.