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Capral Aluminium

Capral's Packing Robots Halve Freight Volume

problem

Rising costs and complexity of packing and delivering thousands of extrusion shapes

As Australia’s largest extruder and distributor of aluminium systems, with six manufacturing plants nationally, Capral’s products are used in offices, homes, shops, trucks, factories, ferries and more across the country.

With an ever-changing range of 6,000 unique aluminium profiles plus customisations, Capral faced major challenges trying to efficiently and safely sort, pick, pack and load orders for distribution to thousands of worksites.

Like an industrial-size game of Tetris, maximising loads, cutting waste, eliminating damage and accelerating distribution are pivotal to running a profitable manufacturing business.

Capral faced three primary challenges:

01

Inefficient load packing:

Using traditional manual methods, Capral sent out trucks with empty spaces and used surplus struts and packing materials.

This resulted in more loads, wasted capacity and extra weight.

02

Variable sizes and packaging:

No shipment is the same.

In addition to juggling thousands of shapes and profiles, architecturally designed cosmetic pieces have pristine finishes that need specialised packaging and careful positioning to protect them from scratches in transit and when offloading.

03

Reflective surfaces impact scanning:

Another challenge that complicated previous automation attempts was that shiny reflective surfaces can be invisible or error-prone with standard lasers.

Accuracy is critical when pieces differ only in tiny specifications.

Watch the Capral's solution in motion below.

solution

AI-powered robotics automate the process from picking to packaging

Having met the most demanding industrial automation challenges since 1985 – and pioneered AI-driven solutions for years before it became mainstream – the Applied Robotics team was more than ready to deliver the end-to-end solution.

The robotics, scanners and conveyors are all driven by a proprietary intelligent algorithm custom-coded by in-house engineers.

With the innovative Capral solution delivered in 2018, Applied Robotics Founder Dr Paul Wong was excited to deploy a solution far ahead of its time.

A collaborative process from design to maintenance

At Applied Robotics, we pride ourselves on using technology to tackle manufacturers’ most complex challenges. As with all our solutions, we take a collaborative and consultative approach to designing a custom solution.

01 Define

Analyse processes to deeply understand the issues and objectives

02 design

Develop a proposal detailing hardware, software and services

03 prove

Create a proof of concept to demonstrate exactly how it will work

04 build

Commission, test and optimise the cell in the production environment

05 support

Deliver manuals, training and ongoing support and maintenance

“We are proud to have designed and deployed Australia’s first AI-based factory automation system, and the world’s first AI-based aluminium extrusion pack-making system.”

results

50% lower freight volumes cut costs and accelerate output

50% lower freight volumes cut costs and accelerate output

More efficient packing processes accelerate distribution and increase capacity

Significantly reduced production costs and higher margins

With intelligent data-driven processes, Capral also have the data they need to feed into ordering, inventory and reporting systems to further optimise and streamline systems

The best is yet to come

Following the success of this project, Applied Robotics developed a robotic arm that works in a hostile 600℃ environment, holding and positioning hot aluminium bullets to shape raw materials into precise profiles.

Capral’s previous mechanical arm was inaccurate, causing deformed cuts, frequent downtime and product errors.

We designed a flexible and heat-proof robotic arm to pick a hot billet from the oven, orientate it into position and guide it as the ram pushes the billet through the die (mould). We also deployed a second gripper to increase capacity and an enhanced version to cater to multiple die diameters.

With a long-term partnership approach, Applied Robotics continues to work closely with Capral to optimise their manufacturing processes. This AI-powered technology makes it possible to automate all the processes in an aluminium extrusion factory.

By working with local success stories like Capral, our vision is to transform the Australian industry into a globally competitive manufacturing powerhouse by enabling onshore manufacturing, driving towards a more efficient, competitive and technologically advanced future.

To explore the AI-driven automation possibilities for your manufacturing operation, contact our expert team for a discussion.

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