Masterpiece: carefully filled croissants

Special robotic tools ensure careful handling
Integrated injection station
Efficient and thorough line cleaning
Space-saving design
Image recognition system guarantees precise pick-up

Requirements

Efficient combination of injection and final packaging process

High-quality, integrated and scalable technology convinces: With Schubert’s automation solution, San Giorgio Dolce & Salato can efficiently fill and pack their product innovations – pre-baked, filled and subsequently frozen croissants.

The Italian family-owned business San Giorgio Dolce & Salato were the first manufacturer to introduce pre-baked, filled and subsequently frozen croissants to the market. For this product innovation, a Schubert line is being used which carefully injects different fillings into the baked goods and efficiently combines this step with the final packaging process.

Solution

Perfectly positioned for the future

The efficient combination of injection and final packaging process in the Schubert automation solution is a convincing one. The integrated injection station is precisely synchronized to the Schubert robotic technology. The flexibility of the line means different baked goods can be filled and packed. This is important, in case San Giorgio Dolce & Salato expand their range of pre-baked goods in the future.

With Schubert’s automation solution, San Giorgio Dolce & Salato can efficiently fill and pack their product innovations – pre-baked, filled and subsequently frozen croissants.

Technical Details

Speedy and careful filling

The line that Schubert developed for the customer for filling croissants consists of four compact space-saving sub-machines. Three pick-and-place-robots and two F2 robots group and fill the products. The croissants are transported out of the oven for grouping purposes in the first sub-machine. There, an image recognition system controls the position of the products and transmits the data to the F4 robots in the next station. Driven by two servomotors, these F4 robots can perform any movement in a two-dimensional working area. As croissants are highly sensitive baked goods and vary in height, thickness and consistency, the robots have to handle them very carefully. On the robotic tools, four grippers and flexible damping ensure that the soft, still-warm products are not marked or otherwise damaged.

Injection on a moving conveyor

The picker arms take each croissant individually and place them in rows of twelve onto Transmoduls which transport the croissants to the injection station where an injection unit carries out the filling process with jam, chocolate cream or custard. An F2 robot holds the pastries in place, the unit with twelve injection needles approaches and then inserts the needles. Here again, flexibility is needed: The needles are height-adjustable, so that the depth to which they inject the filling into the baked goods can also be determined. Due to its connectors the injection unit can be moved completely out of the line, so it can be cleaned and switched to other fillings. After the filling process the croissants go through a froster. In the final step, the deep-frozen products are packed in flowpacks individually or in packs of three, and subsequently placed into cartons.

Overall Performance

Four sub-machines
Up to 160 croissants per minute
Flexible line design
Transmodul in use

The spring-loaded grippers carefully hold the croissants on the Transmodul so that they do not slip while being filled. To compensate for any fluctuations, the injection needles can be adjusted in height and depth.