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CASE STUDY

KELLY-MOOREPAINT COMPANY



2www.intelligrated.com

Alvey Robotic Palletizers rom

Intelligrated Paint a Picture oE fciency or Kelly-MoorePaint CompanyWillingness to Invest in Future Yields Big Dividends With 76% Return on Investment in First Year.

When Plant Manager Keith Hussinger joined Kelly-Moore at their San Carlos, Cali ornia headquartersour years ago, one thing was clear; Kelly-Moore’smanu acturing process had not kept pace with theadvances in the company’s product lines.

As an employee-owned company, Kelly-Moore hasa strong ocus on the sa ety and ergonomic issuesconcerning their employees; however, hand palletizingo products weighing up to 70 pounds and productionow ine fciencies pointed to some obvious areasneeding improvement. Even with a vacuum assist, themanual li ting was an issue o worker com ort as wellas production e fciency.

The building selected to receive upgrades would soonbegin production o Kelly-Moore’s most advanced –and most technically di fcult – product lines. Theselines typically have smaller runs with a higher SKUchange rate, demanding exibility in both theproduction and the handling o product. At this point,the Kelly-Moore team, led by Hussinger, actively setout to fnd a material handling partner who could

meet the company’s needs.

The Challenge

Beginning in 1946 with a single manu acturingacility in San Carlos, Cali ornia, Kelly-Moore Paints™has grown to the largest employee-owned, andthe 5th largest paint company, in the United States.Supporting over 165 local stores, Kelly-Moore is “thepainter’s paint store,” providing high-quality paintand related products to contractors, commercial andmaintenance accounts, and do-it-yoursel consumers.Today, the company maintains two acilities - inCali ornia and Texas - manu acturing and distributingnearly 15 million gallons o paint per year. State-o -

the-art on-site laboratories ensure quality control andproduce some o the most technologically advancedpaint products available, including their eCoatRecycled and Zero-VOC Enviro Coat and GreenCoat lines.

Once the buckets are flled and sealed, they are conveyed via 15 eet oAccuglide™ zero-pressure accumulation conveyor.

The Company




Visiting the FKI Logistex ® (now Intelligrated ®) boothat PACK EXPO in 2008, Hussinger was impressed withthe knowledge o the company’s end-o -line materialhandling integration team as well as the capabilitiesavailable, particularly the single-source responsibilityor system design, abrication, installation,commissioning and local customer support. Taking bidsrom several integrators and independent palletizingcompanies, Kelly-Moore chose Intelligrated and its lineo Alvey ® robotic palletizers based on the company’sreputation, 60 years o palletizing experience, breadtho product and integration capabilities. “Whatwe ound with Intelligrated was exactly what wewanted: a complete, turnkey installation with theexperienced team to support it,” said Hussinger. “Thechallenges that we knew we aced – and, maybe moreimportantly, the ones we did not know about – werepretty signifcant. We needed a partner that couldwork with us to engineer a solution that ft our needsin a scalable way.”

Intelligrated rose to the challenge. A design team,with specialists in conventional, robotic and hybridpalletizing manu acturing and integration, was

assigned to the Kelly-Moore project and led byIntelligrated’s Director o Robotics Integration,Bill Natsch. The Alvey robotic palletizing systemwould be built, assembled and tested in St. Louis andinstalled by Intelligrated’s local Los Angeles-basedtechnicians.

End-o -arm tooling rom Intelligrated, li ting fve-gallon pails in groupso three to the build station, contains a custom-designed ring within thevacuum plenum to prevent the ow o air rom pulling out a tinting port.

Finding a Palletizing Solution Partner An Engineered Solution

With strict space limitations in the building, theIntelligrated team set out to design the most compactsolution or the building’s manu acturing processes.Building columns set in the middle o the room madeftting the palletizing cells a tight squeeze with onlyinches to spare. The system designers wanted toensure that Kelly-Moore would not have to make anystructural changes to the building to accommodate itsfnal design.

The Kelly-Moore manu acturing process revolvesaround our lines: two lines handling smaller,conventional gallon and quart paint cans; and the

other two handling larger, fve gallon pails. It wasdecided that two robotic arms would meet thepalletizing rates that Kelly-Moore required. In thiscase, the Alvey robotic palletizing system used roboticarms sourced rom long-time partner Motoman. “It’sthe end-o -arm tooling and system controls that weadd that really customizes the solution to ft the need,”explained Natsch.

Unwrapped trays o quart or gallon paint canspresented an early challenge or the end-o -armtool designers. The solution demanded a tool thatcould pick up confgurations o 2x2 gallon and 3x3quart paint can patterns, and their respective loosecardboard trays. Intelligrated decided that the bestsolution or this particular product was an end-o -arm tool with an additional vacuum arm specifcallyor the cardboard tray.Working with Tepro Machine

& Pac System and its line o Unigripper ® li ting tools,the fnal design li ts the cans and secures the traywith a separate pivoting vacuum arm that descends asproduct is moved to the pallet.

The fve-gallon pails posed their own engineeringchallenge. A two-inch diameter tinting port on eachlid that allowed customers to tint the paint in thestore could not withstand a vacuum. The solutionwas end-o -arm tooling that would be designed andmanu actured by Intelligrated with a custom-designedring within the vacuum plenum to prevent the owo air rom pulling out this port. The pails wouldthen be li ted three-at-a-time and palletized in anested confguration.




( rom le t to right) Project Manager Tim Lasko, Intelligrated;Maintenance Manager Brendan Ingraham, Kelly-Moore;Plant Manager Keith Hussinger, Kelly-Moore.

Intelligrated. “Be ore, we were securing our pailpallets with rope,” said Hussinger. “The wrapper is amuch more orward-thinking piece o equipment, andspeaks to the wide range o integration technologiesIntelligrated can bring to the table.”

As with all robotic projects, Intelligrated completeda actory acceptance test (FAT) or the Kelly-Moore project at its St. Louis, MO engineering andmanu acturing acility. During the FAT, all roboticunctions, including pallet handling and productpalletizing or both the trays and pails, werecompleted. Project management, installation as wellas startup and commissioning services or the projectwere executed by the Intelligrated western regionalo fce based in Sacramento, CA.

Key to this system was the ability o the Alvey roboticpalletizer to accommodate quick line changeovers. Thisexibility proved invaluable shortly a ter installation,when a large Kelly-Moore customer requested acustom run o three-gallon pails. Although they hadthe same ootprint as the fve-gallon product, thenew pails were several inches shorter. Intelligratedhandled the request with a straight orward patternaddition, avoiding the typical retooling required or aconventional end-o -line installation.

Once the pails are flled and sealed, they are conveyedvia 15 eet o Accuglide™ zero-pressure accumulationconveyor. Zero-pressure accumulation is critical witha circular product, like paint cans or pails, where anyline pressure would be concentrated at the point ocontact between adjacent pails and product backups could create a jam or push the pails o o theconveyor. The heavier fve-gallon lines are equippedwith escapements to position the product in a preciselocation to allow the robot to pick them up in groupso three.

Based on Kelly-Moore’s original specifcations,the system design did not call or the Alvey roboticpalletizer to handle pallets. However, Intelligrateddetermined that the robot could handle theempty pallet placement at the build positions withoutsignifcantly impacting the speed o production. Thisdesign change alone saved Kelly-Moore $25,000.

Both robotic arms repeatedly pick and place cansor pails rom the in eed conveyors and stack themsequentially on the waiting pallets. Multiple layers

are built on the pallet until the pallet load iscomplete. Once a pallet is complete, it is conveyed onIntelligrated chain driven live roller pallet conveyorto a new Lantech ® stretch wrapper supplied by

Key Benefts: Zero-PressureAccumulation and Line ChangeoversWithout Delay or Retooling

Unwrapped trays o quart and gallon paint cans presented a challenge orthe end-o -arm tooling. Working with Tepro, the fnal design li ts the cansand secures the tray with a separate pivoting vacuum arm that descendswhile product is moved to the pallet.

“The trans ormation has been incredible. What was the most outdatedo our buildings has quickly become our state-o -the-art gem,” saidHussinger. Continues Ingraham: “while this was a “turnkey” installation,they didn’t just hand us those keys and walk away. They taught ouremployees to drive the system.”




ContinuousImprovement,Improving the

EarthKelly-Moore Paint’s San Carlosheadquarters is a carbon-neutral, certifed green businessand recipient o the 2010 LargeGreen Business o the YearAward*. “Our produc ts areengineered with a ‘continuousimprovement’ mentality – andwe have put that to work inthe manu acturing process aswell,” said Keith Hussinger, plantmanager or Kelly-Moore Paints.“We knew that we had thecorporate support to invigorateand update our manu acturing

process.”Leading 100,000 Cali orniacompanies, Kelly-Moore wasselected by the Green BusinessCommittee in 2009 or its serieso recycling and improvementprograms that diverted 80percent o its waste and or itsability to motivate employeesto commit to its recyclinge ort, a rare achievement or acompany in the chemical-basedpaint industry. Kelly-Moore wasalso recognized or its carbono set program resulting in theSan Carlos plant being carbon

neutral.“Our employees can see thebenefts o the Alvey roboticpalletizer,” said Hussinger. “Itmakes them more willing toparticipate in some o our otherinitiatives; it proves that we’renot just talking about change.Winning awards like the “LargeGreen Business o the Year”is a result o our hard work,our willingness to invest in theuture and our commitment tocontinuous improvement.”

* 2010 Large Green Business

of the Year Award is hosted by the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce

The system was installed and delivered on time and on budget during Kelly-Moore’s

o -peak season in January and February 2009. Over the next year, the improved SanCarlos acility experienced impressive results.

“In only one year, we have had an incredible 76 percent ROI in our labor time,” saidHussinger. “We were able to cut out almost all overtime, but still fll our orders.Without a doubt, this project has exceeded our expectations in both e fciency andnumbers. Additionally, our main goal o increasing worker com ort and sa ety wasmet, as the number o our lost-time accidents decreased rapidly, rom 23 in 2005 tofve in 2009.”

The automated end-o -line system has enabled the line to run at an even pacethroughout the day, as the breaks required by heavy li ting rom the old manual

palletizing system were eliminated. Line changeovers, which took 45 minutes odowntime with the old system, today take only nine minutes. This represents an 80percent reduction in line changeover time.

“The trans ormation has been incredible. What was the most outdated o our buildingshas quickly become our state-o -the-art gem,” said Hussinger. “This is the building thatwe showcase to our clients. The Alvey robotic system lends a orward-looking elementthat we believe re ects our vision o where we are going with our product lines – clean,e fcient and technically advanced.”

Results: 76% Return on Investment in First Yearand 80% Reduction in Changeover Time

Saving $25,000 - The original system design did not call or the Alvey robotic palletizer to handle the pallets. However,once the Intelligrated team looked at the rates that Kelly-Moore required, they determined that the robot couldhandle the empty pallet placement at the build position without signifcantly impacting the speed o production. Thisdesign change saved Kelly-Moore $25,000.




System Overview:Intelligrated Alvey ® robotic palletizing systemintegrating Motoman EPL-160 robotic arms

Intelligrated Accuglide™ accumulation conveyorIntelligrated pallet dispenserIntelligrated chain driven live roller pallet conveyorIntelligrated pallet trans ers Conveyors:

Intelligrated

Robotic Arms:

Motoman

Vacuum Tooling:IntelligratedTepro Machine & Pac Systems

Pallet Dispenser:Intelligrated

Stretch Wrapper:Lantech ®

Controls & Programming Software:

Intelligrated

System Design:Intelligrated

System Integration:Intelligrated

Kelly-Moore System Overview

Headquartered in San Carlos, CA, this carbon neutral manu acturing acility needed to keep pace with the advances in the company’sproduct lines. Hand palletizing o products weighing up to 70 pounds and production ow ine fciencies pointed to some obvious areasneeding improvement.



• Systems Integration• Sortation Systems• Conveyor Systems

• Palletizing Solutions• Software & Controls• Order Ful llment Systems• 24x7 Technical Support• Design & Build

Intelligrated Productsand Services

Intelligrated Support

The in-house Customer Service and Support (CSS) programo ered by Intelligrated backs all o our products. Servicesavailable include:

• IN-24X7 ® technical support• Replacement parts logistics• Field service• Equipment and system audits• Upgrades and modi cations• Full service and maintenance contracts• Preventive maintenance• Customer training and documentation

CSS is available 24x7 to provide all o the services neededto keep your equipment running at peak e fciency.Whether it’s on-site support or troubleshooting viaour hotline, Intelligrated has the most comprehensivecustomer support program in the industry.

Service and Parts Hotline

Phone + 1 877.315.3400

www.ontimeparts.com

KM01 5.10 © 2010 Intelligrated. All rights reserved. Alvey ® is a Registered trademark o Intelligrated Inc.

7901 Innovation Way, Mason, Ohio 45040 + 1 866.936.7300in [email protected] www.intelligrated.com

For more information, contact:

About Intelligrated

Intelligrated is a leading North American-owned,single-point provider o automated material handlingsolutions with operations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.Headquartered in Cincinnati, Intelligrated designs,manu actures and installs complete material handlingautomation solutions, including IntelliSort ® line sortationsystems, Crisplant ® tilt-tray and cross-belt sortationsystems, conveyor systems, Alvey ® palletizers and robotics,Real Time Solutions ® order ulfllment systems, warehousecontrol so tware and advanced machine controls—allsupported by 24x7 Customer Service and Support.

Serving the warehousing, distribution, consumer productmanu acturing, postal and parcel markets, Intelligratedcollaborates closely with its clients to develop productivitysolutions and responds to their needs throughout the li e

o their material handling systems.

Headquarters in Mason, Ohio