Case

Meals assembly line

Client

catering sector

Every day, up to 36,000 high-quality airline meals roll off the assembly line at KCS, the catering company of KLM. Discover the most advanced production line in the world of international airline catering.

Purpose

The purpose of the installation is to fully automate the loading of meal trays and place them into airline trolleys.

Capacity and flexibility are the two key words here. The client aims to process an average of 30,000 meals per day. At the same time, they require a highly flexible system – one that can handle various types of trays and place a wide range of products with different shapes onto them.

Project design

Based on the established guidelines, we develop several scenarios. Together with the expertise of both parties, we then piece together the puzzle. The result is a dynamic, modular installation with four strategically placed intermediate buffers to absorb any delays.

Approach

The dynamic, modular concept is translated into four critical phases within the installation: the supply of raw materials, the assembly of the trays, the placement of trays into trolleys, and the buffering of these phases.

The use of intermediate buffers offers a significant advantage. If a temporary issue occurs in one of the units, the preceding units can continue operating without interruption. These buffers create an accordion-like flow, helping to prevent complete system downtime.

KCS’s ERP system determines which type of meal should be placed in which position in the trolley. This information is converted into a code, enabling the robots on the assembly line to place the correct products in the right position on each tray. A vision system verifies this process.

“A faster, more flexible, customer-focused, and cost-effective production with the new robotic system”

Mr. Maarten Stienen, Managing Director KCS

Result

The new assembly line is among the most modern and innovative in the world, with a maximum capacity of 36,000 meals per day.