Automated Pizza Pop Rack Mover
| dc.contributor.author | Altasin, Janus | |
| dc.contributor.author | Jackson, Jadon | |
| dc.contributor.author | Olson, Steven | |
| dc.contributor.author | Tien, Kelvin | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | O'Brien, Sean | en_US |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Labossiere, Paul | en_US |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | O'Brien, Sean | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-09-19T20:37:22Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-09-19T20:37:22Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-12-09 | |
| dc.degree.discipline | Mechanical Engineering | en_US |
| dc.degree.level | Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | The General Mills Pizza Pop facility located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is the sole producer of Pizza Pops throughout all of Canada. With such high demand, it is critical to ensure all manufacturing processes are analyzed and optimized in search of improvement. However, when it comes to the manufacturing capabilities of manual labour, limitations such as strain injuries and harsh temperature arise. Therefore, to increase both human safety and manufacturing throughput, automation can be implemented. The scope of this design is contained from where the Pizza Pops begin getting placed on trays to where the Pizza Pops get taken to the packaging line. This process is very manual and requires the support of 5 operators. For one process, where an operator moves racks within a freezer, the work environment is challenging as the temperature is regulated at around -12° F. General Mills is looking to reduce these manual tasks through automation while only requiring 1 operator. This report performs a detailed analysis on implementing a fully automated system for tray loading, rack transportation, and Pizza Pop freezing. For the tray loading category, a dual head elevator is used to load two trays into a single rack at a time. The dual head was required to meet the current throughput of 17 trays per minute and can load up to 18.5 trays per minute. The racks are automatically indexed for the tray loader to keep supplying racks when they become full. For rack transportation, an AGV will driven under the racks, engage with a connection bar and then transport the rack to the desired location. An embedded magnetic strip path will be placed through out the area to provide a path for the AGV's to follow. It was found that a total of 3 AGV's continuously operating are needed to meet the required throughput time. However, more AGV's can be added in the future if an increase in throughput exceeds the capability of 3 AGV's. Lastly, upon further analysis of the freezer, it was determined that AGV's alone inside the freezer would be insufficient. Therefore, an indexing rail system was developed to operate inside the freezer, capable of moving racks quickly and efficiently. Racks are loaded into each rail via an AGV and engage with the rail latching mechanism. This latch is powered by an electric pulley system and is responsible for bringing the racks up to the front of the freezer. There are a total of 9 indexing lanes, each with an 8 rack capacity, allowing a max of 72 racks in the freezer. A cost breakdown has been provided to detail how much each individual system will cost, including operational and preventative maintenance costs. For the overall system to be installed, it is estimated to cost approximately $996,000 CAD. In summary, this automated system has been proven feasible within the General Mills facility. The design meets and exceeds throughput, reduces required employees from 5 to 1, and increases employee health and safety. | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | General Mills | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/37673 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | Mechanical Engineering | en_US |
| dc.title | Automated Pizza Pop Rack Mover | en_US |
| dc.type | report | en_US |
| local.author.affiliation | Price Faculty of Engineering::Department of Mechanical Engineering | en_US |