No more gumming up the works

Wrigley’s chewing gum has been popular among the world’s gum chewers for more than a century. The company, which was founded in 1893, has long had a presence in Australia, where it first opened a factory in 1915. But while the company’s original chewing gum flavors such as Juicy Fruit and Spearmint have changed little in the century since they were introduced, manufacturing has obviously undergone a revolution.

Automation of process

In 2005, Wrigley’s in Australia started to look for automation solutions to address issues such as high direct labor costs, health and safety risks associated with manual handling and restricted floor space. Solutions had not only to address these issues but had to be flexible to accommodate change in product and packing medium, be low cost and easy to maintain and be economically priced as a capital purchase.

In response, the company invested heavily in a plant in Sydney which services the Pacific market. The new facility was designed, manufactured and commissioned by Hot Melt & Packaging Systems (HMPS) Pty. Ltd., which is a leader in robot application technology in Australia.

As Wrigley’s and HMPS engineers worked on this project, it became obvious that the conventional case packer approach first considered was not going to deliver the goods in meeting all the required parameters. In particular, it could not supply the required flexibility to introduce new products quickly and cost efficiently.

The team finally decided to go for a solution which combined the adaptability of robotics and the packaging know-how and experience of HMPS. The decision having been made to go the robotics route, Wrigley’s and HMPS designers and engineers were able to come up with a layout and design to do the job.

Packaging application

The proposed installation consists of six robot packing cells operating in two groups of three. The task for each cell is to erect a carton, pack into the carton the requisite quantity of Wrigley’s products and push the loaded carton onto an out-feed conveyor which takes the product from the group of three cells to an elevator and eventually through to a carton sealing unit.

Each cell contains an ABB IRB 2400 robot, which takes a blank regular slotted carton (RSC) from the magazine by means of a vacuum head, squares the carton and places it on a holding station.

The robot then takes the product off the in-feed accumulation conveyor and proceeds to pack the carton until full. Once full, the carton is transferred using the robot head out onto the common out-feed conveyor. A floating operator is all that is necessary to keep all three carton magazines filled with RSC blanks for each of the robot cells.

Demanding customer

Wrigley’s gave HMPS the go-ahead for the project in November 2005 with a required completion date for installation in mid 2006, which was achieved by HMPS. According to Ross Hannaford, engineering manager at Wrigley’s, the company has been delighted with the results and has found the process of installation and commissioning to be comparatively painless.

Says Hannaford: “The close cooperation between Wrigley’s, HMPS and ABB has been instrumental in achieving an installation which went very well, and is on track to meet or exceed all its performance parameters.”

HMPS is Australia’s leading domestic producer of special purpose automated packaging solutions. It has been around for nearly 20 years and in that time has accumulated a vast amount of knowledge in the field of manipulating cardboard for packaging purposes, which founder John Tonkes wryly calls “cardboard engineering.

”Says Tonkes: “Cardboard is a difficult and inconsistent material which is consistent only in its inconsistency.” Manufacturing tolerances in cartons as supplied by the manufacturer are wide enough to drive a bus through and packaging machinery must cope with that to be successful, he says. Tonkes is acknowledged to be a “cardboard engineer guru” within Australia.

The success of the project is undoubtedly due to a combination of a demanding customer who had the courage to be innovative, a supplier in HMPS who understands packaging and robot applications, and of course reliable and robust robots. Between them, they ensured this new installation did not gum up the works.

Why robots?

With the help of HMPS, Wrigley’s in Australia has used robots to improve production with:
• Flexibility that can accommodate change in product and packing medium
• Easy maintenance
• Lower direct labor costs
• Better health and safety environment for workers

Note to Editors

About HMPS

Hot Metal & Packaging Systems is a specialist in the development and manufacture of high-quality machinery for the automation of the carton packaging processes. The company specializes in custom-made solutions produced at short notice. HMPS has some 34 employees and exports approximately 30 percent of its production outside Australia.

About the Wrigley Company

The Chicago-based Wrigley Company is the world’s largest manufacturer of chewing and bubble gum and home to some of the best-known brands in the world. The company’s Australian headquarters and factory are in Asquith, NSW. The company has 14 manufacturing factories worldwide: four in North America, four in Europe, one in Africa, and five in the Asia/Pacific region.

ABB Robotics

ABB is a leading supplier of industrial robots - also providing robot software, peripheral equipment, modular manufacturing cells and service for tasks such as welding, handling, assembly, painting and finishing, picking, packing, palletizing and machine tending. Key markets include automotive, plastics, metal fabrication, foundry, electronics, pharmaceutical and food and beverage industries. A strong solutions focus helps manufacturers improve productivity, product quality and worker safety. ABB has installed more than 150,000 robots worldwide.


ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 111,000 people.