Project Background

Existing Automation Foundation

The customer's bakery production line had achieved high mechanization in front-end processes (mixing, molding, baking), but still relied on traditional rigid grippers for the back-end demolding and transfer operations.

Evolving Market Demands

Consumer demand for product diversity (e.g., low-sugar, custom-shaped packaging) requires production lines to possess rapid changeover capabilities.

Cost Pressure Drivers

Annual labor cost increases of 8%-10% in China's food processing industry make automation essential for cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

Pain Points Analysis

High Product Damage Rate

Traditional rigid grippers caused surface indentations, deformation, or breakage during cupcake handling due to imprecise force control. This resulted in a production defect rate of 8%-12% (primarily from handling damage).

Poor Adaptability

Post-baking cooling introduces dimensional tolerances (±1.5mm) and slight deformations in cakes. Rigid fixtures failed to self- adjust to accommodate these variations.

Limited Production Flexibility

Manual gripper module changes were required for different tray specifications, consuming 45 minutes per changeover and severely restricting mixed-low production of multiple product types.