Robotic depalletizers and repalletizers
The short answer
A depalletizer takes cases or layers off an incoming pallet and feeds a line; a repalletizer breaks a load down and rebuilds it. We build both as custom FANUC robotic cells, designed around the loads you actually receive — not a catalog machine.
- Robot partner
- FANUC Authorized System Integrator
- Tooling
- End-of-arm tools designed in house
- Scope
- Custom cell, scoped per project
- Operations
- Depalletizing · repalletizing
Palletizing, depalletizing and repalletizing
Same pallet, opposite directions. For stacking finished cases, see our palletizers; this page is about taking loads apart.
| Operation | What it does | Where it's used |
|---|---|---|
| Palletizing | Stacks finished cases onto a pallet in a set pattern. | The last step of a packaging line, before the load is wrapped and shipped. |
| Depalletizing | Takes cases, containers or layers off an incoming pallet and feeds them to a line. | The first step of a line: feeding empty containers or incoming product that arrives on pallets. |
| Repalletizing | Breaks a load down and rebuilds it — to a different pattern, height or pallet. | Changing pallet type, correcting or reducing a load, or preparing loads for a different destination. |
What shapes a depalletizing cell
A palletizer builds its own pattern. A depalletizer inherits whatever arrives on the truck — which is why these five questions decide the design.
How the load arrives
Stretch wrap, straps, slip sheets and tier sheets all have to come off or be handled. Who removes them — a person or the cell — changes the design.
How consistent the incoming pallets are
Palletizing controls its own pattern; depalletizing inherits whatever arrives. Loads that shift in transit or vary by supplier may need vision to locate each pick.
Picking by case or by layer
Taking one case at a time and taking a whole layer at once call for different end-of-arm tooling and give very different rates.
Empty pallets and sheets
Something has to take away the empty pallet and the sheets between layers. It is easy to forget and hard to add later.
Where the product goes next
The cell has to present product to the next machine the way that machine needs it — orientation, spacing and rate.
How we build the cell
FANUC robot, end-of-arm tooling designed in house, vision where loads vary, and guarding sized to the cell — the same engineering as our other robotic cells.
Robotic integration
When depalletizing is worth automating
Automate when
- Someone unloads pallets for most of a shift
- Breaking down pallets by hand is heavy, repetitive work — the same labor argument as palletizing, at the other end of the line.
- Incoming loads are reasonably consistent
- The more predictable the incoming pallets, the simpler and faster the cell.
- The line depends on a steady feed
- If a filler or packer starves whenever the person unloading pallets falls behind, the feed is worth automating.
Wait when
- Incoming pallets are damaged or chaotic
- If loads regularly arrive crushed or collapsed, fix it with the supplier first — no cell handles a collapsed load well.
- Volume is occasional
- A few pallets a day rarely justify the tooling and programming. Manual handling or simple lift assists may be the right answer.