Case Study - Roll Handling Gantry System

A Roll Handling System for the plastic film industry

Keystone Automation makes different types of gantry systems for a variety of customers. We made similar systems for a major thin plastic sheet manufacturer. One machine stayed here in Northeast PA and the other went to Chino, California. They both did similar tasks.

After thin plastic sheet material is formed, it is rolled onto 10’ long tubes that need to be removed from the winders. These gantry’s go in and use J hooks to remove the rolls from inside the machine.  They are placed outside the machine and the J hooks are moved out of the way. The roll is then loaded onto a low profile mobile cart and taken to slitting. The gantry system has two different diameter pickup arms 3” and 6” for different diameter cores.  After slitting, a different, shorter head is used to pick up the smaller roll that is positioned horizontally and it clamps, then rotates it to a vertical position. The gantry allows the operator to lift the roll, easily move it to the packaging location and lower it into the shipping box.