Flexible Cobot Palletization Handles 2000-3000 Boxes Every Day! | Cobot Spotlight

The emergence of solutions that combine cobots with software and additional hardware, like the TOMA, can significantly amplify cobot effectiveness and improve its application scope.

Author

Catherine Bernier
February 26, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

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Founded in 1979, Groupe TAQ is a non-profit social enterprise providing jobs to over 500 people, 70% of whom with functional limitations, while helping more than 100 businesses thrive!

Groupe TAQ is located in Québec, Canada, and they provide outsourcing services for assembly, food packaging, parcel preparation, binding, and customizable business planners. 

Of course, they too struggle with menial tasks, especially palletizing. 

Considering the wide range of services and businesses Groupe TAQ serves, they need to handle a lot of boxes.

This is where an innovative TOMA cobot solution from Premier Tech came in and saved the day.

Now, Groupe TAQ handles palletizing between 2000-3000 boxes a day, eliminating staff fatigue and injury, while boosting productivity.

Cobot Brand: FANUC

Supplier: Premier Tech TOMA

Application: Palletizing

The Key Problem

How the Cobot Was Implemented

The Results

Excessive number of boxes for staff to handle, job safety, and the need to remove menial tasks from employees.

A FANUC CRX-30iA cobot, as a part of the TOMA system, with MOVN software, allows quick moving around and redeployment for different palletizing activities in the Groupe TAQ facility.

Cobot handles 2000-3000 boxes daily, improved safety, increased throughput, and several workers were freed to work on more rewarding tasks.

Why Turn To Cobot Automation

Like all businesses, Groupe TAQ wanted to boost their productivity and reduce menial tasks. 

Another critical reason is reducing the physical tasks for people with disabilities. Likewise, with advanced automation systems like cobots, Groupe TAQ can help them work in their capacity and make sure they are growing in their roles, not wasting effort performing the physical, repetitive task of palletization.

“Automation is now a solution for us to ease everything that is more physical. And palletization, for sure, it is probably one of the most physical tasks that we have to do in our facility.”

Pascal Gagne, Director of Operations at Groupe TAQ.

That’s why they reached out to FANUC Authorized System Integrator Premier Tech, which installed their palletizing solution named TOMA (as in, auTOMAtion; heh, nice play on words!).

Unlike traditional robotics that require top-notch expertise, the TOMA cobot solution is so simple that anyone can palletize boxes with a minimal setup.

TOMA And MOVN System

The TOMA system is composed of the FANUC CRX-30iA cobot, TOMA 48.4-inch long conveyor that’s part of the setup, cobot stand with a display, a vacuum gripper, and proprietary MOVN software.

What matters the most for businesses like Groupe TAQ is the software.

The MOVN (as in, get MOVN’), really makes the whole process MOVE, and quickly.

A staff member from Groupe TAQ preparing the TOMA palletization recipe in the MOVN software.

The intuitive software and the display interface allowed Groupe TAQ staff to set the palletization process in a few minutes. 

The staff would just enter:

  • the box dimensions

  • pallet pattern (e.g., 7 boxes in 2 rows)

  • the stacking pattern

  • number of layers

  • alterations

  • …and that’s about it. 

ALL with a real-time responsive 3D animation showing the exact outcome based on the input. So, their staff could quickly envision and set up the process.

“We are really amazed by how easy it is to use. Each recipe took around three minutes to create, so it’s really fast, really easy. And we have created all of them in advance,” said Pascal.

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The MOVN software even lets the staff use an on-screen slider to show the progression of the pallet being stacked with boxes until the pallet completion, to verify the process before the cobot starts working.

As with many authorized cobot integrators, the software is often the key selling point. 

A cobot is only as good as your people can adapt to it. You don’t want to have to bring in specialists. You already have your experts—your staff.

The Flexibility Matters

The Groupe TAQ success story is another example of a cobot system that can be quickly redeployed.

We recently did a story on AIM Processing and how the cobot flexibility was a major deciding factor for them.

The redeployment flexibility was similarly critical for Groupe TAQ. 

The TOMA system can quickly be redeployed for another palletization purpose thanks to its integrated setup with the conveyor that allows optimal repeatability and precision.

“The nice thing about TOMA is it’s hyper flexible. So you can just take a trucklift [forklift] and move it to the other place and move the conveyor with it. It all works together, so it’s always the same position for everything,” noted Pascal.

The Cobot System Effect On Staff And Business

The TOMA cobot palletizing system has achieved:

  • 2000-3000 palletizing boxes daily.

  • Eliminated workplace injuries due to manual palletization of the boxes.

  • Liberated the staff to do more engaging tasks.

  • And Increased product throughput!

“With the arrival of the robot, it makes a huge difference. I can now take the two or three employees that managed the pallet and now I can assign them to another task. This has really helped fill a void on my production line. The ones that were working with the pallets now see new opportunities to do new things. They are excited by the new challenges,” - Christine Lajeunesse-Gaspar, Forewoman Groupe TAQ.

Learn more about how the TOMA cobot improved the Groupe TAQ workplace here:

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Enjoy your week!

The Cobot Spotlight Team