Lantek, a global leader in software solutions for the sheet metal industry, has revealed its partnership with TECOI, a machinery manufacturer, to deliver a new robotic unloading and palletising system to improve manufacturing efficiency.
The new system is built on TECOI’s CF modular cutting architecture for multi-head cutting processes and large-scale operations. Following cutting, a servo-automated crane equipped with liftable magnets transfers cut material to an intermediate zone, where robotic systems with adaptive gripping technology automatically collect and palletise parts according to Lantek’s CAD/CAM instructions.
The intelligence behind this operation is managed through Lantek Expert, which organises parts based on geometry and orientation to ensure only identical parts with matching angles are stacked together. This ensures stability and full traceability throughout downstream logistics.
This solution enables palletising to take place while cutting operations continue uninterrupted, significantly reducing downtime and improving overall productivity, compared to other systems where part handling requires pauses in production.
Thanks to its collaborative robot-based architecture, additional units can be added to work in synchronisation, speeding up the unloading and palletising process without compromising precision or traceability. This flexibility allows the same technology to be adapted to both lower-demand facilities and high-throughput, large-scale operations.
For Lantek, this type of integration represents a real step forward in the development of connected, automated manufacturing environments and workshops, supporting the industry’s transition towards smarter manufacturing.
Francisco Pérez, OEM Channel Director at Lantek, says: “The key factor here is that we don’t just connect machines — we connect intelligence. This collaboration with TECOI enables the software to act as the brain of the process, instructing each robot on what to do at any given moment. It clearly demonstrates how digitalisation can optimise workshop performance without adding complexity.”
This collaboration also forms part of the Sortec framework, a new project aimed at achieving full automation of production lines from sheet metal processing through to final palletising.