06 August 2026 | Western Mechanical Handling UK Ltd

Robotic Pizza Laning saves Downtime

Designed to maximise efficiency and eliminate costly downtime, WMH’s Robotic Pizza Laning system transforms pizza handling and packaging. Three intelligent robots seamlessly balance product flow across multiple wrappers, automatically adapting during film reel changes to maintain continuous production. Combining hygienic design, gentle product handling and smart automation, the system ensures optimum throughput while protecting product quality every step of the way.

WMH has recently designed and installed an innovative robotic pizza laning system that maximises production efficiency while eliminating downtime during packaging changeovers.

Under normal operating conditions, the system transfers three lanes of pizzas to three individual flow wrappers. When a film reel change is required on any wrapper, three robots automatically redistribute the product flow, seamlessly converting the three lanes into two balanced lanes and ensuring continuous production.

The system uses three Mitsubishi gantry-mounted robots equipped with bespoke hygienic end effectors. Together, they collate and uniformly space up to 140 pizzas per minute across three product lanes. As the pizzas enter the robotic handling area, a single sensor on each lane detects their position, enabling the robots to accurately track and manage product movement on the conveyor belts.

Whenever a flow wrapper is taken offline for a film change, the robots instantly redirect product from the stopped line and merge it with the output feeding the remaining wrappers. Intelligent control software continuously balances the product flow between the two active wrappers, preventing either machine from becoming overloaded and maintaining optimum throughput.

The specially designed end effector contacts only the outer edge of each pizza base, eliminating the risk of topping damage while helping to maintain the highest hygiene standards.

"The way the sensors and robots track the product is incredibly simple and removes the need for a complex vision system," said a WMH spokesperson.

For more information about WMH and its bespoke handling systems, please call 01579 383788 or email enquiries@wmh-uk-ltd.com.

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