FANUC and Reeco take robot palletising to the next level

Industrial automation experts FANUC UK have announced an agreement with Reeco Automation to incorporate the FANUC CRX range of collaborative robots into the RB series of robot palletisers. As manual loading becomes an increasingly harder role to recruit, Reeco’s automated end-of-line RB Palletiser systems have grown in popularity, particularly among food & beverage producers. By extending the RB portfolio to incorporate FANUC’s CRX 20 and 30 models, both companies are confident that more manufacturers – including SMEs – can now enjoy the efficiency gains, energy wins and cost-saving benefits that automation delivers.

Renowned in the market for being safe, efficient and easy to programme, FANUC’s CRX series of collaborative robots comes with minimal maintenance requirements and extended warranties of up to five years. Reeco will integrate the 20iA (20kg payload) and 30iA (30kg payload) models into their established RB palletiser range, ensuring their customers can benefit from the superior reliability and enhanced performance that are synonymous with the FANUC brand.

“FANUC are a leading OEM, a reputable brand in the world of automation. Many end-users who have adopted automation are already familiar with their technology and the reliability and robustness of their products,” explains Rosie Davies, Managing Director of Reeco Automation. “Extending our RB offering to incorporate FANUC collaborative robots therefore makes perfect sense and is the next logical step in our development of the range. As a global frontrunner in robotic automation, this partnership will complement our future export strategy; another key factor in our decision.”

Reeco’s RB Palletiser range offers an automated alternative for manual loading tasks, providing unrivalled functionality and safe operation alongside human activity. Capable of more complex executions than other cobot palletisers, each RB system occupies a very small footprint, can be integrated swiftly, and is surprisingly simple to use.

For Oliver Selby, Head of Sales for FANUC UK, the opportunity to align Reeco’s plans for the RB Palletiser with FANUC’s vision for the CRX range comes at just the right time: “FANUC’s system integrator network is already strong, and we place huge value on the relationships we’ve built with those partners across a range of sectors. Recent figures from BARA show that UK food and beverage manufacturing is currently the fastest growing sector in terms of automation adoption. With vacancies proving hard to fill, robots offer a clear alternative for applications such as manual loading, enabling businesses to redeploy human employees towards more value-added tasks. By working with Reeco and supporting their RB robot palletising range, we can ensure that more food & beverage companies, including SMEs, are able to reap the benefits of automation.”

The synergies between FANUC and Reeco were apparent from day one, as Rosie explains: “Our technical teams have been working closely together over the past few months to ensure that FANUC’s collaborative robots can be seamlessly integrated into the RB range and the mutual support and respect between our two companies is evident. For our end-users, having a robust, well-built, international-renowned product from FANUC within our proven automated palletising system will only boost confidence in our offering.”

A demo RB Palletiser featuring a FANUC CRX collaborative robot is available now for free proof-of-concept trials at Reeco’s headquarters in Newtown, mid-Wales. Alternatively, you can see the system in action live on the FANUC stand (5/F40) at Smart Factory Expo (4-5 June 2025, NEC Birmingham).