Sabo robots land in Wienerberger’s Berca factory

Sabo has supplied a cutting-edge robotic handling system that entirely replaces conventional grippers and dryer car loading/unloading mechanisms with robots.

Opened in September 2024, the wienerberger factory in Berca, Romania, is a model of sustainability that meets the highest standards of production efficiency, energy saving and raw material conservation. Regarded as a centre of excellence for “green” brick production, the plant plays an important role in the Austrian group’s sustainability strategy. It also boasts a very high level of automation, which is essential for managing the wide range of bricks in its portfolio with maximum flexibility.

The facility is located near Bucharest, a city with significant construction activity and strong demand for products suited to zero-emission buildings.

Sabo’s robotic handling solutions

Sabo has supplied a cutting-edge robotic handling system that entirely replaces conventional grippers and dryer car loading/unloading mechanisms with robots. The result is a flexible, high-productivity facility capable of handling a wide variety of brick formats with minimal downtime.

The supplied line begins at the green product loading stage immediately after the electronic cutter. This task is performed by a robot equipped with interchangeable grippers, allowing for seamless switching between different formats. The loaded frames are then handled by robots using fork-type grippers instead of the traditional multiple-fork systems previously used to load or unload dryer cars. These conventional fork mechanisms were often large, mechanically complex and required extensive installation and maintenance time. Eliminating them has led to a more flexible, responsive and efficient production flow. Robotic loading and unloading has also allowed for the use of smaller buffer elevators, further reducing installation time and costs.

Further along the line, a dedicated robot feeds empty frames into the transport system, simplifying the layout, reducing maintenance and increasing flexibility.

For unloading, robots remove the dried bricks from the frames and place them on kiln cars. Before this step, the bricks pass through a modern programming station with servo motors that rearrange them with great precision into the correct configuration for kiln loading.

This fully robotic approach delivers major benefits:

• Fast installation and commissioning
• High adaptability to product changes
• Low maintenance and downtime
• Consistent and precise operation
• High productivity

A highly efficient factory

The Berca plant produces more than 20 different types of bricks, and format changes that once took a considerable amount of time are now completed in just a few minutes. Combined with the advantages of fully robotic automation and the minimal downtime (only 1-5% per shift), this makes for a highly efficient and productive factory.

This project reflects Sabo’s commitment to delivering solutions that combine reliability, practicality and ease of maintenance, using top-tier components from trusted manufacturers such as Festo, SMC, SEW, Siemens, Fanuc and others.

As always, Sabo supports its customers in achieving their business goals, ensuring that innovation is accompanied by a robust and high-quality after-sales service.

wienerberger has been operating in Romania since 1998 and is one of the country’s leading building materials manufacturers with seven production plants and around 550 employees.