The implementation of these robots will take place as part of modernization work on the single-stream material recovery facility (MRF), provided for the public service delegation contract for recovery and treatment of domestic waste in metropolitan area of Bordeaux Metropole. Veolia reiterates its confidence in Machinex with the acquisition of these robots. Their installation is scheduled for Fall 2022. The announcement reinforces Machinex’s establishment on the European and French market, with now a presence on two sites operated by Veolia, the reference company for ecological transformation. It should be noted that two sorting robots will be installed this summer on the modernized Portes-Les-Valence site and operated by Veolia under a contract binding it to three syndicates in Drôme and Ardèche: SYTRAD, SYPP and SICTOBA.
These three robots will integrate a new single-stream system that can handle new streams resulting from the extension of sorting instruction, offering real performance guarantees. Two robots will perform the quality control of clear PET and PE/PP by retrieving other recoverable and unwanted materials that may be present. In addition, a third SamurAI® will be placed on the rejects line to recover a maximum amount of materials at this time of the process.
Machinex’s ambitions on the French market are today becoming true and everything is in place for a great growth. The company added a sales force in France since Spring 2020 with the hiring of a local salesperson, Pierre-André Ruisi, in order to be close to customers and manage after-sales service. Machinex’s objective is to collaborate with French MRF providers to sell equipment separately that can be integrated as ready-to-use equipment, such as robots.
Machinex’s SamurAI® robot stands out from the competitors with its powerful grasping tool. “We went further into development to obtain a unique and very powerful suction tool that offers excellent grasping capabilities. Indeed, no matter the Artificial Intelligence’s performance, the robot must capture designated materials, despite their shape or weight. Our recent experience shows us that the SamurAI® performs outstandingly to grasp the hardest containers such as big HDPE with an irregular shape,” explains Étienne Lessard, Project Director at Machinex. Amongst other things, Machinex’s robots distinguish themselves by their performance in vacuuming and capturing plastic films and bags to separate them from recyclable commodities. Machinex’s SamurAI® robots are evolving, and the fourth generation has been designed to make it more modular and facilitate its use, thanks to a more accessible control panel.
In parallel with its efforts to continue its establishment in France, Machinex continues to develop high technology equipment, such as SamurAI® sorting robots and MACH Hyspec® optical sorters, and design new ones, such as MACH Vision. This material flow analysis system, connected to the MACH Intell, provides great understanding of the material stream composition in real time. Interconnection of all these high technology equipment is made possible thanks to Artificial Intelligence. Thus, Machinex is now able to provide complete technological solutions for MRFs of the future.
Machinex also distinguishes itself by offering financing options for sorting robots: “Our leasing solution fits perfectly into the business model of large groups as well as smaller companies,” adds Étienne. “They also benefit from full and optimal exploitation of the equipment throughout the duration of the MACH Cloud agreement, with an option of extending this option. That ensures the customer benefits from continuous performance optimization.”
