The Machine
Kawasaki Robotics (USA), Inc. will make the North American debut of its CP110L high-speed palletizing robot at PACK EXPO International 2026, running Oct. 18–21 at McCormick Place in Chicago. The four-axis unit carries a 110-kg payload, achieves up to 2,200 cases per hour under specified operating conditions, and is built explicitly for production environments — including food, beverage, and consumer packaged goods facilities — where floor space and overhead clearance are at a premium.
The robot's compact architecture requires a ceiling height of just 2,242 mm and has a revolute-axis interference radius of 453 mm, allowing system integrators to design tighter palletizing cells than conventional high-payload units typically permit. Maximum reach is 2,505 mm, and repeatability is rated at ±0.05 mm. At 820 kg, the CP110L is the entry point for Kawasaki's CP Series, which now spans payload capacities from 110 to 700 kg — a range that lets CPG and food-manufacturing operators scale automation across multiple line configurations without switching robot platforms.
Why It Matters for Food Ops
The timing aligns with a measurable uptick in automation investment across the food and beverage supply chain. PMMI's 2026 Robotics in Packaging & Processing report found that 61% of end users surveyed plan to increase robotics spending over the next 12 months. Labor cost pressure and throughput demands are driving that shift, particularly at the end of the line where palletizing has historically been one of the last manual holdouts in mid-size facilities.
"Palletizing is often one of the clearest places for manufacturers to automate, but the available space at the end of the line doesn't always match the automation they want to install," said Paul Marcovecchio, Director GI Industries at Kawasaki Robotics (USA). "The CP110L was developed around that reality. It gives customers another way to increase palletizing capacity without assuming they have unlimited floor space or ceiling height."
The design also incorporates a hollow wrist for internal cable and hose routing, reducing interference with adjacent equipment and simplifying maintenance — a practical consideration in high-sanitation food environments where accessibility matters. A standard power-regeneration function converts braking energy during deceleration into reusable electrical energy, which yields efficiency gains in palletizing cycles with frequent vertical movement.
What Else Is on the Floor
Beyond the CP110L, Kawasaki's PACK EXPO booth (N-5933) will feature an R Series case-packing cell designed by Design For Making around the RS013N robot — a 13-kg-payload unit with a 1,460-mm reach and an expandable tooling architecture for vision and safety integration. The company will also show the IRIS RPZ-U turnkey palletizing system, pairing IRIS Factory Automation's modular platform with the RS025N, which offers a 25-kg payload and 1,885-mm reach. Both demonstrations address the stepped investment path that smaller food and beverage manufacturers typically follow: start with a defined cell, then add capability as throughput or SKU complexity grows.
Together, the exhibit underscores a broader industry trend toward flexible, space-efficient end-of-line automation — relevant to food and beverage processing and packaging operators weighing automation ROI against constrained facility footprints. For operators evaluating capital equipment decisions, the CP110L's combination of throughput, compact footprint, and energy recovery positions it squarely in the conversation around supply chain and distribution technology upgrades heading into 2027.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
