A method of preparing confectionery products for packaging in a lateral load
packaging machine, in which the confectionery products are conveyed one by one on a first pocket conveyor, and in which a pick-up
robot for picking up a predetermined number of
ice cream products from the first pocket conveyor and transferring the confectionery products to a bulk conveyor is arranged, the bulk conveyor has compartments adapted to accommodate a predetermined number of confectionery products in one or more
layers in each compartment, and wherein the pick-up
robot can be located in a first position above the one or more compartments to be filled and in a second position above the bag conveyor, a pick-up
robot picks up a predetermined number of confectionery products from the pouch conveyor corresponding to the number of confectionery products in the first layer, and then positions the pick-up robot over one or more empty compartments on the bulk conveyor; b) determining, in a further step, the presence of a further predetermined number of confectionery products on the bag conveyor that are ready to be picked up, corresponding to the total number of confectionery products required to fill all consecutive
layers; c) releasing the picked-up confectionery product into one or more compartments, and d) moving the pick-up robot to pick up a further predetermined number of confectionery product from the bag conveyor, and e) transferring the further predetermined number of product into the compartments to form a further layer of confectionery product, and f) repeating steps d) and e) until a desired number of
layers are arranged in the compartment, and d) moving the pick-up robot to pick up the further predetermined number of confectionery product from the bag conveyor to form a further layer of confectionery product. And g) repeating steps a) to f).