At the Automate Show 2026, we caught up with Destaco global product director Gary Labadie to chat about end-effecting technologies. Labadie detailed the Destaco Palletizing Solutions (DPS) bag gripper. It’s available in multiple sizes for 15, 30, and 50-kg bag sizes. What’s unique is that it’s a kit … so Destaco can sell it fully assembled or if a customer wants to save money and put it together themselves, they can.
The I/O on the unit supports Ethernet, Profinet, Modbus — basically all the major network protocols for controls.
The primary use is in packaging — more specifically, end‑of‑line palletizing of sacks of grain bagging, corn, and so on.
When asked if the arm attaches to a Cartesian system, Labadie underscored that Destaco is seeing everything switching to six-axis robotic arms.
Labadie also explained that most of the competing units are custom‑engineered. “We’ve brought the cost way down by productizing it. You go online, configure it, download the CAD, put it into your system, and it ships in about 10 days. Either it’s plug‑and‑play or you open up the book and put it together.”
The unit we saw at Automate is fully pneumatic, but Destaco has plans to release an electric version and a box gripper based on the same construction.
“We also put covers on the unit to keep contaminants away from the mechanisms and I/O, and protect the valves. If someone has to service it, they pop the cover off and everything inside is clean.”
Labadie also explained another demonstration at the Destaco booth — a Camco-brand indexing conveyor for extremely high precision over different motion profiles. Everything’s sealed — roller bearings, flexible motor drive — and machine builders can mount the motor vertically or on the side … and size both the motor and conveyor length to the application.
Such precision link conveyors can be costlier than belt conveyors, but are indispensable for certain applications related to laser marking, quality checks with vision systems, and other assembly tasks needing to maintain high workpiece throughput.
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