Vacuum tooling is the hands of a robotic case packer. If the tooling can't reliably acquire and hold the product at speed — without damaging it, without dropping it, without consuming excessive compressed air — nothing downstream matters. The robot picks nothing. The case stays empty. The line stops.
This is why JLS engineered Vacuum on Board (VOB) — and why the second generation, VOB 2.0, represents one of the most significant engineering advances in the OSPREY® platform.
Most robotic case packers use centralized vacuum systems. A large vacuum pump or blower sits off to the side of the machine, connected to the robot's end-of-arm tool (EOAT) through hoses, manifolds, and fittings. This approach works, but it comes with real costs:
Compressed air consumption. Centralized vacuum systems are energy-intensive. In a food plant running multiple packaging lines, compressed air is often one of the largest utility costs. Every cubic foot of air consumed at the EOAT is money.
Sanitation complexity. When it's time to clean, the vacuum plumbing — hoses, manifolds, fittings, the EOAT itself — adds cleaning burden. In a washdown environment running daily or per-shift sanitation cycles, that's significant time. And if residue gets trapped in a hose or fitting, you have a food safety risk hiding inside your tooling.
Changeover time. Switching between product formats often means swapping the EOAT assembly and reconnecting vacuum lines — a process that on some systems takes considerable time and requires tools and a trained technician.
JLS-engineered VOB 2.0 moves vacuum generation onto the tool itself. Instead of routing vacuum through long hose runs from a remote pump, VOB 2.0 uses compressed air to create vacuum directly at the point of use — on the EOAT, at the pick point. That simplifies the vacuum plumbing dramatically.
This changes three things at once:
By generating vacuum at the tool and eliminating the long hose runs and centralized distribution, VOB 2.0 cuts compressed air consumption by more than 50% compared to conventional centralized vacuum systems. For a plant running multiple Osprey lines, the energy savings compound quickly, and most plants are already looking for ways to reduce compressed air consumption.
This is the shift that matters most in food-zone environments. VOB 2.0's quick-removal tooling supports cleaning and changeover: the operator can remove the EOAT without tools and send it to the sanitation station for thorough cleaning outside the machine, while the simplified on-tool vacuum design means there are no long vacuum lines to disassemble or flush.
For plants running rigorous sanitation protocols, this approach supports compliance and reduces the window for contamination risk.
VOB 2.0 EOATs are designed for tool-less change. No wrenches. No bolts. No vacuum line reconnections. The operator unclips the current tool and clips on the new one. Combined with the Osprey's HMI recipe selection, product changeover is designed to be fast and repeatable on the Osprey BP — actual changeover requirements depend on the product formats and tooling involved.
Every VOB 2.0 EOAT is configured for a specific product format. JLS application engineers design the vacuum cup layout, suction force, and gripper geometry based on your actual product — its weight, surface texture, flexibility, and packaging material.
A pillow bag of shredded cheese requires different vacuum characteristics than a stand-up pouch of pet food or a thermoformed MAP tray of sliced turkey. VOB 2.0 tooling is not a universal suction cup — it's a precision tool matched to your product's specific handling requirements.
This is why JLS requests product samples during the application engineering phase. The EOAT design is validated on real product before the system ships.
VOB 2.0 is standard on the Osprey BP (bag, pouch, and thermoform packing) and available across the Osprey tray loading platform. The original VOB — the first-generation system that also provides on-board vacuum generation — is used on the Osprey CL chub loading system, where the tooling requirements are different due to the cylindrical product geometry.
Both generations share the same core principle: vacuum generation belongs at the point of use, not at the end of a hose run.
In a typical Osprey BP installation handling flexible pouches:
These aren't theoretical improvements. They're the result of engineering vacuum generation into the tool itself — a change that sounds incremental but compounds across every pick, every changeover, and every sanitation cycle.
Talk to JLS About Your Packaging Application
VOB and VOB 2.0 are proprietary vacuum tooling systems designed and built by JLS Automation in York, Pennsylvania. To learn more, visit jlsautomation.com/osprey or call (717) 505-3800.