The product contours generated from CAD data are marked out full size by the plotter on the pallet surface. To increase the level of automation a robot can be employed to not only place but also strip shuttering. The shuttering robot selects the required shutters from a store and places these precisely on the pallet surface. Special, non-standardised shuttering is placed manually on the pallet surface at additional workstations. The stripping robot identifies the shutters by scanning the pallet and then removes them automatically.