Load forming system shiftable between automatic and worker-assisted configurations

A load forming system comprising:

• a feed conveyor having a discharge edge;
• a load former including a cookie sheet having an input edge at a front of the load former;
• a transfer platform having an upper surface, a first edge adjacent to the discharge edge of the feed conveyor and a second edge adjacent to the input edge of the load former;
• and
• a shifter comprising a contact body and an actuator, the actuator being configured to move the contact body and an object in contact with the contact body over the upper surface of the transfer platform toward the load former and to shift the contact body away from the load former, the shifter having an enabled state in which movement of the contact body over the upper surface of the transfer platform is permitted and a disabled state in which movement of the contact body over the upper surface of the transfer platform is prevented,
• wherein the transfer platform includes a first section having an upper surface and a first edge perpendicular to the second edge of the transfer platform and a second section having an upper surface and a first edge adjacent to the first edge of the first section and a second edge spaced from the first edge of the first section, the second section being shiftable from a first position in which the upper surface of the second section is coplanar with the upper surface of the first section and a second position in which the upper surface of the second section is substantially perpendicular to the upper surface of the first section,
• wherein the load forming system is shiftable between an automated configuration and a worker-assisted configuration,
• wherein in the automated configuration the second section is in the first position and the shifter is in the enabled state and a guard is mounted at the second edge of the second section to prevent an object on the transfer platform from sliding off the second edge of the second section, and
• wherein in the worker-assisted configuration the second section is in the second position and the shifter is in the disabled state.