The persistent financial challenges going through manufacturing stick with regional inflation, world conflicts, an growing older workforce, disruptions within the provide chain, well being epidemics, and different compounding components, every taking part in a task. Business homeowners who reassess their technique and contemplate automation are forward of the curve.
As demonstrated all through the COVID pandemic, companies geared up with automation have been extra resilient to shifts when in comparison with their counterparts. ASME famous that “investing in automation and robotics was one way companies coped with the loss of workers.” Manual jobs like palletizing have been comparatively easy to fill not way back. The abundance of obtainable employees, restricted e-commerce, and diminished product complexity made conducting enterprise with guide labor doable.
Today, the financial setting is nearly solely totally different: the obtainable (and ) workforce is diminishing, e-commerce continues to develop and product range is increasing. These headwinds have created a brand new increase in automation investments, significantly in collaborative robotics. Manufacturers are discovering that cobot palletizers, for instance, are extra accessible, have a smaller footprint, and are extra budget-friendly. This permits them to deal with individuals, productiveness, and adaptableness challenges. This article explores how these automated palletizing techniques have gotten important instruments in industries akin to meals & beverage, client items, and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
People: Enhancing workforce dynamics
Automation is doing jobs that folks don’t need.
Automation is doing jobs that folks don’t need.
A frozen fish producer, Korea Pelagic, wanted assist discovering individuals to stack pallets of fish in a freezer. Palletizing fish on very tall pallets is a bodily demanding enterprise within the chilly, making it difficult to seek out keen employees. There have been only a few individuals keen to work this repetitive, monotonous, harmful job. Time is important in meals manufacturing, so Korea Pelagic turned to automation to make sure well timed shipments.
A palletizing cobot was the proper answer for this demanding setting. Not solely was the cobot keen to work within the chilly, the outcome was a 200% improve in productiveness and a possibility to supply extra rewarding and sustainable work for his or her workers. Read the whole case examine.
Show respect for the workforce.
TIDI Products, a pacesetter in an infection prevention and affected person security merchandise, confronted inefficiencies as a result of a scarcity of employees. One particular person did two duties to maintain up with manufacturing calls for. Overburdening an individual slowed down manufacturing, elevated their backlog, decreased morale, and restricted the variety of orders TDI Products may settle for. TIDI invested in end-of-line automated palletizing techniques. This answer addressed operational bottlenecks, decreased ergonomic points, and elevated crew job satisfaction.
The palletizers carried out higher than anticipated, so TIDI Products acquired two extra techniques.
Initially, individuals fearful that robots would take their jobs. Now, individuals count on employers to spend money on supporting and serving to their workers. This consists of making automation take the burden of the guide and repetitive duties they don’t wish to do. If workers don’t just like the job or really feel like their employer will not be investing in them, they depart. This is extra prevalent in youthful generations who really feel the necessity to change jobs to care for his or her pursuits.
According to Business Insider, 73% of Gen Z employees are keen to take a pay minimize or a decrease place if their job doesn’t meet their wants. Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) is rejecting monotonous, bodily demanding jobs and additional shrinking the obtainable labor. As this pattern continues, companies will inevitably must spend money on automation.
Companies should spend money on their workers to extend employee retention. TIDI Products Value Stream Manager Cameron Lemke summarizes: “If you’re in a business that cares about your team, this is an easy investment to help them feel supported and encourage their longevity with your business.”
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“If you’re in a business that cares about your team, this is an easy investment to help them feel supported and encourage their longevity with your business.” |
Read and watch the TIDI Products case examine.
Create sustainable jobs (that folks need).
Cascade Coffee, a roasting and co-manufacturing firm, skilled persistent labor shortages and issues of safety of their guide palletizing operations. With the deployment of automated palletizing models, job satisfaction and security have been improved. The system’s adaptability allowed for seamless integration, optimizing productiveness and permitting workers to advance. It took 5 minutes to coach an operator on the cobot. Now, the palletizer does the lower-paid job, and the individuals advance within the firm. Watch how Cascade Coffee palletizes 6,500 instances a day and grows its workers.
Productivity: Unleashing operational potential
Every pallet counts.
The goal is to forestall unplanned downtime. Although incessantly missed, the palletization course of can emerge as a bottleneck. In a one-piece-flow setting, the cycle time must lower to match the pace of the slowest job. Automation can alleviate this bottleneck and convey cycle time nearer to takt time. Cascade Coffee’s transition from guide to automated palletizing resolved labor shortages and eradicated bottlenecks.
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“The simple manual processes were consuming just an immense amount of time to where machines would stop because operators actually couldn’t palletize fast enough.” – Ron Kane, COO of Cascade Coffee. Watch the full video. |
The cobots guarantee a steady and environment friendly manufacturing move, permitting for the optimization of sources and success of supply deadlines.
Automated palletizing will increase throughput.
TIDI Products skilled important features in productiveness after incorporating automated palletizing models. They documented productiveness features of 30% from the primary palletizing cell. Subsequent cells have elevated by a equally spectacular 25%. Productivity features permits producers to optimize useful resource utilization, scale back manufacturing prices, and keep aggressive pricing.
Robotic palletizers additionally improve productiveness in meals manufacturing. Bread producer Antic in Spain confronted difficulties manually palletizing merchandise on two manufacturing strains. The firm wanted a scalable, automated answer to accommodate numerous product weights and enhance manufacturing pace. Labor shortages added to the urgency of discovering an efficient decision. Their search led them to a palletizing collaborative robotic that runs two automated strains and elevated manufacturing pace by 30%.
An automated system can sustain.
Automated palletizing techniques present excessive effectivity by maintaining with manufacturing processes. User-friendly software program makes it straightforward to vary the palletizing cobot for brand new field sizes or pallet configurations. For instance, the Robotiq Palletizing Solution mechanically generates and optimizes trajectories and cobot actions. Robotiq makes use of assistant instruments and easy configurations. Input necessities akin to:
- Box dimensions, weight, and orientation
- Pallet dimensions
- Pallet configuration
This software program works for the particular person as a substitute of the particular person working for it. With a couple of minutes of coaching, operators can have the automated palletizer stacking packing containers.
Adaptability: Meeting market calls for with ease
Be led by buyer necessities and market alternatives, not manufacturing facility limitations.
Despite the financial pressures in manufacturing, each firm goals for customer-driven management somewhat than being dictated by exterior components. This means factories should stay agile and productive.
Napco, a espresso distribution firm, highlights the productiveness features skilled when utilizing palletizing techniques. The lead operator, who had no prior expertise in robotics, was in a position to learn to function the system shortly. This automated palletizing system created a 15% improve in productiveness.
Streamlined growth: timing your prices with advantages
The flexibility and modular design of automated palletizing options allow streamlined growth. With the power to duplicate and combine extra models onto totally different manufacturing strains, producers can scale successfully in response to fluctuations in demand. TIDI noticed this primary hand. Scalability, mixed with a typical payback interval of 1 yr, ensures a considerable return on funding and positively impacts the underside line.
Automated palletizing techniques with built-in cobots have grow to be indispensable allies for meals & beverage, client items, and pharmaceutical producers going through continued financial pressures. These techniques assist them navigate labor-related challenges, improve productiveness, and foster adaptability.
Control your future
At Robotiq, we observe the rules of LEAN ROBOTICS to create a standardized answer that’s simpler to scale, repeatable, and simple to make use of. We perceive the financial pressures in manufacturing and we’ve got expertise working with meals & beverage, client items, and pharmaceutical producers.
Let us get you began – implementation is simpler than you assume. Discuss with one among our automation consultants right now to kickstart your venture.
